A few years ago, I set a goal for myself that any new clothing I buy should be either compostable or recyclable. That is, it should be made of entirely natural materials that will biodegrade without lasting effects, or the company that manufactures it should commit to taking it back at the end of life to be recycled. Since then, I’ve discovered a number of ethical clothing companies as well as cottage industry manufacturers attempting to make their mark.

AppGearCo: 100% Alpaca Wool Clothing

One of these was Appalachian Gear Company, based in North Carolina. Their signature item was the All-Paca Hoodie, made of 100% Alpaca wool. If you’ve never worn alpaca before, it’s a bit like merino:

it’s an excellent thermoregulator (keeps you cool when it’s warm and warm when it’s cool)
it has natural odor resistance
it’s fairly lightweight
it pulls moisture away from your skin

Unlike merino, though, it doesn’t require harsh chemical treatments to smooth the “scales” and prevent shrinkage over time (unlike merino), making it scratchier but more eco-friendly. The only other downside I can think of is that it smells like a wet dog when you get it wet. Despite this, the hoodie was a hit on launch and won numerous gear awards in its first year. Since then they’ve refined the fit and added features to make it more wear-resistant. It cost quite a bit (over $160), but everyone I’ve talked to who wears one says it was worth the price. Eventually, they launched other products including a blanket, sleeping bag liner, hats, and ponchos. They had a “8020” line of base layers, which were lighter weight and much less itchy due to the 20% Tencel content.

If you wanted to buy any of these products, you had to either follow them on social media or basically check their site every day, because whenever they put up new inventory, it sold out within hours or days. Then, you had to wait a few weeks for them to ship everything out. Sometimes, they would send me an email to say that they found product defects with a batch and had to give me a refund. I was more than patient with them. I knew this wasn’t Amazon; this was a cottage industry company trying to innovate with an uncommon material and a small team while keeping manufacturing in the US. I can’t speak for all their customers, but in a world dominated by fast fashion and cheap overseas manufacturing, those facts meant a lot to me.

On the plus side, these small batches meant that each one had different color combinations, some of which were pretty cool!

The “Sedona Stripe” All-Paca Fleece Blanket, which keeps me warm when the weather is cool

Earlier this year, AppGearCo launched a new line: AlpaLite, made from a mixture of nylon and alpaca wool. I didn’t buy any because, again, mixing synthetics and natural materials is a no from me. But they still seemed to sell well; up until a few months ago they only had a few left in stock. They also ran a few sales. I assumed they were about to launch a new batch once the sale was over, but…that never happened. I checked the site sporadically, and all it said was everything had sold out, both mens and womens. I assumed that they were moving warehouses or something and would post their inventory again once they had settled in. Weeks went by, then months, without any updates. Then, about a week ago, I went to the site and saw this Shopfiy message, which is what you’ll see if you go there now:

”Something went wrong, this store is unavailable” -> RIP

This confirmed what I had suspected for a while: Appalachian Gear Company was no more. I did a quick Kagi search to see if there was any official update from the company on social media. I found a Reddit post, which linked to a TikTok video, which confirmed that the company had shut down a few months ago.

My takeaway here is that long-term profitability for a company in their position was a Herculean task. They were trying to innovate with uncommon (expensive) materials and a unique manufacturing process. If that wasn’t enough, they chose to manufacture everything in the US, which only added to their expense. But such is the nature of innovation: you need to fail a few times before you (or others carrying on your mission) can succeed. I wouldn’t call the company a failure, though; they created a foothold for otheralpaca outdoor performance gear makers to use. Hopefully Arms of Andes can carry on in their place. For now, pour one out for Appalachain Gear Company (2018-2024). Genuinely one of the good ones. I hope to see their influence again somewhere.

One more AppGearCo story: Last year I ordered a poncho and hoodie from them to bring with me backpacking in Glacier National Park. They took a while, as they eeeeeee do, but this time took a bit longer than normal. At that point I was a few weeks out, so I sent them a message explaining the situation and asked if there was any way for them to get it to me on time. Within a day, I received a response saying that they should be able to get it to me in time. I ended up receiving the gear the day before I left, and it served me well on that trip and many trips afterward.

By the way, if I was hesitant to part with my AppGearCo products before, now I am absolutely not getting rid of them until they disintegrate.