Inspiring Conversations with Cooper Johnson of Outpst.co

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cooper Johnson.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Outpst started about two and a half years ago out of my college apartment in Boulder. I was finishing my degree in Environmental Studies and Business while working full-time as a sales engineer for a large corporation. At the same time, I was dealing with some injuries — I had recently broken my back and torn my ACL.

Anyone who has gone through injuries knows it puts you in a weird place mentally. I wasn’t in the best headspace. I didn’t enjoy my job, I was ready to be done with school, and it felt like my career as a competitive skier might be ending right as it was getting started.

Around that time I was gifted a sewing machine. I had always had the itch to make my own clothing, and suddenly I had the time to try it.

The beginning was brutal. I was watching YouTube videos trying to figure out how to even thread the machine. I’d finally get it threaded, sew for about thirty seconds, bird-nest the whole thing, and have to start over. That cycle repeated itself for about two weeks. After probably twenty attempts at making a hat, I finally made one I was proud of.

Product #1. I still have it to this day.

Once I got cleared to ski again, I started wearing it everywhere — to class, around town, on the slopes. Friends, classmates, and even strangers in lift lines started asking me where I got the hat. At first I was just making them for friends and shipping a few out here and there. Eventually I realized I probably needed a website and some sort of marketing.

When I logged into Instagram to create an account, I discovered an old profile I had completely forgotten about. It was called Outpost.

That took me back to 2017 when I was a junior in high school trying to start my first business. I was really into photography and being outside, and I decided to start a small company selling stickers and water bottles. I called it Outpost, based on the idea that an outpost allows you to venture further into the wild — it’s a place that supports exploration and helps people go deeper into the places they want to be.

The name stuck with me.

Because of trademark issues I changed it slightly to Outpst.co, but the idea stayed the same.
During that first year I was still in college, so I was sewing hats whenever I had time between classes and meetings. I would do small limited drops simply because that was all I had time to make. There weren’t even logos on the hats yet. While all of that was happening, I was also trying to figure out what the brand actually stood for. I didn’t want to just make hats.

Spending time in the ski world, especially while trying to compete, I realized how exclusive and judgmental the culture can sometimes be. Skiing — and the outdoors in general — should be the opposite of that. It should be something that welcomes people.

Skiing is one of the most fun things you can do, and in my opinion it’s also a gateway into the rest of the outdoors. It leads to hiking, climbing, running, rafting, hunting — all the things that make people fall in love with being outside.

That realization really shaped what Outpst has become.

The goal was never just to sell hats. It was to build something that encourages people to explore more, to get outside, and to create a community around that idea.

Now, about two and a half years later, Outpst has grown into a small but growing outdoor brand rooted in skiing and the mountain community. We’re still building it piece by piece, but the core idea hasn’t changed — make good gear and build a community that makes the outdoors feel more open and accessible to everyone.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No road is ever really smooth, especially when you’re building a business.

The funny thing is the first year actually felt pretty smooth. I didn’t have goals, projections, spreadsheets, or any real structure. I was just making hats, selling them, and shipping them myself. It was pretty simple and honestly pretty fun.

The real bumps started when I decided this wasn’t just going to be a side project anymore — it was going to be my career.

That meant setting goals, building projections, figuring out how to scale production, and eventually building a team. None of that stuff is easy. In a lot of ways you just have to bite off more than you can chew and then figure out how to chew it.

As the brand has grown, the challenges have grown with it. Outsourcing manufacturing was a big one. When you’re used to making every product yourself, handing that process off and making sure quality stays where you want it is a huge learning curve.

Product development has also been a challenge — figuring out sizing, testing materials, and allocating money into products when you have no guarantee they’re actually going to work. You’re constantly balancing risk and making sure you still have enough capital to get through the next production cycle.

Seasonality has probably been one of the biggest challenges. Fleece hats sell great in the winter, but they don’t exactly fly off the shelves in the middle of summer. So we’ve spent a lot of time researching and developing products that make sense for warmer months without stretching the budget too thin.

This winter has been an interesting one too. It’s hard to sell fleece when it’s 70 degrees in January, so we’ve had to get pretty creative with marketing and how we approach things.

Overall though, the growth itself has been pretty smooth. The reality is just that building a business is a long, winding road with plenty of bumps along the way.

My job is just to keep the rig moving forward and make sure it doesn’t run out of gas.

We’ve been impressed with Outpst.co, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Outpst is based in Aspen, Colorado and rooted in the ski and outdoor community here. We specialize in fleece hats, brimmed hats, fleece hoodies, sweats, and other gear built for people who spend a lot of time outside.

But at the end of the day, Outpst isn’t really just about the products. We’re a brand for the people, by the people, and we try to actually live by that. A lot of what we do revolves around supporting the community that supports us.

That can look like sponsoring events like Radical Wednesdays, where the local community packs into the local movie theater every Wednesday in March to watch retro ski films together. Or projects like the Brimmer Bracket, where we let our Instagram community submit and vote on hat designs and the winning design earns commission. We’ve sponsored college kids who wanted to go on road trips and document the adventure, and recently we built something called The Logbook, which is a storytelling platform where our community can share their own outdoor stories.

Another big part of the brand is keeping things local. Over 95% of our products are manufactured in Colorado and more than 90% of the fabric we use is sourced in the US as well. Keeping production local lets us stay closely connected to the process while supporting the same mountain communities that support us.

Storytelling is also a huge piece of the brand. Most of our collections tie back to a place, an environment, or an experience outdoors. Every product has a story behind it. And if a collection doesn’t, it’s usually because our community asked for it — so we made it.

We also try to support up-and-coming skiers and creators who are chasing their own goals in the outdoor world. Again, it all comes back to community.

The thing I’m most proud of is that when someone looks me in the eye and says, “So you sell clothes,” I know it’s a lot more than that. We’re building something rooted in inclusivity, community, and getting people outside. The goal has always been to inspire people to explore more, be who they are, and give a damn about the things that actually matter.

The clothing is just the vehicle that helps make that happen.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I’d probably describe myself best as a conservative risk taker.

You can’t really be an entrepreneur without taking risks. Pretty much everything about building a business involves uncertainty. With Outpst, I’m making decisions that involve risk almost every day — whether it’s investing in a new product, committing to a production run, or trying something new with marketing. You never fully know how things are going to play out.

A big part of entrepreneurship is just biting off more than you can chew and then figuring out how to chew it.

That being said, the “conservative” part of that mindset comes from always trying to think a few steps ahead. If you’re going to take risks, you need to have backup plans — plan B, C, D, all the way down the alphabet if you have to.

One thing I try to keep in mind as Outpst grows is that we need to be able to scale down just as quickly as we scale up.

A lot of businesses fail because they experience a burst of growth and immediately try to match it — they hire more people, spend more money, and invest heavily into expansion. Then the growth slows down, revenue drops, and suddenly they’re stuck with expenses they can’t support.

So I try to be careful about over-allocating capital too quickly.

This winter was actually a good example of why that mindset matters. It’s pretty hard to sell fleece hats when it’s 70 degrees in January. If we had overextended ourselves expecting a perfect winter season, the business could’ve been in a tough spot.

So for me, risk is necessary — it’s part of building anything. But managing that risk and making sure the business can survive the unexpected is just as important.

Pricing:

• Hats: $35-$43
• Hoodies and Sweats: $125
• Mittens: $30
• T-shirts: on sale for $24
• Custom orders starting at $18/hat

Contact Info:

• Website: https://outpst.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outpst.co/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566036510478
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/112112996/admin/dashboard/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@outpstco

Image Credits
Photographers: Sam Axness, Avery Hericks, Jordan Curet, Chris Anderson