We respectfully acknowledge that KORE’s head office is located on the unceded territory of the Ktunaxa, who have occupied these lands for more than 10,000 years
KORE is a Kootenay-based, non-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to makers and creators in the outdoor manufacturing sector. It’s the craft gear from here. We’re attracting investment, furthering a new business sector, and adding to the funky/sophisticated cultural and economic milieu of the Kootenays.
We love wilderness, being in nature, and a life on the edge. We crave adventure. We are relentlessly creative. We support grassroots movements, locally made craft goods and hand-built innovation. We need to be authentic leaders and participants in the Kootenay community. Economic and environmental sustainability is of massive importance. Most importantly, we connect Kootenay craft gear creators and makers.
KORE’s “core” initiative, to attract the outdoor industry to start up or relocate in the Kootenay region of British Columbia to create and grow a cluster of outdoor gear makers and product designers.
The Kootenay region of British Columbia is a hidden gem which many in the outdoor industry are not familiar. The KORE Discovery Initiative will bring potential brands, designers, creators and media into the Kootenays to discover the lifestyle amenities and industry support and resources available to incoming outdoor businesses.
A robust network of outdoor gear builders, designers and creators is currently organically thriving throughout the Kootenays. The KORE Connection is an initative to bring together the outdoor industry with quarterly meet-ups for idea sharing, networking and collaboration.
KORE is working with the College of the Rockies to identify labour market needs and workforce skills required for the next generation of gear builders and designers and to create a Kootenay Outdoor Industry Hub and Directory.
KORE is collaborating with the College of the Rockies (Cranbrook) and the Selkirk Technology Access Centre (STAC) in Trail to open the door for KORE’s gear makers to access fabrication technology for product design and rapid prototyping.
Coming in the future, a KORE Trailhead co-op workspace hub for designers, makers and creators.
It’s one of the world’s more renowned mountain regions. That rare combination of wilderness, distant peaks and funky little towns that connect the dots in between. Born from a passionate history of pioneering and exploring the mountains, Kootenay craft gear makers are not afraid. Just like the adventurers of the Kootenays, they welcome exposure, they’re not afraid of getting out there and taking a chance.
Our people are passionate and innovative, they just don’t stop. And they do it humbly, they’re nitro-fueled creatives, they’re artists, wilderness seekers, oddballs. They’re the outliers, the doers. Meet the entrepreneurs, designers, innovators and creatives who are the center of Kootenay Craft Gear.
