Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we give our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems.)
Hiking is one of my all-time favorite activities. Nothing can kill my vibe when I’m trekking through a picturesque Colorado forest miles away from the city and cellphone service. That is, until nature calls.
Every wilderness woman has a story about going off-trail to find a spot where they can relieve themselves without exposing the light of a full moon to other recreationists. Sometimes there are consequences. One of my most memorable experiences involves getting a dozen mosquito bites in places where the sun doesn’t shine.
Luckily, one Colorado company has set out to solve this conundrum with innovative pants – and more recently snow gear – that allow ladies to urinate outside as freely and discreetly as their male counterparts.
Founded in 2018, Gnara apparel company patented a design with a zipper that runs all the way up the backside of its bottoms, enabling women to go to the bathroom without taking their pants off. Gnara launched its first product, the Go There Pant, in 2019 before adapting its so-called GoFly Zipper Technology to hiking shorts, leggings, stretchy athletic shorts and overalls. (The company has been based in Gunnison since 2022.)
The concept was inspired by co-founder and CEO Georgia Grace Edwards’ experience working as a glacier guide in Alaska in 2016. Every time she needed to pee, she had to walk long distances and hop crevasses to find privacy. Eventually, she stopped drinking water so she wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom, which is equally as dangerous.
“I realized it wasn’t just a problem for me, but it’s actually a problem for 56% of women in the U.S. who have self-reportedly had a bathroom accident outside in the past year,” Edwards said. “As a glacier guide, my job was to be responsible for other people’s safety and I was harming my own physical performance to try to solve this, which was putting everyone on the glacier at risk. That’s why it has stuck with me for so long.”
Determined to bridge the gender clothing gap, Edwards purchased a pair of kids’ ski pants, fabric, buttons and Velcro, and created a prototype. At the time, she was attending Middlebury College in Vermont and taking an entrepreneurial class that helped her develop a solid business plan. All that laid the groundwork for what would eventually become Gnara’s flagship product.
There were plenty of iterations along the way, however. The first draft of Edwards’ pants featured eye-catching crotch zipper colors like pink, yellow and lime green. Today, the most important aspects of the design are what make the zippers comfortable and inconspicuous, such as a flap on the buttocks to disguise the zipper as a normal seam. There’s also a flap of fabric on the inside so wearers can comfortably go commando.
I bought my first pair of Gnara hiking pants this winter, and while I have yet to put them to use in the wild, I can confirm they are functional and easy to unzip. They even have large pockets that my phone fits into, a rarity for women’s pants.
What I’m most excited about, though, are Gnara’s newest products: a ski bib made in partnership with snowboard icon Burton and compatible base layer bottoms, which are currently available for pre-order for $398 and $98, respectively. Edwards said Gnara has almost always offered new products via pre-order to manufacture sustainably, in terms of materials, inventory and the business’ overhead expenses.
For Edwards, the collaboration marks a full-circle moment. The first product she wanted to manufacture was a ski bib, but because of the cost, she pivoted to make pants, which are more accessible and useful year-round.
“It’s really meaningful that Burton was willing to give this a chance and test it out with us and legitimize it in a way that proves that the GoFly and performance-driven gear for women aren’t niche things. They’re universal and super necessary,” Edwards said.
Her last point speaks to the need for innovation in women’s fashion. Wearing pants was long considered a female faux pas in professional settings. It wasn’t until 1969 that an elected official, Rep. Charlotte T. Reid of Illinois, wore pants on the House floor for the first time, according to The Washington Post. As recently as 1993, wearing pants on the Senate floor constituted an act of protest in favor of gender equality.
Edwards said that stigma is why there have been relatively few inventions for women’s bottoms, though she receives resounding support when she tells people about the GoFly zipper.
“I know I’m not the first person to think about this functionality,” she said. “Most women from the inception of pants til now have considered this and several people have tried to do it in different ways. I think they were just ahead of their time.”
Gnara’s mantra is #PeeFreely, and you can do so by shopping at gnara.com.
