The trails are thawing, the bikes are coming out of storage, and with Earth Day around the corner, somewhere in the back of your mind you're thinking about what kind of shape the planet is in while you're out enjoying it.

We think about it too, all year round. Here's how that plays out in how we run Wild Rock.

Equipping You With Intention

There are a lot of outdoor gear shops out there, and most of them carry the same stuff. But we don’t put brands on our racks and shelves just because everyone else does. There’s a careful consideration that goes into every brand we bring to Wild Rock.

Durability is one of those considerations. Gear that lasts five or ten years instead of two means less waste, fewer replacements, and better value for the person using it. Our brands design for repair, offer replacement parts and solid warranty programs, and build products that can be used over many seasons. Patagonia is a great example (we’ve carried them from the very start!): they've spent decades proving that you can build things to last, stand behind them for life, and push the rest of the industry to raise its standards. That kind of commitment is really important to us.

How things are made matters just as much. Clothing and gear production is an intensive process with significant environmental impacts. We actively support brands who are actually working on the impact of production, by considering materials sourcing, water consumption, chemical use and by-products of manufacturing processes, energy efficiency, and worker safety. That can also include reducing harmful chemicals (like PFAS), shifting to safer alternatives, and minimizing waste throughout production. In the bike world, Trek has been a consistent leader on sustainability across manufacturing and product lifecycle.

Third-party certifications and standards can help here. They offer independent verification of how products are made, rather than relying on a brand’s own claims. It’s not the only thing we look for, but it’s a useful signal alongside brand-led efforts to improve transparency and accountability.

Then there’s materials innovation. We’re probably all familiar with Patagonia’s recycled fishing net fabrics, where discarded fishing nets are turned into shorts and jackets. But many of our brands are lowering their impact in different ways, from using fabrics like lyocell, bamboo, and recycled fibres, to removing harmful chemicals like PFAS from waterproof gear, to finding new construction methods that avoid glues (like Keen) or make products easier to recycle. Cotopaxi, for example, builds packs from deadstock fabrics, which would otherwise end up in landfill.

It’s worth noting that Canadian sourcing plays into our thinking too. Working with brands closer to home often means shorter supply chains, reducing the emissions required to bring goods to our store. And, of course, it helps to grow our economy right here in Canada.

The short version of all this is that we're choosy. If you’re spending your hard-earned money with us, we want to be able to stand behind what you take home. And so, every product on our floor went through someone's honest evaluation of whether it belongs here.

Building Community & Investing in the Places We Play

Wild Rock has been here in Peterborough for more than 30 years, and we’ve been committed to supporting this community from the very start. That's meant direct donations, volunteering, sitting on boards, supporting local clubs like the Peterborough Cycling Club and the Peterborough Pirates Youth Triathlon Club, and bringing people together through events like our annual Banff Mountain Film Festival screening.

We believe that healthy outdoor communities depend on healthy human communities. A thriving local outdoor culture depends on strong recreation infrastructure and a strong social support infrastructure. 

The ComPassion Project is how we’ve formalized that idea. It's an endowment fund founded by Wild Rock co-founder Kieran Andrews, administered through the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough, supporting six local partner organizations. Three on the social side: YES Shelter for Youth and Families, One City Peterborough, and Fourcast Addiction Services. Three on the land and recreation side: Kawartha Land Trust, Peterborough Trailbuilders Association, and Peterborough Bicycle Advisory Committee.

One of the most valuable things we can do is put these organizations in front of our customers. We have a platform, and it's our responsibility to use it well. When we shine a light on what these groups are doing and what they need, your response is overwhelming, every single time. More than we could ever manage on our own.

Sustaining Outdoor Culture

Wild Again

Wild Again launched on April 11, 2025 to a flurry of trade-ins from excited staff and customers. The first item out the door was a Marmot kids' rain pant for $40. In the year since, 2,909 items have been traded in, 574 brand samples have come through, and we've sold 2,230 pieces of quality used gear.

It’s a simple idea: good gear shouldn't sit unused in a garage. Maybe someone finishes their first season of backcountry camping and realizes it's not for them. Or a kid grows out of a perfectly good rain jacket. Skills develop and gear gets upgraded. Wild Again is the system that keeps that equipment moving instead of sitting in a closet or heading to landfill.

It also makes participation easier. We want to see more people go out and play on bikes, in the woods, paddling on our waterways. Quality used gear at a lower price point means more people can afford to get started.

In environmental terms, putting 2,230 second-hand items back into use has a real impact. 990kg of CO2 avoided and 607,200 litres of water saved, to be exact*. That's almost the equivalent of one return flight to Mallorca, Spain, and enough water to fill 3000 bathtubs. Not bad for year one!

You can trade in gear in store, or order a Closet Cleaner bag and mail it in from anywhere in Canada. In return, you get Wild Rock credit toward something new or new-to-you, and if you want, you can put that credit toward the ComPassion Project instead.

* Calculations use ThredUp's Life Cycle Assessment methodology for secondhand apparel

Our Own House

Last year, Wild Rock won Leadership Outside the Box at Green Economy Peterborough's 2025 Leadership in Sustainability Awards for our work on Wild Again. We also picked up an Honourable Mention in Innovation from Green Economy Canada, a national network of 250+ organizations. We're really proud of that, but day to day is where the biggest changes are made.

Take, for example, getting to work. Our staff walk, bike, ride a motorcycle, and sometimes ski when the snowfall allows for it. Those efforts keep 4 tonnes of greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere every year. They're small habit changes, but they keep our crew healthier, and mother nature too.

On the energy side, Wild Rock has been a Bullfrog Power customer since 2007. We’ve avoided nearly 500 tonnes of CO2e over those years, 362 from renewable electricity and 133 from green natural gas. That’s the equivalent of 215,567 litres of gasoline, not burned. Co-Pilot Scott runs his home on Bullfrog too. Once you've made the decision at the store level, it's a pretty easy one to carry home.

Photo: Rob Arkell accepts the award from Connor English of the Peterborough DBIA and
Jackie Donaldson of Green Economy Peterborough

The broader picture comes from our work with GreenUP through the Green Economy Peterborough program, where we've been a founding member and a certified Green Economy Leader. We've been tracking our emissions since 2018, and they've guided us in making significant reductions along the way, including some decisions that weren't easy.

Photo: Clara (GreenUP Energy Manager), Scott, and Rob on a GreenUP energy assessment walkthrough

GreenUP is developing a first-of-its-kind energy assessment for small businesses, eventually available to businesses across the country. Wild Rock is helping co-design it from the ground up. And we're honest about where we still have room to go. Green natural gas offsets are a useful tool, but they're a stopgap and we know it. The goal is to keep reducing, not just offsetting.

The Whole Picture

We’ve spent 30 years living by our values. Choosing gear for how it’s made and how it lasts, investing directly into our community in lots of different ways, and making an ongoing effort to reduce our own footprint.

Overall, we are optimistic. More brands are doing serious work on how things are made, and the bar keeps rising. That’s good for everyone.

When you shop here, you’re part of that work.

Go out and play.