Groundbird Gear is: Bobwhite, Powder River, Wes and Cooper
Why "Groundbird" Gear? I got my trailname, Bobwhite, because my family uses the Bobwhite's whistle (bob-WHITE!) when we need to call each other. Bobwhites are ground birds. They love to walk and be in a covey. Join our Covey!
Hello! Welcome to Groundbird Gear!
We look forward to sewing ultralight, comfortable gear for your dog! Our goal is to make sure your dog will not get chaffed in the backcountry! While our crafted gear may be an investment, the money spent is worthy of your dog. We are both a product and a service. When you buy from us, you are not getting a mass produced item. You are getting gear that is hand-made to specifically fit your dog. We have sewn for 600 trail dogs since 2014 and are excited to apply our vast knowledge of dog shapes to making the best gear for your dog. For an understanding of the price of made-in-USA hand-crafted hiking gear, we encourage you to cross reference our pricing with that of Zpacks, ULA, DutchWare, Enlightened Equipment, etc, and please keep in mind that their gear is production-made to universal sizes, whereas at Groundbird, we create every piece based on custom measurements.
My name is Marie a.k.a. "Bobwhite." During my Appalachian Trail southbound thru-hike in 2011, I learned a lot about backpacking gear. Powder River (A.T. NoBo '08; C.T. '10) turned me onto several Made-in-USA gear companies when I was buying gear for my hike. We are happy to now be one of those companies! Powder River proposed to me on The Trail during my AT thru hike. A month after we got married, we adopted our tuxedo mutt, Cooper. We searched for Cooper's backpacking gear in our gear-nerd fashion but all the dog packs on the market swallowed him whole and simply did not fit our lightweight backpacking mentality. I have a fine arts degree in sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art. My brain thinks in 3 dimensions. I started designing and sewing gear for Cooper and he tried out each variation on our backpacking trips all over the USA.
I do majority of the cutting and sewing labor, with some help my friend and fellow business owner Patrice www.aliceanna.co/about. We moved into a new studio Nov 2020 in the Old Gaucher neighborhood of Baltimore City. We are proud city residents since 2003. We use laser cutters to precision cut our fabric at Open Works, one of America's largest Community Maker Spaces. We were proud studio residents of Open Works from 2017-2020 and continue to be proud members of the space. We occupy the unique space of living and working in the heart of a major city, and we love the wilderness. We acknowledge the gap of accessibility to wild spaces for many people. America's history of racism has contributed to an unsafe or unwelcoming atmosphere in the backcountry for some people. We recognize that wild spaces are absolutely NOT white spaces (despite the messaging and advertising many of us grew up with in the 70s and 80s!). May we all grow, learn and contribute to anti-racist efforts on-trail.
Since the Spring of 2014, I have worked with many avid hikers to get my patterns just perfect for trail dogs of all shapes and sizes. Our durability has been proven by the now countless thru hikes our gear has traveled on! Many years ago we came up with the concept for the Turtle Topquilt, a dog quilt with an integral harness which ensures the quilt will not slide off your dog at night. In 2019, we were happy to finally start producing our quilt and we use responsibly sourced down. Like our packs and harnesses, our quilts are also custom-made based on your dog's measurements. Our ultimate goal is to keep your dog comfortable for the duration of any length of hike.
I look forward to working with you,
~Marie Bobwhite Sellenrick
We look forward to sewing ultralight, comfortable gear for your dog! Our goal is to make sure your dog will not get chaffed in the backcountry! While our crafted gear may be an investment, the money spent is worthy of your dog. We are both a product and a service. When you buy from us, you are not getting a mass produced item. You are getting gear that is hand-made to specifically fit your dog. We have sewn for 600 trail dogs since 2014 and are excited to apply our vast knowledge of dog shapes to making the best gear for your dog. For an understanding of the price of made-in-USA hand-crafted hiking gear, we encourage you to cross reference our pricing with that of Zpacks, ULA, DutchWare, Enlightened Equipment, etc, and please keep in mind that their gear is production-made to universal sizes, whereas at Groundbird, we create every piece based on custom measurements.
My name is Marie a.k.a. "Bobwhite." During my Appalachian Trail southbound thru-hike in 2011, I learned a lot about backpacking gear. Powder River (A.T. NoBo '08; C.T. '10) turned me onto several Made-in-USA gear companies when I was buying gear for my hike. We are happy to now be one of those companies! Powder River proposed to me on The Trail during my AT thru hike. A month after we got married, we adopted our tuxedo mutt, Cooper. We searched for Cooper's backpacking gear in our gear-nerd fashion but all the dog packs on the market swallowed him whole and simply did not fit our lightweight backpacking mentality. I have a fine arts degree in sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art. My brain thinks in 3 dimensions. I started designing and sewing gear for Cooper and he tried out each variation on our backpacking trips all over the USA.
I do majority of the cutting and sewing labor, with some help my friend and fellow business owner Patrice www.aliceanna.co/about. We moved into a new studio Nov 2020 in the Old Gaucher neighborhood of Baltimore City. We are proud city residents since 2003. We use laser cutters to precision cut our fabric at Open Works, one of America's largest Community Maker Spaces. We were proud studio residents of Open Works from 2017-2020 and continue to be proud members of the space. We occupy the unique space of living and working in the heart of a major city, and we love the wilderness. We acknowledge the gap of accessibility to wild spaces for many people. America's history of racism has contributed to an unsafe or unwelcoming atmosphere in the backcountry for some people. We recognize that wild spaces are absolutely NOT white spaces (despite the messaging and advertising many of us grew up with in the 70s and 80s!). May we all grow, learn and contribute to anti-racist efforts on-trail.
Since the Spring of 2014, I have worked with many avid hikers to get my patterns just perfect for trail dogs of all shapes and sizes. Our durability has been proven by the now countless thru hikes our gear has traveled on! Many years ago we came up with the concept for the Turtle Topquilt, a dog quilt with an integral harness which ensures the quilt will not slide off your dog at night. In 2019, we were happy to finally start producing our quilt and we use responsibly sourced down. Like our packs and harnesses, our quilts are also custom-made based on your dog's measurements. Our ultimate goal is to keep your dog comfortable for the duration of any length of hike.
I look forward to working with you,
~Marie Bobwhite Sellenrick
