PAKA Celebrates 10 Years With a New Anniversary Collection, Film, and a Bigger Commitment to Natural Fibers

Ten years after beginning with an alpaca sweater and an ambitious idea in Peru, PAKA is celebrating a decade in business, and using the milestone to look toward what comes next.

PAKA is officially turning 10, marking a full decade since founder Kris Cody began developing the first sweater prototypes in Peru. What started as an experiment with alpaca fiber has since grown into an outdoor apparel company centered around natural materials, Peruvian craftsmanship, and a mission to create a closer connection between the clothing people wear and the communities and landscapes behind it.

In a letter shared with the PAKA community ahead of the anniversary, Cody reflected on the unlikely road from those earliest prototypes to the company PAKA has become today.

He recalls waking up on the Mamani family’s rooftop in Peru and working on the first sweater prototypes in their kitchen, at a time when the company existed largely as an idea. A decade later, PAKA remains independently owned — something Cody highlighted alongside the company’s commitment to supporting the communities behind its products and producing high-quality clothing from natural fibers.

And rather than treating 10 years simply as a retrospective, PAKA is using the anniversary to launch several new projects.

From an Alpaca Sweater to an Outdoor Apparel Brand

PAKA’s story has always been closely connected to the Andes.

The company began with alpaca, a natural fiber that has been used in the region for generations and that offers some compelling characteristics for outdoor clothing. Over the past decade, PAKA has expanded well beyond its earliest sweaters into a broader collection of apparel designed for travel, hiking, everyday wear, and outdoor use. But the basic idea behind the brand hasn’t changed much.

In his anniversary message, Cody described PAKA’s mission as connecting customers with where their belongings come from, supporting the communities responsible for making them, and producing high-quality clothing using natural fibers.

That connection between material, maker, and place has become an increasingly distinctive part of PAKA’s identity as the company has grown.

For outdoor consumers accustomed to gear built predominantly from synthetic materials, PAKA has also helped bring renewed attention to what natural fibers can contribute to technical apparel. Alpaca remains central to the brand, while PAKA has continued experimenting with ways natural materials can function in clothing intended for active outdoor use.

At Southwest Hikes, we’ve seen that evolution firsthand through pieces such as PAKA’s insulation and layering products. The brand occupies an unusual space in outdoor apparel: technical enough to belong in a hiking kit, while approaching materials and construction differently from many conventional outdoor companies.

At 10 years old, PAKA appears ready to push that concept further.

PAKA Is Releasing a 10th Anniversary Collection

One of the centerpiece releases surrounding the milestone will be a special 10th Anniversary Collection.

PAKA originally designed the capsule as a way to commemorate its first decade, but the company says the project has since taken on an additional purpose.

According to Cody, communities in the Andes near PAKA are currently facing climate-related pressures associated with El Niño, including food insecurity. In response, 10% of sales from the anniversary collection will go directly toward supporting those communities, with the PAKA Foundation matching the donation.

That effectively turns the anniversary collection into both a celebration of PAKA’s history and a fundraising effort for some of the people and places that have been intertwined with the company from its beginning.

PAKA is taking the idea another step as well.

People who purchase the collection will receive an invitation to join the company on the ground in Peru and participate in delivering that support. Travelers will need to arrange their own transportation to Peru, but PAKA says its team will meet participants there.

For a company whose identity has consistently emphasized knowing where clothing comes from, it’s a fitting way to mark the decade: bringing customers closer to the communities behind the products rather than separating the anniversary from them.

A New Film Will Tell the PAKA Story

PAKA is also preparing to release a short film documenting its first decade and its plans for the future.

There’s a particularly nice bit of symmetry behind the project: Cody says the new film is being created with the same videographer who directed PAKA’s original Kickstarter video 10 years ago.

The team has traveled internationally for the film, revisiting the people and places that helped make PAKA possible while documenting how much the company has changed since its earliest days. The film will also introduce PAKA’s larger vision for its next chapter.

PAKA plans to premiere the film first for its community, followed by a live Q&A with Cody where customers can ask questions, share their own experiences with the brand, and offer feedback about what they would like to see from PAKA in the future.

For longtime followers, the film should offer an interesting bridge between the tiny operation seen in PAKA’s original crowdfunding days and the outdoor brand it has become a decade later.

PAKA Is Also Creating Its First Magazine

The anniversary celebration is moving into print, too.

PAKA is developing its first-ever magazine, described in the founder’s letter as a coffee-table book created for the brand’s community. Details are still limited, but customers can sign up with PAKA to be notified when copies become available.

Combined with the anniversary collection and film, the magazine suggests PAKA is treating its 10-year mark as more than a product launch. It’s documenting the people, landscapes, fibers, and relationships that have built the company over the past decade.

The Bigger News May Still Be Coming

Perhaps the most interesting part of PAKA’s anniversary announcement is what the company hasn’t revealed yet. Cody says PAKA began with one natural fiber from the Andes - alpaca - but that the original vision is now ready to become considerably larger.

Later this month, the company plans to announce what Cody calls its biggest commitment yet surrounding natural fibers.

Exactly what that commitment entails hasn’t been disclosed, so there’s little value in speculating. But the language makes clear that PAKA sees natural materials as an even more important part of its next decade rather than simply a piece of its origin story.

That could be particularly significant within the outdoor industry.

Synthetic materials remain enormously useful for technical outdoor clothing, but interest in wool, alpaca, and other natural fibers has grown alongside broader conversations about durability, microplastic shedding, supply chains, and the environmental footprint of apparel. PAKA has already positioned itself firmly within that conversation, and its upcoming announcement should provide a clearer picture of how the company intends to expand its approach.

Ten Years In, PAKA Is Still Thinking About Where Gear Comes From

Outdoor gear can become remarkably disconnected from its origins. We talk endlessly about fill weights, warmth-to-weight ratios, breathability, packability, and performance, while rarely knowing much about the people who produced a garment or the landscapes that supplied its materials.

PAKA has spent much of its first decade trying to shorten that distance.

That doesn’t mean the company’s story has been straightforward. Cody openly acknowledges in his anniversary letter that there were plenty of mistakes, obstacles, and moments when PAKA nearly didn't succeed. But 10 years later, the company remains independent and continues to build around essentially the same premise that launched it: natural fibers, connection to origin, and support for the communities behind its clothing.

There’s also something refreshing about PAKA using its anniversary to look forward rather than simply reissuing old favorites and celebrating its own longevity.

A special collection is coming, with a portion of sales supporting communities in the Andes. A film will reconnect the company’s present with the Kickstarter campaign that helped begin the story. PAKA’s first magazine is on the way. And before the anniversary month is over, the company intends to reveal a much larger commitment to natural fibers.

Ten years after those first prototypes were made in a kitchen in Peru, PAKA is no longer an experiment. But judging from what the company has planned for its second decade, it isn't finished experimenting either.

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