Avery Truffleman

And so I was like, you know what?

Let me just put it beyond the room.

We'll call it an epilogue.

Just as a disclaimer, I mean, Jad and I are just talking on stage.

I'm talking off the dome.

This is not my normal rehearsed fact checked sort of thing.

So sorry if I made a mistake, especially if you're from Finland and I got parts of your history wrong.

If you're like, why is she talking about Finland?

Just listen, you'll hear.

Thank you so much.

That really means a lot.

It does not take a fashion journalist to tell you that everybody is wearing outdoor clothes more.

Look around you.

For years now, leggings have been pants, and runners have been dashing by you in increasingly more cyborgian, rain-proof shells.

Bankers and businessmen have traded blazers for Patagonia vests, and punks have swapped leather for camouflage, and even I, who vowed I would never wear sweatpants, ever, have been dressing like Sporty Spice.

Why are we all wearing outdoor performance gear?

Like why are we wearing Arc'teryx to like go to the grocery store and buy eggs?

This is Rachel S. Gross.

I'm a history professor at the University of Colorado, Denver.

And she is the author of Shopping All the Way to the Woods, How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America.