Ever wondered why io doesn’t go on sale more often?

As Outsiders, we pride ourselves on doing things a bit differently, and we know the people who like us and our products, understand and appreciate that. So we thought we’d take you behind the scenes and let you know how and why we’re a bit different to some of those other companies.

If we could sell cheaper, we already would.

Some big companies make their gear for next to nothing, set their prices high, and make a stack of profit. Dropping their prices by 40, 50, 60 or even 70% means they’re still making money. Plenty of money. Because that’s all a lot of big companies care about. So you probably shouldn’t be overly impressed when they’re on sale, you should be asking why they sell for so much more the rest of the time!

Premium fabrics & construction mean less room to discount.

Synthetic fabrics can be made super cheaply. Even so-called fancy fabrics with made up names that sound like they’re going to make you better at what you do, can cost a fraction of what our premium, natural, merino fabrics cost. Using premium yarns and fabrics means our fabric alone probably costs more than their entire garments. Much more. We’re happy with that, but it means we don’t have as much room to discount which is why we tend not to do it as often or by as much. Most of our garments also have things you probably wouldn't even appreciate - unless they weren't there. Like flat-lock seams. They're the smoother seams that sit more comfortably against your skin without digging in and can only be done on certain machines in certain places and yep, you guessed it, it costs more to make stuff that way. If all we cared about was money, we'd ditch those details and pocket the difference, but we do care, so we don't.

Shop our premium, natural Aussie merino outdoor gear right here

We’re a family business, not a corporation.

Most of our competitors have been bought out by big business in recent times - not mentioning any names, but if you do the Google thing you might just find your other favourite brands are now owned by some big investment company who probably don't give a damn about the outdoors. Which makes us even more of an underdog and genuine industry Outsiders. We produce in smaller batches, and our production process is very hands on, compared to them. We are also super selective about where we produce our garments. No sweat shops, no unethical production, close personal relationships with everyone in every part of our production process. Because that’s the way we like it. Even if it makes things a bit more expensive and gives us less room to discount. We’re one big happy family.

If we could sell for less, we already would be.

At the risk of stating the obvious, every company has a cost to make their products, plus a profit margin to keep everyone employed and keep things going, to come up with a price we sell at. We keep our margins and prices as lean as possible every day. It might not seem like it, and we won’t bore you with the details, but when you use premium ‘ingredients’ like we do, costs are much higher, and we’ve already set what we think is the fairest price possible for every product. We don’t set them knowing we can afford to discount them later and sell them for less.

Shop quality outdoor clothing, made from premium 'ingredients'

We don’t do a new colour or style every time the wind changes.

Obviously we try and make our clothes look good, but we have a smaller range than many companies, which means we’re not constantly looking to replace colours and styles. We make the essentials and keep our ranges simple. We’re more about performance than fashion. If we haven’t sold everything by the end of the season, we don’t really care, we just sell the same thing next season as well. Because it will still be just as natural, just as ethically made, just as comfortable, and perform just as well. We know some people love ‘fast fashion’ and want the latest colours and designs, but it’s just not how we roll, so we’re not constantly producing new things just for the sake of it.

Shop our smaller range, with awesome colours, and phenomenal performance

We’re for the Outsiders.

We know we’re not for everyone, and that’s fine. But we know most of our customers care about the same things we do. Comfort. Performance. Natural products. Ethical production. That’s why we go the way we do, why we go on sale less, and why Outsiders who know, go with io.

Do things differently, go with io