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Made in Colorado (Spring 2024): River Station Gear
Jason Caligaris Jr. started River Station Gear with girlfriend Jodi McConnell in 2021 with a simple mission: Make white water rafting colorful.
Eric Peterson //April 11, 2024//
Photo courtesy of River Station Gear.
Photo courtesy of River Station Gear.
Made in Colorado (Spring 2024): River Station Gear
Jason Caligaris Jr. started River Station Gear with girlfriend Jodi McConnell in 2021 with a simple mission: Make white water rafting colorful.
Eric Peterson //April 11, 2024//
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All Made In Colorado’s featured companies have at least one thing in common: They all make products in Colorado.
It underlines the sheer breadth of the products made in Colorado. While the Colorado manufacturing base is not as established as places like the Rust Belt and the Southeast, it is also unconstrained by tradition and underpinned by innovation.
And that might be exactly what the domestic industry needs as it rides a winning streak fueled by the return of manufacturing from China and other overseas locales — no matter whether it lands in Detroit or Kremmling, Colorado.
River Station Gear
Outdoor Accessories
$100-130 Retail
Website: www.riverstationgear.com
Cañon City native Jason Caligaris Jr. started River Station Gear with girlfriend Jodi McConnell in 2021. McConnell was sewing for Oveja Negra, a bikepack manufacturer in Salida, and its colorful products led them to question the limited palette of whitewater gear.
“We were like, ‘Why is no one making hot pink rafting gear?’ It just started that simply,” Caligaris explains. “We made one bag and sold it, and just kept going.”
Using high-quality materials, McConnell and Caligaris sew most of the products themselves, with a pair of bags worn around the waist driving sales. They opened a brick-and-mortar store that sells products from River Station Gear and other brands in Cañon City in late 2023, with plans to move production into the space by summer 2024.
“It’s behind other outdoorsy towns like Salida and Buena Vista, but it’s definitely headed in that direction,” Caligaris says of Cañon City.
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