THESE PANTS WERE MADE FOR HIKING

■ If you’ve ever scoured retail racks, recreation-focused apparel brands have been slow to bring plus-size clothing to market, which advocacy groups say hinders equity in the outdoors. Enter Alpine Parrot, a Denver-based online clothing shop that 36-year-old Raquel Vélez founded with the mission to make outdoor apparel solely for women sizes 14 to 24. Fueled by her own retail woes, Vélez’s two-year-old company designed its debut offering, the Ponderosa Pant, to be both fashionable and functional. As Vélez sees it, making britches in more inclusive dimensions makes the outdoors more accessible, no matter your size.