Outdoor USA Magazine

Lowepro is now offering the Flipside 500, a backpack built for sports, adventure and outdoor photographers who carry a large lens.

The Flipside 500 provides secure storage space for professional-sized camera gear, including a 500 mm lens and extra room for accessories and personal items. When attached around the hips, the backpack can be swung around to easily access the rear-entry compartment with smaller padded partitions dividing the inside to keep gear from colliding.

Vancouver, BC – Westcomb has unveiled its newest innovation, the Shift Neoshell hoody. The world’s lightest Polartec Neoshell jacket at just 11 ounces, Shift sheds its weight by using 2-ply seam tape and featuring 20 stiches per inch top-stitchless construction.

The innovation comes not only in the technical specs of the jacket but also in its aggressive manufacturing strategy which saw the Shift go from inspiration to delivery in less than three months.

Following the debut of its first Men's footwear collection for Spring/Summer 2012, Skora is launching its women's collection for Fall/Winter of this year.

The footwear has been designed to encourage running performance that is as biomechanically correct as possible, with minimal interference. Their Realfit last and customizable upper fit are designed to provide a user-adjustable experience.

Schoeller and Clariant worked with Under Armour to employ its Coldblack technology in the apparel brand's Coldblack sportswear collection. The Coldblack technology was developed for advanced UV protection and reflection, to minimize absorption of heat rays in dark clothing.

While light-colored textiles reflect both visible and invisible rays of sunlight, dark ones absorb both. The Coldblack finishing technology reduces this absorption of heat rays, particularly in darker-colored clothing. The result is improved heat management, protection from UV rays and a wider design palette for athletes who compete outdoors.

Kit Crawford, co-CEO of Clif Bar, is launching a 200 calorie or less, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy free bar this June called Kit's Organic fruit and nut bar. The newest snack bar reflects Kit's lifelong passion for organic food, her active lifestyle and her experience with sustainable farming.

Each of the first four flavors (Peanut Butter, Berry Almond, Cashew and Chocolate Almond Coconut) contain only four to six total ingredients. The simple, organic bar can appeal to those consumers with sensitive diet restrictions. Kit's Organic bar will retail for $1.59 each.

Merrimack Canoe Company will launch a collection of canoe styles made from eco-friendly woods just in time for the summer. The company, in business since the 1950's, will be introducing new canoe styles for the first time in 18 years.

SylvanSport, manufacturer of the Go adventure pop-up camping trailer, is working to prevent Chinese company, Wuyi Tiandi Motion Apparatus Co. from selling copycat product.

A lawsuit has been filed against Columbia Sportswear by Eugene, Oregon-based Innovative Sports. The plaintiff alleges that Columbia breached non-disclosure agreements and misappropriated trade secrets.

The lawsuit specifically claims that Innovative Sports designed and developed technology for heated clothing and disclosed those designs to Columbia Sportswear through confidential meetings and business relationships covered by non-disclosure agreements. Two Washington companies are also being sued in the lawsuits by Innovative Sports, The Allyn Group and NCS Power.