Published June 9, 2026 02:00PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
At Outside, we have a lot of respect for the engineering lab\u2014so much so that we built one ourselves in partnership with CU Denver. But if there\u2019s one thing we\u2019ve learned over years of testing, it\u2019s that labs are only one part of the equation when it comes to developing groundbreaking, innovative gear. The other half? The human element\u2014the unique preferences of testers, the real-world scenarios where people use (and abuse) gear, and the nit-picky feedback from individuals who are highly attuned to how their bodies perform.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The human element drove our conversation during the Built Better panel at the Outside Days Industry Conference.<\/a> Brooks trail athlete and Olympian Anna Gibson<\/a> and climber and adaptive athlete Maureen \u201cMo\u201d Beck<\/a> joined Brooks Chief Product Officer Carson Caprara<\/a> and The North Face Senior Technical Equipment Designer Luke Matthews<\/a> to discuss how athlete insights shape product development. Because Anna and Mo push gear to its limits on a daily basis, they offer invaluable insights to product experts like Carson and Luke. The result: Gear that was born from individual feedback, but performs better for everybody.<\/p>\n After the panel, we caught up with Carson to learn about the difference between designing with<\/i> athletes versus designing for<\/i> athletes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we\u2019re designing with athletes, we\u2019re using their cues, their insights to not only make their product better, but to also make product better for everyone,\u201d explained Carson.<\/p>\n One athlete in particular who\u2019s made Carson\u2019s job harder\u2014in a good way\u2014 isDes Linden, the elite distance runner. She\u2019s best-known for being the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years, a feat she achieved in 2018 despite brutal conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know [Des], and she\u2019s such an incredible athlete, and she\u2019s accomplished so many things,\u201d said Carson. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve been on the journey with her for her career. From a product standpoint, she\u2019s always pushed us, and she\u2019s not ever giving us a solution, but she\u2019s always, \u2018Hey, I need something that does this. This needs to be better.\u2019 She holds a very high standard. And in product creation, that\u2019s all we can ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n During the panel, Anna identified herself as a \u201cguinea pig\u201d of sorts, eager to try anything the product team throws at her. She also noted that she takes a very intuitive approach to feedback and analysis, relying on her gut instinct and strong mind-body connection to identify when something\u2019s not quite right. That approach, Carson told us, is a key balance to the more quantitative side of product innovation.<\/p>\n \u201c[Anna\u2019s] able to explain things in emotional terms versus more scientific terms, and both are important,\u201d shares Carson. \u201cBut I think she gives us the other end of the spectrum. And when you combine those things together, I think you get magic.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch our full recap in the video above or read the transcript below to learn more about how Brooks and The North Face are working with athletes to build better.<\/p>\n Kristen Geil:<\/strong> My name is Kristen Geil. I\u2019m the Gear & Affiliate Director at Outside. I\u2019m here with Carson Caprara. He is the Chief Product Officer at Brooks. We just finished our \u201cBuilt Better\u201d panel at Outside Days. How are you doing? You survived.<\/p>\n Carson Caprara:<\/strong> I survived. It\u2019s a beautiful day, what a cool event, and what a great panel we had.<\/p>\n Kristen Geil:<\/strong> One of the main themes of our panel was talking about how Brooks designs with<\/em> athletes in opposition to designing for<\/em>. Can you walk me through that distinction and how Brooks approaches the relationship of working with athletes?<\/p>\n Carson Caprara:<\/strong> Yeah. I think it\u2019s about athletes are just so incredible in their ability to give you insights and their ability to feel the impact of product on their sport, on their body, a lot of times in such a way that even the science or the technology can\u2019t tell you. And so when we\u2019re designing with athletes, we\u2019re using their cues, their insights to not only make their product better, but to also make product better for everyone.<\/p>\nTranscript<\/h2>\n