Hitting Bedrock

It becomes obvious very quickly when a company is different. It’s not always a product thing; it’s a people thing. When it is clear that the people behind a brand are following a better path. Making product, distribution and manufacturing decisions that are about people and not just profit. It means designing for longevity and fixability, even if that means fewer sales. That might sound cliché, but it is sadly rare for a brand to put its values first. The footwear brand Bedrock seems to be doing just that and I was curious to know more.

I have friends who are connected with Bedrock, but I have never really met them. I have owned some early barefoot sandals from the brand and have followed the growth and evolution over the years. When you look at the company, it’s easy to see that it is not operating the same as other outdoor brands. I wanted to understand it better, and what I found is truly something unique.

When I reached out to Bedrock recently, the reply came back from Amy O’Hoyt, who runs marketing for the company and happens to be married to co-founder Dan Opalacz. It felt like a fitting introduction. Bedrock is still a small, tight-knit operation where the people building the product stay closely connected to the people wearing it. The product reflects that. Their sandals use multiple adjustment points that let you dial in fit in ways most footwear doesn’t. It’s the kind of detail you don’t realize you’ve been missing until you experience it. In a world where you can barely fix your refrigerator, Bedrock will repair your sandals if you send them in.

Bedrock gets pulled into the gorpcore conversation often enough, but talking with the team, you get the sense they’re largely uninterested in participating in it. The brand moves slowly, refining what already works rather than introducing something new each season. You can see that in the latest evolution of the Cairn, where changes happen gradually, informed by years of testing and feedback from people who actually use the product in the field.

We spoke with Amy about how Bedrock came together, how the brand approaches development, and what it looks like to grow without losing what made it worth paying attention to in the first place.

ACL: For anyone who doesn’t know the story, how did the idea for Bedrock come together?

AO: Dan started Bedrock with his buddy Nick back in 2011. They were both geology majors, and after college they went into AmeriCorps and got assigned to Humboldt County. They were counting spawning salmon, and Dan kind of has these notorious foot problems, his entire family does. They were in water all day. So they’re like, “Why are we wearing boots? Why are we wearing boots? We need a sandal.” And none of the sandals on the market at the time, which are now our competitors, fit what they needed.

Nick is awesome. If you ever have tinkering questions, that’s kind of the mad scientist behind it. They decided, “Well, let’s just make one.” The original sandal, which we still have photos of and actually have one in the shop, was just kind of like a huarache style. Everything was one continuous loop. They’re big into the biking world too, so they used tire rubber, some Vibram, cut around their foot, poked some holes, grabbed some string, and made a sandal.

They liked it and started tinkering more and more. Then I think people started saying, “What is that? Where can I get that?” This is back when, so 2011, Kickstarter was kind of starting to come up, and Instagram was having a payday before Facebook bought it. They started Kickstarter and it got picked up and spread widely, I guess now what we’d know as like going viral, and they sold a couple hundred pairs.

And that’s kind of how it began, with just them living in a van making it. And then in true dirtbag style, they moved to sailboats in the bay, then tiny houses. They had a factory where everything was made in-house up until 2019.

In about 2017, the Cairn came out, which is a sandal that kind of allowed us to go from this huarache style, really kind of hard to adjust, really for core barefoot people, to the Cairn sandal. And that took them, I don’t know, maybe five, six years to actually bring to market.

I remember us going to Outdoor Retailer and REI wanted to pick it up. And so that’s kind of when we started to become not just a business selling one sandal here, one sandal there. We were doing well, but for an REI order we had to get pretty serious about manufacturing.

And so I think that’s when we started realizing, okay, a big part of our success is streamlining manufacturing and the quality of manufacturing, and that’s still a huge pillar in the business today.

During COVID, we realized we had some barriers with the factories here. The factory we use also produces all the 3M products, and they stopped manufacturing the sandals because the government said, hey, we’ve got to manufacture masks and medical equipment. We realized there was kind of a weakness there for the future.

So we started sourcing different manufacturing facilities as our volume picked up, and found a lovely family in South Korea that we worked with for a few years. We created the clog with them, the Mountain Clog.

And then last year, well actually I’d say this year, so 2025, we have started our own manufacturing facility, which is awesome. It’s basically our way into securing the quality. Because it’s like big shoe over there, right, you’ve got all these big players, and our quantity is obviously not at Nike level. So you don’t get a lot of testing and a lot of samples. Where your control comes is being able to just non-stop sample and test, sample and test.

Specifically for Bedrock with Dan and Nick, I mean, for the clog, they tested for six years before they rolled that out. Creating our own manufacturing facility allows us to control absolutely every step along the way. That’s new for us. Customers probably won’t really see a difference beyond just better quality over time.

And then we also get to control the volume as well. Specifically for the Mountain Clogs, we have a hard time keeping those in stock in certain colorways. That became pretty apparent last year. We worked really hard this year, and hopefully by next year we’ll be able to control that stock level, so we won’t really have as many out-of-stocks as we do now.

ACL: When it comes to development, how do you choose what to work on next rather than chasing every new idea or request?

AO: It has always just been based on need. It’s been based on, what footwear do we need. The sandal was created that way, the Cairn was created that way.

And even though the clog had been thought about for a while, it really wasn’t until we got to Missoula, in that really intense four-year trial period of R&D, that the Mountain Clog came out of, “Hey, we need a closed-toe shoe. We can’t wear sandals year-round now.”

The products are really organic. It’s really cool to see, okay, we don’t believe you should have many of anything, but whatever you do have should work really well. It should be repairable. Every single thing of every product will be able to be repaired. You buy it at this price, and there’ll always be a heavily discounted price to send it back in.

That part of our business is growing huge. We just had to get another expansion for our resell and repair, which is so cool. It’s so cool to be able to give that option to customers.

ACL: So similar to Patagonia’s Worn Wear program in some ways.

AO: Yeah, that’s actually where it came from. Dan, when it was really early days of Bedrock and it wasn’t really making any money, he was working on website design living in his van, and he helped build Worn Wear, the very first Patagonia site, because he knew some buddies that worked for them. I think Foster was probably one of them, Foster Huntington.

And he worked with the team who developed that. I remember him saying they were so set, and they just wouldn’t budge on this rebuild, remake, repair mentality.

ACL: Do you factor customer feedback directly into product development?

AO: Oh yeah, absolutely. Testing starts with us internally. The testing size is always a size nine, randomly, funny enough. We’ve got a good rolodex of folks that we know are size nine, and for about two years prior we’re pumping out samples to folks, and they’re hiking the PCT, hiking the Arizona Trail, we’ve got somebody cycling Spain right now in a sample.

We’re tinkering all the time. If you’re ever in Missoula and you ever see us, always look at Dan and Nick’s feet because they’re always wearing two different shoes, or two different styles, or there’s a different buckle. Nick loves punching holes in things for some reason. People in town know it.

We have a very intense process of sending samples out. We involve people that we know are going to wear the s*** out of them. We just say, “Send them out, wear them down, send them back and tell us what happens.”

One cool thing about the repair business is that every single pair that comes in, Dan and Nick are looking at and inspecting. We’re seeing, okay, this guy hiked 3,500 miles. What held up well? What didn’t? And that’s this feedback loop.

When the Cairn first came out, we had Velcro on the back strap. It became apparent pretty quickly that Velcro is really tight, but if you’re in sand, like we had someone hike the Arizona Trail in it, it became really loose. So the next model, the Pro model, came out with hooks. That feedback came from a repair return.

We also have a three-person customer service team and a telephone line. Anybody can call in. We take customer service very seriously. Dan runs the Instagram because he gets to talk to customers. I told him the other day, “Why are you, get off Instagram, it’s like 9:00 p.m.” But it’s because he gets to answer customer comments, see customer comments, and I think that’s pretty unique. That seems the only way to do it, really.

ACL: Obviously Bedrock started firmly in the outdoor world, but people are now wearing them in cities and styling them with fashion pieces. How do you see that shift? What’s driven awareness more, gorpcore or thru-hiking?

AO: The clog was the first product where we really started to see that shift. I think it went viral a couple times on TikTok or we’d see it posted on a street blog, and that’s when we first heard the word gorpcore.

That’s just an area we haven’t focused on and don’t think we ever will focus on. So if we end up in that pool, we’re in that pool. But we ourselves are not just out running all day, right? Most people wearing them around town, especially the clog, wear them in a more casual way.

But it’s awesome that you can commute to work in the clog and you’re good to go. People wear them to weddings or whatever. It’s just a very versatile shoe.

I thru-hiked the AT and the PCT and then the Te Araroa in New Zealand. My hiking days were 2012 through 2014, and thru-hiking was still rising then. That was around the time Wild came out, the book and later the movie, and that influenced me too. There was a huge uptick then, and that was ten years ago.

I love that subculture of thru-hiking. It always meets the people who need it. You kind of fall into thru-hiking. We still have a lot of core folks who seek us out through that world.

Gorpcore was interesting because it threw us. It’s not an area we feel comfortable marketing to because that’s just not us. We don’t speak in fashion. Our decisions aren’t made that way. We’ve pretty much stayed on our path of just function.

It’s been interesting to see it happen, though. When you land in Vogue or see it on all these sites, or something goes viral on TikTok, you can directly link that to Shopify traffic going a little wild. Then you look into it and it comes back to a gorpcore-esque fashion influencer unboxing a pair of sage clogs.

That’s been really interesting, but it’s not something we feel comfortable pushing. Fashion is trendy, and trends would be so stressful.

ACL: Does that broader audience ever create tension between hardcore users and people who are mostly in it for the look? How do you approach that as a brand?

AO: We’ve thought about this a lot as we expand because we knew who we were. We knew who Bedrock was when we made these strappy little dinky sandals, our Classics.

When we brought the Cairn in, we had a lot of people say, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What?” But that opened us up to so many more people because not everyone could wear the Classics. That’s a crazy minimalist shoe. So we were able to bring more people into our family.

And then with the clog, same thing. “Oh gosh, don’t change. Please don’t change.” I think it comes from fear of growth. I have it too with brands I love. “Please don’t change. Please don’t sell out.”

But I think people realized with the Mountain Clog that the core DNA of the Cairn and of Bedrock is right there in the clog. We’re always going to have that, and we’re really sensitive to it because our core folks are who we are.

We continually talk about keeping that core DNA, those core beliefs and values. People will find us and feel comfortable with us. It doesn’t dictate our design or decisions. But we’re still really small. We hear everything. We know everything. So it’s something we’re always thinking about.

ACL: What’s something you’re learning from customers right now that’s influencing where you want to take the product next?

AO: The testing always starts internally. The testing size is always a size nine, funny enough. We’ve got a good rolodex of folks who are size nine, and for about two years prior we’re pumping out samples. They’re hiking the PCT, hiking the Arizona Trail, we’ve got somebody cycling Spain right now in a sample.

We’re tinkering all the time. If you ever see us, look at Dan and Nick’s feet. They’re always wearing two different shoes or two different styles, or there’s a different buckle. Nick loves punching holes in things. There are perforations everywhere on him.

We involve people we know will wear the s*** out of them. We just say, “Send them out, wear them down, send them back and tell us what happens.”

The repair business is huge for this. Every single pair that comes in, Dan and Nick are looking at it and inspecting it. We see, okay, this person hiked 3,500 miles. What held up? What didn’t? That creates this feedback loop.

The Velcro-to-hook change on the Cairn came from that. Someone hiked the Arizona Trail, the Velcro loosened in sand, and the Pro model came out with hooks.

We also have a telephone line. Anybody can call in. We take customer service very seriously. Dan runs the Instagram because he gets to talk to customers and answer comments. That interaction is really unique. It’s the only way to do it, really.

ACL: Sandals are one of those things that seem to have to do a lot with very little. Are there any small details you would point to in your design or construction that make the biggest difference?

AO: There are three things.

One is the Y-strap design. If you look at the Cairn, you see the Y, and that gives adjustability in three different ways. It makes it extremely adjustable, not just ergonomic.

A lot of sandals use a single strap system. You pull it and everything tightens. We had that with our original model and it loosened over time. Not every strap needs to be tight. Dan realized this early on when we were hiking in New Zealand, before the Cairn came out. We needed three adjustment points to fit any foot. With that system, I can fit almost anyone, age, size, whatever.

The second thing is the wing. Those side pieces used to be bar-tacked in. When we upgraded to the Pro model, the wing went all the way through. That one continuous piece gives it a lot more longevity.

We know the sole will wear down and that’s fine. That’s why you can repair it. But the areas you can’t repair, we make as bomber as possible.

The third thing we’re working on now is the toe post. Nothing really happens to it, but dogs love it. We get a lot of repairs for chewed toe posts. We’re working with a company that makes a material that’s actually bearproof. We’re seeing if we can use it for the toe strap, as long as it’s soft enough to go between your toes.

ACL: What do you think most people get wrong about sandals as real everyday footwear?

AO: When people see someone hiking the PCT in sandals, they stop them and say, “What’s going on?” As a thru-hiker myself, I wore trail runners because they dry fast. And that’s one of the biggest things with sandals. If you’re going the distance, it’s amazing to have something that dries quickly.

We talk about that with fly fishing, guiding, anything where your foot gets wet. Having something secure that dries fast is huge.

New customers often say they don’t like a thong strap. There’s this mental barrier between a flip-flop and the Cairn, even though a flip-flop is a thong too.

If I’m at a show and someone says they don’t like anything between their toes, I get them to try it on. Immediately they say, “Oh, okay.” A flip-flop puts all the weight on that toe anchor. With the Cairn, you get the full foot feel. People are surprised by how secure it feels.

You can wear it every day in the summer, or extend it with socks and do anything you want. Freedom is a big part of Bedrock. The freedom of your foot. You really do free your foot with the Cairn.

ACL: At this stage, how do you personally define success for Bedrock?

AO: First and foremost, success is being able to always take care of our employees. We have an amazing team here and an amazing team in South Korea.

A couple years ago, success became gaining more control over R&D. With our new factory in South Korea, we now have a complete R&D and testing facility. That’s a huge pillar of our success.

Manufacturing is also about keeping up with supply. Creating a product that’s absolute bomber, that people love, and then being able to meet that demand. That was success last year.

In 2026, success will look different. Rolling out new products, explaining them, managing customer service, manufacturing, and all the pieces.

It’s really cool to see Nick and Dan start a business from the back of a van. No one at Bedrock has worked in a big corporate environment. I think that’s a huge key to their success. There isn’t outside influence.

They make decisions from passion. It kills me sometimes, but they’re never based on money. They’re always based on what’s right for the customer and the product. I think that’s what’s going to bring us through next year. It’s going to be a big year, and I’m really excited to see how it goes.