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The best women's gear news and reviews We’re on a mission to close the gender gap in our bylines and up the number of women’s gear reviews we publish, so we hired a freelance reporter to look into our progress. Also this week: Learn yoga basics, and check out our favorite Hawaiian shirts. How does
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Coverage of gear for women isn’t very good. Sure, there are some exceptions to this rule, but all too often, men are writing about women’s products—or the stuff is being ignored completely. Outside is guilty of this, too, though we’re making a concerted effort to become more inclusive and to balance our coverage so it more fairly represents all our readers. That’s why we’re launching Dawn Patrol: to bring fair, honest women’s gear coverage to your inbox every week.
We need your help to make this coverage a possibility. At Outside, we’re fortunate to have incredible partnerships with key brands in our industry—but advertising can be fickle. We know readers will need to play a bigger role in our business in the future. Direct reader relationships will help us tell better and smarter stories—free from outside influence. That’s why we’re asking you to pay $5 a month to subscribe to Dawn Patrol. Every dollar spent will go back into publishing more in-depth reviews on women’s gear, both behind this paywall and on Outside.
At the start, we’ll be doing a weekly update every Tuesday with exclusive reviews and gear news. As a subscriber, you’ll be able to access it by email and through Substack’s website. You’ll also be able to send the team questions about the products we’re reviewing and receive personalized answers from our editors. Our goal is to increase our publishing frequency. But we’re open to ideas! Think we need a members-only Facebook group? Want us to host an in-person event? Let us know! Email us anytime at dawnpatrol@outsidemag.com.
Because you’ll get a special members-only discount. In your welcome email, we’ll be sending a coupon code for use on Moosejaw.com (thanks, Moosejaw!). It’s good for 10 percent off full-priced items, plus free shipping on all orders over $35. Fair warning: the offer is valid through March 13. So sign up ASAP.
(Exclusions: Yakima, Western Mountaineering, Merrell, Patagonia, Scarpa, The North Face, Arc'teryx, Hilleberg, Canada Goose, GoPro, Prana, Garmin, Thule, Yeti, Brooks, Burton, and Big Agnes.)
Dawn Patrol is a group effort. On a daily basis, it’ll be run by executive editor Axie Navas and online managing editor Abigail Wise. Digital general manager Scott Rosenfield is leading the Substack partnership and is heading up our new digital subscriber and member initiatives. Axie has been at Outside for four years and is the former editor of the Buyer’s Guides. She’s now the lead editor of the website—and a damn good cyclist and skier. Abigail Wise is the founder of Sticks & Stones, a newsletter about the outdoors, women’s issues, and badass women doing outdoorsy things. Abby co-founded Adventures in Wikipedia, a series of editathons aimed at getting more women from the outdoor industry into Wikipedia. She’s also a rock climber and runner. Scott’s been an editor at Outside for five years, most recently running the website, and is a slow but enthusiastic cyclist. Special thanks also goes to social media manager Jenny Earnest, who is leading our promotional efforts, and email marketing director Jessica Cepek, the brains behind all of Outside’s many incredible newsletters (which you should absolutely subscribe to).
You can read a subscribers-only update in email or on Substack. If you click through from your email, you will be automatically logged in. If you come to Substack separately, you can log in through the Membership page.
When it comes to the free posts, spread them as far and as wide as you like, on whatever platform you currently prefer. Occasionally forwarding a subscribers-only email is OK.
For the first month, Dawn Patrol will be free for everyone (though we’d still love for you to subscribe). Once we’ve heard from readers and used the feedback to tailor our approach, we’ll begin publishing Dawn Patrol behind the paywall. At that point, you’ll need to subscribe to read the stories.
We love the magazine. And we plan to have it cover even more women’s gear. But this is a separate product, and we need your support. Please consider helping us make Dawn Patrol a reality.
We need your feedback to make this work! Shoot any and all ideas to dawnpatrol@outsidemag.com
Yes, we do! You can find them all on our signup page.
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If you'd like, help spread the word about Dawn Patrol.
