VT clothing brand Thicket Adventure recently hit its Kickstarter goal of $30,000 after only four days.

By Delaney Fielder

Arwen Turner and Kara Hardman, founders of Thicket Adventure, recently hit their Kickstarter goal of $30,000 after only four days. With Thicket, Turner, who lives in Rutland and is director of the nonprofit Come Alive Outside, and Hardman created the Brecken pant — a plus-size hiking pant designed to fit all body shapes and sizes.

“I thought when we hit our Kickstarter goal, it would feel like the end. But then I realized this is actually the beginning,” Turner said. “Hitting the Kickstarter goal, all that really means is that we have enough money to get product out to 300 people, then we’ll have an additional amount of product we can sell on our website.”

The Brecken pant has been in the works for years, and using customer feedback, Turner and Hardman plan to make the product the best it can be before shipping it out to different stores.

“We have over 40 fit testers. It took us almost four years to finish the design. Part of that was because both of us have full-time jobs, and the pandemic, but the other part of that is to create a plus-size product that fits well — it’s a lot of adjustments. We had seven different prototypes,” Turner said.

While the plus-size apparel industry is currently the fastest growing market in apparel, a good grading measure doesn’t yet exist. Despite that, Turner and Hardman are determined to create the best fit for the pants.

“We have two different types of fits — we have a booty fit and a belly fit. We realized early on that we needed to create those because if we only had one fit, it wasn’t going to fit everyone. That was a really big challenge, because that means we’re going to have double the cost (for) creation and then double the cost for design,” Turner said.

Those two different fits set Thicket Adventure apart from the rest.

“There are other plus-size apparel companies, even in the outdoor field. What makes us different is we are really catering to true plus sizes,” Turner said.

Beyond just designing pants, Turner and Hardman have created and connected with a community of “plus-size adventurers,” as they say on their Kickstarter. Turner said she was inspired by the outdoorsy plus-size community she found but frustrated that she and the friends she was making had no option to buy technical pants.

“If it’s not in your size, then you feel like there must be some reason why I shouldn’t do this. And that isn’t real,” Turner said.

Abby Spiegelman, one of the fit models featured on the website and Kickstarter, spoke highly of both the pants and the community she found with Thicket Adventure.

“The community is even more versatile and comfortable than the pants. I’ve had trouble finding people I ‘vibe with’ since moving to Vermont. Arwen and her group are so welcoming, inclusive and fun,” Spiegelman said. “I know they’ll be supportive no matter what and it’s amazing to experience.”

Heather Johnson, another fit model, said she recognizes how special the pants are.

“There’s not many places to find pants for thicker bodies. When I wear the pants I feel empowered, confident and happy,” Johnson said.

Turner said timing has been their biggest challenge in launching the pants, but getting into outdoor retailer Moosejaw’s accelerator program was a great help in moving their business forward.

“If you’re an entrepreneur, you can apply, and if you get it then you get to go to Colorado for six weeks, and you meet with all these people that teach you how to launch your company. It’s really exciting we got chosen for that. The learning we’ve had from that has really helped us,” Turner said. “The former CEO of Moosejaw is actually on our advisory board now, so having that resource is worth — you can’t even put a number on it.”

Hitting their Kickstarter goal was a good way for Turner to pause and see how far they’ve come, even with so far left to go. But the Kickstarter and the Brecken pants are just the beginning.

“Thicket is important because it’s not just a product, it is a community. We’re not just equipping and helping larger-bodied people be comfortable outdoors, we’re also curating a space and encouraging them … to connect in the outdoors,” Turner said.

Delaney Fielder reported this story on assignment from the Rutland Herald. The Community News Service is a program in which students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.