NRS plays catch up with a good cause
NRS and the Whale Foundation have just announced a partnership on a new limited edition Ninja Pro Rescue PFD, with all profits going to support the Grand Canyon River guide community. This new collaboration features a mosaic-style piece of art across the chest pocket that flows across the back as well. The partnership and artwork are a first for NRS and show how the prolific brand has taken cues from a relative upstart in the paddlesports industry.
In the world of whitewater kayaking, there has long been a playful clash between the East and West coasts, not a Bad Boy Records vs. Death Row kind of beef, more of a simmering of styles. While both coasts have produced world-class athletes repping some of the most prominent brands on the water, industry leaders have long been from the west, spearheaded by NRS, based in Idaho. Founded in the 70’s and spurred by the wild Salmon River basin and its history of rubber rafting, NRS is one of the oldest brands in the whitewater industry. The jacket echoes this history in the raft industry, spotlighting a river more synonymous with oar boating than any in the nation.
The limited edition Ninja Pro is a testament to these connections, featuring images of the Grand Canyon produced by artist Summer Doss, a member of the rafting community. Comparably, the limited-edition jacket follows in the footsteps of Astral Designs, a company based in Asheville, North Carolina. A much younger company than NRS Astral’s products are far more specific than the one-stop shop of NRS, with a clear focus on kayaking and the culture that surroundings high level whitewater. Because of this focus on kayaking culture, Astral has slowly put itself into the driver's seat as the culture leader in the paddling space, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the production of the limited edition PFD with a cause. Founded in the early 2000’s, the story of Astral deserves its own article altogether, with the company creating its first limited edition reque vest in 2009! These limited edition drops were highly popular, often in collaboration with the best athletes in the niche whitewater world. This alone was a win for the upstart company, but Astral went one step further several years later, with the Heron limited edition, an ode to the iconic Green River with a portion of sales going to the Green River Access fund.
This launch was highly local and effective, with Astral producing multiple new iterations of vests with a portion of the profits going towards river organizations. The new NRS Ninja Pro is clearly inspired by these early drops while taking it a step further by donating all profits to the Whale Foundation. As the paddling industry continues to tighten, a further focus on the communities that make brands so special is key, something Astral figured out in the early 2010’s and is influencing some of the biggest names in paddlesports.
