GoLite

Specialties

Since its founding, GoLite has remained true to its roots with one primary obsession: to bring to market simple, beautiful, high performance products that let people experience nature more with less. GoLite is also committed to building a truly sustainable business, one that minimizes its environmental impacts and produces its products in factories that are fair, safe, and non-​discriminatory. GoLite products are now available in 23 countries worldwide.

History

Established in 1998.

GoLite founders Kim and Coup had found their first opportunity in years to escape the paper-​pushing, fluorescent-​lit bustle of city life. A fun-​filled backpacking trip in New England — alleluia! A float plane deposited them and their humongous backpacks at a lake near Monson, Maine, at the southern end of the Appalachian Trail’s One Hundred Mile Wilderness, it was August 1994. In order to return to the real world in time to keep their jobs, they needed to hike ten miles per day. Their back-​breaking loads had turned their desperately-​needed holiday into a nightmare. There come moments in life when you realize that there just has to be a better way. For Kim and Coup, this was that moment. They launched GoLite in July 1998, and after an initial introduction of an integrated system of 12 ultra-​lite backpacking products, GoLite now offers a full range of lightweight, innovative and sustainable apparel and equipment designed specifically for outdoor athletes.