Awards
Well+Good Changemakers 2023
“I can’t wait for a future that focuses on lifting us up instead of tearing us down: ‘10 Bird Songs To Listen for on Your Next Hike’ sounds a whole lot better than ‘10 Ways To Lose 10 Pounds,’ don’t you think? I want to live in a world where I’m celebrated, and I know I’m not alone.” —Raquel Vélez
Outside Magazine: 2021 Outsider of the Year
Vélez has big dreams for Alpine Parrot....“I want to be as big as Patagonia for plus-size,” [Vélez] says of her business’s future. “I want to be able to cover every single activity that people of size do. Which, it turns out, is all of them.”
Popular Science: Best of What's New 2021
Clothing companies typically approach plus-size offerings as simply scaled-up versions of smaller sizes, an approach that fails to recognize that a person’s proportions may not simply be a larger version of a size six. The Ponderosa Pants not only come in sizes 14 to 24, but...
Outside Magazine Gear Guide: Editor's Choice Award 2022
The soft, stretchy, nylon-elastane fabric moved with our bodies without tearing at the seams as we high-stepped up boulders on the rugged North Carolina section of the Appalachian Trail. It was even stretchy enough for us to sit cross-legged by a campfire without...
Reviews
Features
- Outdoor Retailer Magazine: "Size Matters"
- Outside Business Journal: "Real outdoor pants, for real outdoor women"
- The Wall Street Journal: "Plus-Size Fitness Fans Call for More-Inclusive Sports Gear, Equipment"
- Sisu Magazine: "The Pitch: Alpine Parrot"
- BusinessDen: "Kickstarter for women’s plus-size outdoor apparel raises $50K"
- Hike It Off Magazine: "Alpine Parrot's Roots"
- Mappy Hour: "Meet the Creator of the Newest Plus Size Hiking Pants"
- Denver7 ABC: Live on the Morning News
- 5280 Magazine: "Alpine Parrot Is Making Hiking Pants for Curvy Girls"
- Backpacker: "If We Want the Outdoors to Be Inclusive, We Need Inclusive Gear Too"
- Boulder Weekly: "When ‘plus-size’ is average, why consider it niche?"