My Favorite Tahoe Brands

While the Tahoe area may be made up of small towns and unincorporated areas, that doesn't mean that we don't have some amazing local brands and companies. Here are some of my favorites.

Coalition Snow, Incline Village, Nevada
This ski and snowboard company Coalition Snow combines two of my favorite things: products for women by women and bright colors! Their motto "We Make Women's Skis and Snowboards That Don't Suck" gets right to the point.

"We're a bunch of ladies hailing from Lake Tahoe who believe that women's skis and snowboards shouldn't suck. Rather than wait around for someone else to design the gear we actually want to ride, we did it ourselves. It's that simple."

Coalition Snow

I supported their kickstarter last year, and I was rewarded with amazing leggings, a kickstarter-only tank top, a hat and adorable earrings. The leggings and tank top are perfect for yoga, and I love wearing the leggings under my snowboard pants for a hidden but awesome shot of color.

When I upgrade my snowboard in the next couple of years, I'll definitely be looking at Coalition Snow for my purchase. Plus, how adorable is this Queen Bee All Mountain Snowboard? P.S. If you sign up for their newsletter, you'll get a weekly dose of women in adventure news, highlighted with the Coalition Snow irreverent sense of humor.

Arcade Belt Company, Olympic Valley, California
I love these belts! I own two, and I'll be buying more as soon as I can justify the purchases of more Arcade Belts to myself.

"Arcade reinvented the most overlooked of accessories with a few sewing machines and simple ingenuity. Built with comfortable stretch materials and simple yet durable buckles, Arcade belts are designed for those that live by their own rules, choose quality over quantity and want products that fit their lifestyle."

Personally, I love the adventure belts - they're stretchy and comfortable, easy to adjust, and, since they have no metal, you don't have to take them off at the airport. They're perfect travel belts. The first one I bought was the heather gray Foundation. These belts are unisex, and I discovered that a lot of women's pants have really narrow belt loops, so it was occasionally a struggle to feed the belt through a couple of pairs of pants. (They always fit, I'm just a little lazy when it comes to belts.) Luckily, Arcade makes a range of belt-widths. I bought The Midnighter Slim in black, and it fits through the narrowest of lady pants belt loops.

Arcade Belts

Now that I'm well stocked on neutral belts, I have my eye on some fun colors! Greyson has The Blackwood, and I occasionally borrow that one. I think it's a prettier green in real life than in looks on the internet. Here are the ones I'm thinking about: The Larry Sherbert, The Del Mar, and The Drifter. Maybe I'll branch out for The Kate. P.S. Do you think I could pull off these suspenders?

Alanna Hughes Pottery, Truckee, California
Greyson got me one of Alanna Hughes gorgeous ceramic coffee mugs for Valentines Day last year, and it remains one of my favorite presents ever.

Alanna Hughes Bike Mug

“Aspects of Alanna's pottery are left unglazed leaving a window to view the natural clay body. Her work is modern with a twist into nature. By using bold and vibrant colors along with elegant shapes, her clay pieces are intriguing. Her pottery is food, oven, dishwasher safe and made to be used functionally.”

She makes beautiful mugs, platters, vases and other ceramic art that you can buy at Riverside Studios in downtown Truckee, and she often is selling her goods at local farmers markets and community events in the summer. She often has ceramics for sale on the Riverside Studios website, like this bike mug, similar to mine. You’ll have to come to Truckee to check out her full collection though!

bigtruck brand, Truckee, California
Hats from bigtruck are my go to gift for my non-local friends. I love their bright colors (sensing a pattern?), unique designs, ability to customize, and the fact that they are locally handmade.

My best friend Jodi, making a “hat face” in her birthday bigtruck hat.

"Rather than a business proposition, bigtruck brand was founded on a vision to create a movement and community connecting people through creativity and fun first. Since 2010, bigtruck has specialized in the design, marketing and manufacturing of hats. From it’s initial two men team, bigtruck has evolved from a small Lake Tahoe hat company into a global community that has chosen to reflect their passion for life in what they wear. With increasing demand, bigtruck continues to strive to inspire others to live life with a fun first mentality."

bigtruckhats

They have a few different basic designs: the classic with their quickly-recognizable logo, the og goggle kt22 (referencing Squaw Valley's classic lift), og om, og mcconkey (100% of proceeds go to the Shane McConkey Foundation), and happy sock beanie, among many others. While bigtruck has a ton of great hats available online, it's totally worth it to visit their hat bar in their Truckee location. You can customize a ton of the details or check out their on-site only hats that their designers cooked up.

These are just a few of my favorite companies that call the Tahoe area home. While most of their products are available online, if you're in the Tahoe area, I highly recommend you check out the local businesses that sell these awesome products. What are some of your favorite local brands? I'm always on the lookout for new products to try.

Note: I didn't get any free stuff or sponsorship to say nice things about these brands. I just like them that much. None of the links are affiliate links either.