This coming winter, you'll start finding TREW products again in independent retailers across the country. This may not come as a big surprise to many longtime fans who've been with us since the early days, but for those of you who are newer to the TREW family, I thought I'd pull back the curtain on our 16-year journey with distribution and share the thinking behind some of our biggest strategic pivots.

The Beginning: Chasing Snow and Building Relationships (2009-2014)

When we started in 2009, we were exclusively sold through independent retailers. Ecommerce was barely a thing—certainly not at the scale we needed to build a sustainable business. I remember those early years vividly: months spent driving around the country in Harvey the gnaRV, knocking on shop doors with samples in hand, setting up at trade shows where we looked like the scrappy newcomers we were. Our first booth at SIA in Las Vegas was all galvanized pipe and furniture that we found at a local thrift store.

But here's what I learned during those road trips that shaped everything we'd do later: the best independent retailers weren't just selling gear—they were curators of their local mountain culture. These shop owners knew their customers by name, understood the specific conditions their local mountains threw at skiers, and could tell you exactly why one jacket worked better than another for their terrain. When we'd walk into a shop in Jackson or Whistler or Park City, we weren't just pitching product—we were connecting with people who lived and breathed the same backcountry obsession that drove us to start TREW.

Those conversations in ski shops taught us everything about product development. A shop owner in Tahoe would tell us our vents weren't positioned right for skinning. A retailer in the Tetons would explain why our pocket configuration didn't work with avalanche gear. Every piece of feedback made our next iteration better. By 2014, we had built a network of approximately 150 independent retailers and 11 international distributors—each relationship forged through countless conversations about what backcountry skiers actually needed.

While we continued fielding direct orders over the phone and through our basic website, our business was fundamentally built around wholesale distribution. At that time, it was simply the best way to grow a brand and get products to the people who needed them. More importantly, it was the best way to stay connected to the real needs of our core customer.

The Direct-to-Consumer Experiment: Innovation and Hard Lessons (2015-2017)

The shift came in 2015. We had just completed our first real fundraise to fuel our growth, and like many brands at the time, we were enamored with the idea of Direct-to-Consumer sales. Yes, there's a margin benefit to DTC (though it turns out that's not nearly as great as it looks on paper), but what really excited us was the potential for deeper connection with our customers.

We wanted to talk directly to you. We wanted to listen without any filters. We wanted to build great products together, with feedback loops measured in days rather than seasons. On the product development side, going DTC freed us up to do smaller production runs with quicker lead times, and we didn't have to worry about competing with our retail partners or conforming to their buying calendars.

So we went all in. We switched our distribution to exclusively through our website, betting that our messaging would be stronger and we'd make a bigger impact on the industry by doing something innovative and noteworthy with our distribution model.

For a while, it worked brilliantly. We launched several new product lines including our Nuyarn base layers and our Capow collection—products that might never have seen the light of day under traditional wholesale constraints. We could respond to customer feedback in real-time, iterate quickly, and maintain complete control over how our story was told.

But we quickly learned that scaling a DTC business requires ongoing fundraising and substantial capital investment in ways that weren't aligned with our values or our vision for TREW. More importantly, we realized we were losing something essential: those authentic connections with the broader backcountry community that independent retailers fostered so naturally.

The evo Partnership: Finding the Right Balance (2017-2024)

Our next evolution came in 2017 when we struck up an exclusive partnership with evo in Seattle—one of our favorite retail partners from the early days. For the next seven years, we built an exclusive collection for evo while they helped us reach a much larger audience than we could access on our own.

This was an incredibly fruitful period for TREW's growth and the maturation of our product line. Working with evo taught us how to scale without losing our core DNA. They understood our brand, trusted our product development process, and gave us the platform to reach customers we never would have found otherwise. We refined our PRIMO fabric technology during this period, perfected our fit across multiple body types, and learned how to maintain product quality at larger volumes.

But perhaps most importantly, the evo partnership proved that the right retail relationship could amplify rather than dilute our brand message. Their team became extensions of our own customer service philosophy, and their customers became part of our extended TREW family.

Coming Full Circle: Why Independent Retail Matters (2024 and Beyond)

Which brings us to our next phase: returning to independent retailers. Why now? Why go back to a model we left nearly a decade ago?

First, because we genuinely missed it. We missed the relationships with shop owners who became friends, the conversations with customers trying on gear for the first time, the feedback loops that only happen when you're embedded in local mountain communities. There's simply no replacement in the outdoor industry for strong independent retailers who understand their customers and their terrain intimately.

But there's a deeper strategic reason too. Our brand has evolved into something much more community-oriented, centered around physical spaces and shared experiences. Our TREW To You film tour has become a cornerstone of who we are—every fall, we travel the country with our films, meeting customers face-to-face, sharing stories, and celebrating the backcountry culture we're all part of.

Our new network of independent retail partners will enable us to host these events and reach a wider audience through this incredible community-building initiative. There is no online recreation of a PBR-drenched ski movie premiere, with frothing groms winning free pairs of skis, and proud filmmakers sharing their work in person. These shops become gathering points for local backcountry enthusiasts, and our products become part of a larger conversation about mountain culture and responsible backcountry travel.

What This Means for You

For our longtime customers, this return to independent retail represents a homecoming to our roots while maintaining everything you love about ordering directly from us. For newer TREW family members, you'll now have the opportunity to see, touch, and try on our gear before buying—and to connect with knowledgeable retailers who can help you choose exactly the right setup for your local conditions.

Most importantly, this evolution reflects our core belief that the best products come from the deepest connections with the people who use them. Whether that connection happens through our website, our film tour, or a conversation in your local ski shop, our commitment remains the same: building the most innovative, highest-quality backcountry apparel possible while staying true to the community that made TREW what it is today.

The mountains are calling, and we're excited to answer that call alongside both old friends and new partners.

If you have a favorite local shop that you think would be a great fit for TREW, send them our way at sales@trewgear.com or have them checkout out our wholesale form. We're always looking for retailers who share our passion for quality gear and authentic mountain culture.

Stay TREW, Chris

Read more recent Contemplations w/ Chris

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