Cassie Abel Of 'Wild Rye' Discusses Social Activism In The Outdoor Industry

Because why not take the strongest aspects of femininity (and heck, forget the gender roles, let's just take the best traits from the best women we know) and use it to fight recent damages to women's healthcare. 

Often, it's hard to speak up directly about hot-button issues, which is exactly why Wild Rye, a popular outdoor clothing brand for women, by women, just created yet another way to enact change, with their fourth benefit tee, “Ride Fast, Raise Hell.”

With this tee, Wild Rye hopes to raise awareness with 100% of net proceeds going directly to Planned Parenthood. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, women's reproductive rights and access to healthcare have been challenged in devastating ways—from abortion, to birth control access, and IVF.

Based in Idaho, the second of twenty one states to have restricted access to abortion, Wild Rye has already raised and donated $20,000 to Planned Parenthood and various state-level abortion funds. 

We caught up with Cassie Abel, the founder of Wild Rye, to chat about the makings of the new tee, Wild Rye's mission, and women's rights as a larger conversation in the outdoor industry.

See our conversation below.

Could talk a little bit more about the design on the T-shirt, and working with KaJay Rooke? 

"This is the first time that we've worked with a third party and we thought it was really fitting to work with one of our athletes who also happens to be a graphic designer. Our team came with a pretty solid idea of what we wanted. 

We had used the phrase "ride fast, raise hell" in the past, and in a very like basic, little script thing when we were trying to launch one of these shirts really, really quickly. 

We loved the phrase and we wanted to just make more of an impact with it. I can't remember quite how the kitty with the lightning bolt evolved. I think KaJay came back to us with a couple concepts and we meditated on it a couple times.

She was in New Zealand, biking, at the time. She just left our pro team summit here in Sun Valley and went straight to New Zealand as we were like trying to pull this design together back in February."

Wow. She seems like a pretty jack of all trades type of person. 

"Yeah, she's a big freeride mountain biker. She's also a great snowboarder. And, she travels across the country to participate in freeride events. 

She also started the event Thunderstruck, a jam-style event and opportunity for women to ride together and progress as a team instead of against each other. It happens on the East Coast, where KaJay hails from. Thunderstruck happens around Memorial Day. It's a cool event. 

We love her because not only is she a total badass on a bike, and super hilarious, and a talented artist, but she's also a community organizer. She's bringing more women into the sport of cycling and just getting women outdoors and inspired."

So rad. Wild Rye talks about how everyone should stand for necessary healthcare. Why do you feel that is a conversation that should be had by everyone, and not just women? 

"In our last iteration we actually had unisex silhouettes. This particular silhouette is more women specific. That said, we will most certainly continue to do our best to have shirts that are more unisex. We believe that women need allies in our male counterparts. 

I have so much respect for men that actually stand up for things like this. We have a few men on our team, and they're just as committed as the rest of us. 

But from Wild Rye's standpoint, as a brand that's predominantly for women, we feel that it is absolutely our place to stand up for women's rights and reproductive rights. It's not something that we can just ignore and let go without a lot of rage ."

Yeah. It's upsetting. What is the best thing for people like me, or someone just reading POWDER, to do to help the cause? Obviously this is also a time to talk about your amazing donations to Planned Parenthood because, well, money talks. 

"It really does. Donations are certainly amazing if you're in the position to make one. 

Planned Parenthood is an incredible organization. Emily's List, which isn't necessarily a nonprofit, but it's a group that works really hard to get female candidates who are pro-choice into office. 

Emily's List is an organization that we looked at supporting through this T-shirt. Unfortunately it's not a nonprofit, but they're an incredible organization in general. Standing up, making your position be heard, and trying to bring other people in the community in. 

This has been a taboo topic because it's so politicized, but it shouldn't be politicized. It's healthcare, but it can be scary for women to stand up and speak out and state their position on this. Or people in general. 

I know I was really nervous to press send on our first email when we launched our very first benefit tee back in the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passing."

The bomb shirt. 

"Yeah, the bomb shirt ."

Do you think people in the outdoor space are in a specific position to speak out about these topics? Or is it just a coincidence that those two interests, social justice and outdoor recreation, are colliding? 

"I wouldn't say that it's a widely spoken about topic in the outdoor space. I wish it was more so. I wish more brands would stand up for women in the same way that they do for fighting for environmental protections and other social justice initiatives. 

The outdoor industry is more progressive than a lot of other industries, so it feels like a safer place to speak out on some of these politicized topics because there's not as much of a risk of losing like the core of our customer base.

That said, we've certainly gotten responses. 

But you know, we as a team are all on board. I think that's what makes us unique too, is that our whole team believes wholeheartedly that this is the right thing to do for our community, for our ourselves, for us as a brand. No one's put into an uncomfortable position and having to respond to those messages while not believing in the position that we're taking.

I mean, it's not without backlash, ever. No matter what you stand up for, whether it's planting trees or reproductive rights, someone's going to have an opinion."

In a perfect world, what would you like to see from the outdoor community or as an end goal with these projects? 

"I'd love to see other brands and organizations with platforms stand up for this. Women make up 46% of outdoor recreators. And what happened in Arizona is barbaric."

I didn't see that yet. 

"Arizona just reversed their legislation on access to abortions to a law that dates back to like, I think it's 1864 something. Before women were allowed to vote .

I think the only exception is if a woman's life is in danger. So it's basically zero weeks.

"It's just getting worse. It was a complete coincidence that we launched it as this happened. But yeah, I'd like to see more people use their platform and their voice to speak out and help raise money for the organizations that really know their way around legislature and Washington and the state-level lobbying and law making, because that's a place where I can't contribute, but I can contribute dollars to support the people who do."

That's so disappointing to learn that. Are there any final thoughts that you want to share?

"Wild Rye is a brand that definitely puts our stake in the ground and speaks out for what we believe in, but we don't believe it should be at the expense of enjoying our lives. We're always gonna speak our mind and have a strong stance on things, while having a heck of a good time. 

What I'm most excited about this shirt is that I just feel like it is fiery and fun at the same time. It's just an incredible way for people who aren't as comfortable speaking super outwardly to show solidarity and join us on this fight for reproductive healthcare in a more subtle way if that's where they're more comfortable.

We want to be able to donate as much as we can. Plus, having the symbolic nature of people across the country rocking these awesome shirts is awesome."