As Head of Sustainability for Outside Interactive and longtime gear editor, Hostetter shapes conversations about environmental responsibility in recreation. Her work at Outside Online merges technical gear analysis with climate policy reporting, offering unique insights into corporate accountability.
Successful pitches demonstrate:
Kristin Hostetter stands as a transformative figure in outdoor journalism, blending gear expertise with environmental advocacy across her 25-year career. As Head of Sustainability at Outside Interactive, Inc., she’s redefined how media organizations address climate action while maintaining rigorous gear reporting standards.
This investigative piece decodes corporate sustainability claims through five actionable verification steps. Hostetter employs her gear-testing methodology to assess environmental marketing, creating a consumer checklist for validating eco-labels. The article’s lasting impact appears in updated FTC Green Guides and REI’s vendor sustainability requirements.
Detailing Outside’s nonprofit partnership program, Hostetter outlines strategies for aligning corporate resources with grassroots environmental efforts. The analysis reveals how 80 million monthly users can drive small-dollar donations through targeted content integration, citing a 37% increase in donor conversion rates when pairing gear reviews with conservation calls-to-action.
"Diversity initiatives fail when they’re treated as marketing campaigns rather than operational overhauls."
This paradigm-shifting analysis audits inclusion practices across 12 major outdoor brands. Hostetter’s rubric for measuring meaningful DEI progress has been adopted by the Outdoor Industry Association as part of their corporate accountability reporting standards.
Hostetter prioritizes advancements in recycled/recyclable materials that have passed rigorous certification processes (e.g., Bluesign, Fair Trade). Her coverage of Patagonia’s NetPlus™ yarns exemplifies this focus – pitches should include lifecycle analysis data and partnerships with certification bodies.
Stories must demonstrate year-over-year reductions in Scope 3 emissions or innovative carbon sequestration partnerships. The 2023 analysis of The North Face’s renewable energy initiatives set a benchmark for including supplier audit trails and energy attribution certificates.
Hostetter spotlights programs that empower local stakeholders through revenue-sharing or co-management agreements. Successful pitches reference specific metrics like indigenous leadership percentages or habitat restoration acreage tied to recreational access.
Rather than one-off diversity hires, she seeks transparent multi-year workforce demographic reporting. The 2022 investigation into guide service certification programs emphasizes the need for inclusion metrics in guide training curricula.
Proposals should connect legislative efforts to outdoor business coalitions, similar to her coverage of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Economy Act. Include data on job creation potential and access permit reforms.
Awarded by Outdoor Media Summit for spearheading Outside’s carbon-neutral certification process while maintaining editorial independence. This dual role recognition – as both corporate sustainability officer and journalist – remains unprecedented in outdoor media.
Her manual Backpacker Magazine’s Complete Guide to Outdoor Gear Maintenance and Repair revolutionized consumer approaches to product longevity. The judging panel noted its unique combination of technical diagrams and environmental impact calculations per repair.
This coalition of 47 outdoor brands eliminated 28 million single-use plastic units from supply chains within 18 months of launch. Hostetter’s white papers on compostable packaging alternatives are required reading in REI’s vendor onboarding program.
