Bight Gear Marks ‘100 Million Vertical Feet’ of Development and Testing

Bight Gear, a specialty outdoor apparel brand named after the bend in a climbing rope, announces its products have undergone 100 million vertical feet of human-powered testing since its brand inception. Bight Gear gear development come by way of a roster of 60-plus RMI Expeditions guides directly contributing their end-user experience into the final designs, said the company.

“Bight Gear is a labor of love, led by a small team of mountain-crazed craftspeople obsessively dedicated to one goal: reducing suffering in the mountains,” said Peter Whittaker, CEO and founder of Bight Gear, RMI Expeditions, and Whittaker Mountaineering. “We set out to make the best alpine workwear that exists, and we take that role seriously through focused testing, feedback, and implementation.”

Whittaker’s mentality coupled with the brand’s 100K Promise to test every product a minimum of 100,000 vertical feet makes Bight Gear unique in a sea of outdoor-apparel brands, said the company. Prototypes that can’t survive at altitude are retired.

“There have been a number of instances where we were particularly excited about a product that just didn’t deliver on the mountain,” says Whittaker. “But in staying true to this process, our swath of guides let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly. They don’t hold back and we don’t want them to. All pieces have passed our 100K process, developed into a promise that we as guides can rely on and in turn, you can rely on.”

Much of the lineup features Polartec innovations, including NeoShell, Thermal Pro, and Power Stretch Pro. The all-new Swelter Jacket features Polartec’s PowerFill with 80% post-consumer recycled plastic.

Learn more about Bight Gear’s rigorous R&D processes here.