5 Reasons to Buy Used Outdoor Gear from REI Co-op

Have you overly wanted to try something new outdoors, like car camping or an overnight backpacking trip, but were intimidated by the forfeit of ownership all new gear – like a tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad?

Or what if, without ownership all that new gear, you decide that sticking to day hikes is increasingly your jam and now you’re stuck with a tuft of gear you don’t know what to do with?

We’ve got good news — you can shop the REI Re/Supply used outdoor gear site instead! Outdoor enthusiasts can score gently used, pre-loved products including backpacking tents, camping gear, hiking boots, and increasingly at a hefty discount!

The gear variousness comes from REI returns, as well as items that are traded in by other REI members. Since this gear is used, this ways that inventory is constantly changing, so plane if you can’t initially find what you’re looking for, alimony checking the site.

Buying used outdoor gear is a unconfined way to be a increasingly eco-conscious outdoors person – and moreover save money so you can upkeep increasingly for your outdoor adventures. As devoted REI Members, we’re stoked that our favorite outdoor retailer is making it plane easier for the Co-op polity to get used versions of the weightier gear on the market. Below, we share the top reasons to shop REI Co-op’s RE/Supply used gear site.

1. Ownership Used Outdoor Gear is Cheaper

It’s no secret that ownership secondhand outdoor gear will result in a lower price and for some items, this could be a big price difference. Price is one of the biggest barriers of entry to the outdoors since gear can be expensive and adds up quickly when you’re new to the outdoors or to a specific outdoor activity.

Even though enjoying the outdoors is often self-ruling or inexpensive, getting the proper gear definitely isn’t, and if you’re trying to save money or simply can’t sire a uneconomical item, ownership used outdoor gear is the way to go.

At REI Used, they sell pre-loved, gently used items from name brands like Patagonia, The North Face, Arc’teryx, and increasingly that have been closely inspected, so you can still score quality items for a fraction of the cost. Some of these items have only been worn once or twice, and finger scrutinizingly trademark new!

Instead of dropping a lot of dough on expensive new gear, save your money to splurge on an incredible trip.

Here are a few of our favorite sections to scan on REI’s used gear site. Act now considering these items have limited availability and trammels when often considering the misogynist gear is rotating often.

Used Backpacking, Hiking & Camping Gear:

• Sleeping Tons & Pads
• Day Packs & Backpacking Packs
• Tents
• Camp Furniture

Used Outdoor Apparel:

• Women’s Hiking Boots | Men’s Hiking Boots
• Women’s Hiking Pants | Men’s Hiking Pants
• Women’s Base Layers | Men’s Base Layers
• Women’s Jackets | Men’s Jackets

Buying used cuts lanugo the high-cost windbreak of entry to the outdoors

2. Used Outdoor Gear is Better for the Environment

As outdoor enthusiasts, sustainable living and reducing our environmental impact is top of mind to ensure we are doing our weightier to protect our oceans, rivers, mountains, and our planet as a whole. It is no secret that the health of our planet is in danger between rising global greenhouse gas emissions, warming temperatures, rising ocean levels, and deforestation. As individuals, it can be nonflexible to know what we can do to slow lanugo this trajectory and stupefy change, but there are easy ways to transpiration everyday ownership habits and make an impact by reducing our consumption.

The retail industry is the second largest polluter in the world, right without the oil industry. Equal to REI’s website, one garbage truck’s worth of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second. From water and air emissions to discharges from factory operations, shipping, and more, the production of new outdoor gear leaves a hefty stat footprint, whether we like it or not.

Although many outdoor gear companies, including REI, have begun to implement positive changes like reducing waste, harnessing solar, utilizing organic and recycled materials, and lowering water consumption, creating new gear still has a big environmental impact.

So instead of going for that new pack straight away, trammels out what might once be in REI’s used gear shop just waiting to be found. Shopping for used camping gear gives a second (or third, or fourth) life to gear that might otherwise end up in a landfill. Plus, equal to REI, buying used instead of new typically avoids stat emissions of 50% or more. Switching to used outdoor gear gets you what you need and moreover minimizes your environmental impact at the same time – win-win!

Buying used gives gear a second (or third!) life

3. Ownership Used Outdoor Gear from REI is Convenient

REI’s Used Gear website makes the unshortened ownership process user-friendly by curating used outdoor gear in one place and making it easy to shop and order online.

Garage sales, thrift stores, and sites like Craigslist have been virtually for years to find deals on secondhand outdoor gear, but it takes time to find what you’re looking for (if you’re worldly-wise to find it at all!), and product quality is not guaranteed. REI used gear has been inspected for quality and it’s easy to scan the site and find exactly what you’re looking for.

There are four condition levels for items sold online through REI’s used gear program – excellent, lightly worn, moderately worn, and well worn. Items are discounted equal to their condition level and most items sold online are in spanking-new condition or lightly worn.

Among the gear that’s up for sale, REI’s used gear section includes a wide variety of footwear, like hiking boots, climbing shoes, winter boots, running shoes, and more. What’s the goody of ownership a previously-owned pair of shoes, you might wonder? Well, they’ve once been cleaned and wrenched in for you – what a time saver!

Just think of it as if someone had washed-up you the favor of walking virtually in your new hiking boots to soften them up — which, in a way, they kind of did. The new weightier blister prevention for outdoor footwear? Ownership a used pair. And don’t worry, you’re not going to find an old pair of stinky used shoes like you might be imagining, just gently used ones that still have plenty of life in them.

We’ve personally bought items from REI’s used gear site including hiking boots, insulated jackets, baselayers, and hiking backpacks, and have been increasingly than happy with everything.

Imagine ownership hiking boots that are once wrenched in!

4. You Can Try Out Something New for Less

All the research in the world can’t replace the value of time and experience. Until you’ve gone out on a multi-day backpacking trip or overnight kayaking trip, you won’t really know what kind of gear works weightier for you, or if you plane like the activity! Before fully committing to a new outdoor worriedness and spending a lot of money investing in new gear, why not buy used outdoor gear to test out?

Buying used outdoor gear, expressly if you are new to the outdoors, relieves the pressure and your expectation to make the perfect purchase every time. Don’t get us wrong, we think you can get pretty darn tropical and plane nail it with the gear advice we share here at Bearfoot Theory, but ownership used outdoor gear makes the process of trying out new products or outdoor activities a bit easier and less of a risk. Plus, if it doesn’t work out, you can still trade in your used gear with REI’s trade-in program and receive REI credit toward your next piece of gear!

Used gear is perfect for beginners testing new outdoor activities like backpacking

5. REI Used Gear Can Be Returned

REI used gear can be returned up to 30 days without purchase, so you can shop knowing you’re covered if it doesn’t end up working out. How user-friendly is that?

Maybe you didn’t get the size quite right or the hiking boots you ordered aren’t a good fit for your feet. No worries – you can hands initiate a return online and mail your purchase when for a full refund.

How the REI Used Gear Program Works

If you’re once an REI Member, you know that they have the weightier return policy in the outdoor industry. So what happens to that gently used gear that didn’t work out for the last person? The REI Used Gear Site is where it is now ending up. REI inspects the gear for quality to ensure all product features (like zippers or snaps) are in working condition. Then, it will rank the item into four variegated condition levels:

• Excellent: Practically new; likely never worn outside
• Lightly Worn: Trail-tested a few times; minor wear visible
• Moderately Worn: Used for a season; visible wear
• Well Worn: Wrenched in; visible wear

The condition of the item can be found directly whilom the “Add to Cart” sawed-off on REI’s website. Items are priced equal to their condition level and all items have plenty of venture left in them. Items that are in “excellent” condition may have only been used once or twice, so when you think of it like that, some of the “used” gear is practically trademark new! So trammels it out, save some money, and then explore our Destination Archives to plan a trip with the money you have left over.