How Salomon and Hikeish Are Working Together to Get Diverse Communities Outdoors

Peter Verry
·4 min read

Salomon has entered into a partnership with a New York-based organization aimed at getting diverse communities outdoors.

The popular outdoor brand, through its Salomon Foundation — which is committed to elevating diverse and underrepresented communities — has teamed up with Hikeish, a Brooklyn-based organization. Hikeish was founded by Benje Williams and Ken Bernard, who are also the co-founders of Outlandish, a Black-owned outdoor store in Brooklyn and a retail partner of Salomon.

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The Salomon Foundation, which donates to 16 organizations globally, confirmed Hikeish is the first North American group that it is supporting.

“What attracts us most to the partnership is the potential reach that the organization has, and thus the size of its impact,” Jennifer Horowitz, campaign marketing manager of run and outdoor at Salomon North America, told FN. “Hikeish runs programming twice a month in partnership with other like-minded organizations who want to see more Black, Indigenous and POC get outside. Through our partnership, we have the opportunity to bring the outdoors not only to Hikeish’s core community, but to the communities of these additional organizations.”

Horowitz confirmed the Salomon Foundation will support Hikeish in several ways, which includes monetary donations to offset operational costs.

Hikeish was launched by Williams and Bernard to encourage diverse communities in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to get excited about the outdoors, and give them the resources to do so. Arguably the biggest roadblock to the outdoors for those in the Tri-State area that Hikeish works to solve, according to Williams, is transportation and accessibility.

“There are a lot of forests and landscape to explore but getting there is difficult because public transportation doesn’t go to many of the trailheads,” Williams told FN. “One of the biggest advantages that Hikeish provides is offering shuttle buses to the trailheads so they don’t have to worry about logistics. We have drivers who take them there and bring them back.”

Greater access, according to Williams, would add more diversity to an industry that has severely lacked it historically.

“We’re only the fourth Black-owned gear shop out of almost 5,000,” Williams said. “We make an effort to carry Black-owned and women-led brands in our store, but there are very few of those as well. My hope is that as people continue to get outside through Hikeish and continue to see Black entrepreneurs in the outdoors industry, they feel like they belong and feel confidence and that there are more enterprises, projects and entrepreneurial efforts that start to happen.”

Williams identified access to gear and equipment as another barrier to entry. Through this partnership, the Salomon Foundation and Hikeish will offer a Gear Locker program, which will provide Salomon shoes on-loan for events and in-person support. Also, the program will include free Salomon shoe demos before every hike.

Salomon confirmed its new X Ultra 360 Edge shoe will be available in the Gear Locker program.

“People have this idea of imposter syndrome and we want to help people overcome that by giving people gear they feel comfortable in and having them work their way up to a professional level or professional image of what a hiker is,” Williams said. “That’s something we’ve tried to do as an organization, as Outlandish, just through our communications but to actually have something physical to provide to people feels like it’s taking that to the next level.”

Horowitz said the partnership will go through 2024, and the brand is looking to expand it moving forward.

“Through this partnership, we hope to set up Hikeish as a leading changemaker organization in the greater Tri-State area,” Horowitz said. “We want to see a shift in the perceived culture and representation of people who enjoy recreating outside, and further install the messaging that the outdoors is for everyone.”

Williams, too, hopes this partnership will become a multiyear program.

“Hopefully, we can bring in new collaborators, like at our launch hike [on Feb. 18], which is with an organization called Tristate Hikers. It’s a Caribbean woman who started it a couple of years ago. It’s fun to do collaboration hikes with them because it feels like we are bringing more people under the umbrella of the Salomon Foundation,” Williams explained. “We are trying to make the Hikeish ripple effects as wide as possible and bring in as many collaborators as possible.”

Aside from the aforementioned hike, Hikeish will host a one-year anniversary party for Outlandish on Feb. 16, which includes a 5K with several area run groups, shoe demos, a drop of Outlandish merch by Salomon and more.

About the Author

Peter Verry is the Senior News and Features Editor for Athletic and Outdoor at Footwear News. He oversees coverage of the two fast-paced and ultracompetitive markets, which includes conducting in-depth interviews with industry leaders and writing stories on sneakers and outdoor shoes. He is a lifelong sneaker addict (and shares his newest purchases via @peterverry on Instagram) and spends most of his free time on a trail. He holds an M.A. in journalism from Hofstra University and can be reached at peter.verry@footwearnews.com.

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