How A Sydney-Based Gram-Saving Outdoor Store Is Reshaping Hiking Culture

Tim expected to see a lot of featherweight kit and aesthetic displays at the new and expanded Ultralight Gear store in Sydney, but he came away convinced that the new guard of adventure retail is in safe hands.

Recently it’s been kind of easy to forget what an outdoor store really should be. Between relentless online sales and the endless openings of outdoor apparel chains that only stock a single brand, the traditional one stop shop has felt a little under threat.

An importer told me last week that outdoor brands in Australia don’t move around much. It’s not unusual for the same set of international brands to sit with the same company for over a decade, whereas in the States they move around regularly.

If anything, that helps confirm a suspicion I’ve had for a while – the Aussie outdoor industry is a little bit crusty. The energy surrounding the brands, and the dollars they bring, doesn’t reflect the number of people actually hiking and camping – at least not in the same way as anything involving boating, fishing, or 4WDing.

Read more: Our First Look at Anaconda’s Huge New Adventure HQ

But recently some big brands have been changing hands in Aus, more international ones are entering the market, and locals like Mont, One Planet, and Sea to Summit have been stepping up their marketing game.

My visit to Ultralight Gear felt like a breath of fresh air for the Aussie outdoor industry.

‘I only stock products I’d actually use,’ says Dan, Ultralight Gear’s buyer. He’s a young bloke, with a base weight well under four kilos. His store’s floorspace has more than doubled with the acquisition of the shop next door and it’s absolutely packed with product.

Late night builders were finishing off the store ahead of the store’s grand reopening the next day; Dan explained his thinking between bursts of saws and impact drivers.

‘We focus on range, fast shipping, and keeping prices competitive’ he says, and I start to understand why Ultralight Gear is growing while so many stores are shrinking or packing it in.

Looking around, the staff are generally quite young – I wouldn’t be surprised if many of their customers are too. On their website a short ‘about us’ section says that the team is on ‘a mission to reshape the Australian hiking scene’.

Ultralight packs bleed into trail running vests

I’m one of the last generations to remember a time without online shopping, and that’s actually where Ultralight Gear are doing most of their business. They’re bringing in brands like Nitecore, Norda, Raide Research, and CNOC – catering to customers that are online when they’re not outside.

People are seeing the cultural vanguard of ultralight hiking in North America and parts of Europe and they want to be a part of it – Ultralight Gear has its finger on the pulse and offers them a way in.

Safe to say you’ll get the exact collapsible bottle you need

That’s not to say it’s all imported products though. I saw a whole wall of Mont tents, second only to the stockpile in the actual Mont store in Canberra. They’re stocking Neve Gear, their own homegrown and super affordable ultralight brand, and Real Meals and Aarn packs from New Zealand. There was even a brand new Sea to Summit Sentinel XP2 set up on the shop floor.

Dan was excited to show me a large Maurten Gel Mix sachet. I’ve never even seen one in a running store before, yet he knows from experience that a lot of hikers are increasingly relying on high density carb gels to power through big days.

New hiking lunch just dropped!

This confirmed two things:

1. My sneaking suspicion that ultralight hiking and ultrarunning are beginning to cross over and
2. Dan and his team are coming at hiking from a completely different angle. It’s that same fresh approach to hiking that means there’s a wall of zero drop shoes and trail runners to choose from.

It’s also just a nice space. Situated in Alexandria, barely a block from the Waterloo Metro Station and far from the traditional outdoor strip of Kent Street, I can see Ultralight Gear’s new store becoming a real third space for the next generation of hikers to hang out in.

Just don’t tell them I’m not cold-soaking my meals, ok?

I’ll be heating these up, for now