Wild Rye's 10-Year Journey w/ Founder, Cassie Abel
GEAR:30
BLISTER
4.9 • 845 Ratings
🗓️ 24 July 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Wild Rye is about to turn 10 years old, so Jonathan caught up with Wild Rye founder, Cassie Abel, to ask her about starting this self-funded, women-focused, technical outdoor apparel company back in 2016, and what has & hasn’t changed in the industry over the past decade. They also discuss product development, fundraising strategies, and how Wild Rye has navigated massive trade challenges. Cassie is a very open book, and today, she shares lots of great stories and insights.
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TOPICS & TIMES:
What is Wild Rye? (3:23)
Changes Over the Past Decade (8:02)
Category Expansion (13:14)
Product Development (15:51)
Finding the Fit (18:21)
Independent Funding (21:59)
Lessons Learned from Fundraising (24:35)
The Impact of Tariffs (29:51)
Wild Rye Today (38:52)
Favorite Wild Rye Products (42:21)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everybody, welcome back to Gear 30 on the Blister Podcast Network, where we are very |
| 0:10.4 | proudly based out of Elevation Hotel right here in Crested Butte, Colorado. |
| 0:16.2 | I'm Jonathan Ellsworth, the founder of Blister, and you, as always, can check out everything. |
| 0:22.8 | We're doing and reviewing over at blisterreview.com and on our YouTube channels, Blister Review |
| 0:30.1 | and Blister Studios. |
| 0:33.2 | Wild Rye is just about to celebrate its 10th anniversary. So to mark the occasion, I caught up with Wild Rye is just about to celebrate its 10th anniversary. |
| 0:38.7 | So to mark the occasion, I caught up with Wild Rye founder Cassie Abel to have her |
| 0:44.6 | reminisce about starting this self-funded women-focused technical outdoor apparel company |
| 0:51.5 | back in 2016. |
| 0:58.6 | And we get into what has and hasn't changed about the outdoor industry over this past decade. We also discuss product development and fundraising |
| 1:05.8 | strategies. We also discuss product development and fundraising strategies. |
| 1:12.0 | We talk about how Wild Rye has navigated this whole extremely complex tariffs landscape. |
| 1:19.5 | And as you are about to see, Cassie is a very open book. |
| 1:23.5 | And today, she shares lots of great stories and insights. |
| 1:29.0 | Okay, now I want to give a shout out to a few of our Blister Plus members, |
| 1:33.2 | and that includes Sherry in San Francisco, California, |
| 1:37.9 | Nathan in Frederick, Maryland, |
| 1:40.4 | John in Santa Cruz, California, |
| 1:43.1 | Alex in Aptos, California. We've got Hillary in Jackson, New Hampshire, |
| 1:48.9 | Jonathan in Carbondale, Colorado, and finally for today, Clay in Enfield, New Hampshire. So if you |
| 1:56.7 | aren't sure why all of these fine folks are covering themselves with Blister Plus, well, then just |
| 2:02.1 | click the Blister Plus link in the show notes, and in less than two minutes, you will find out |
... |
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