One of the first things you notice when speaking to Cole Sparrow-Crawford is that the conversation isn’t all about Cole Sparrow-Crawford. The young Musqueam artist and designer may be a driving force behind the new “Walk Gently” platform and capsule collection created in collaboration with beloved outdoors brand Arc’teryx—but he’s quick to point out that he’s only a small part of the long history that’s led to this team-up between a technical outdoors brand and a group of Indigenous creators in the Coast Salish region.
“I’ve been, for years, working in the Coast Salish design community,” Sparrow-Crawford says, “learning from carvers and weavers and trying to be a part of that. I really wanted to create something that brought it back to that inspiration—that pays homage to my people and represents my people.”
The Coast Salish region covers a swath of the Pacific Northwest including Vancouver, where Arc’teryx was founded. Sparrow-Crawford first connected with the brand through chief creative officer Katie Becker. “I think Katie, with her having a lot of Indigenous friends and being at a company founded on Indigenous territory, she really wanted to create an initiative to involve the company with Indigenous people,” he explains.
There was talk of scholarships or internships. But then the conversation evolved. They started talking about the systemic devaluation of Indigenous art, the question of what separates “the professional world design” and Coast Salish craft and design.
“We ultimately got to a place of looking at how could we value Indigenous art and the professionals that are here to practice it at the same level of design that Arc’teryx practices here,” Sparrow-Crawford explains. “Because our carvers, weavers—those traditional designers are technical designers in their own fashion. They’ve been creating technical gear for our culture for generations that has kept us alive and thriving as a people.
“And so, at the end of that,” he continues, “Katie just said, ‘Well, why don’t you come in and create something? Let’s see what you can create on behalf of your people.’”
Those initial discussions took place in early 2022. For the intervening two years, Sparrow-Crawford has been doing just that. He brought in HOST Consulting, a company composed of members of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations, to advise on the campaign for Walk Gently. Members of those nations worked behind the scenes and in front of the camera as cast members.
“[We were] really relying on Indigenous voices to steer this,” he says. “That was something I was just so grateful to bring to the company and this collaboration. It was because I saw how much Arc’teryx was willing to give and open to valuing us. We’ve never really been in that situation before, especially in the Western society of being valued at that level. So I just couldn’t turn down the opportunity.”
Then there’s the product itself, which is just as deeply rooted in Sparrow-Crawford’s culture. “Looking at icons within the Arc’teryx assortment and the designs that they’ve created here, I really wanted to try to match that for my culture and bring in icons—whether that’s design or tradition—that represent those spring and summer times for my people,” he says.
“I grew up on the boat, fishing every summer,” he continues. “It was my first job, with my uncles. It’s for our community, for our families. It’s a tradition that’s been passed through generations. The piece that I wanted to start on is the Beta jacket. And looking at that salmon-skin print, I really wanted to design for that tradition.” The lightweight shell features a shimmering, scaled motif throughout. And when the light fades, an extra couple elements: gill-like reflective patches on the torso complemented by an elemental design on the hood.
The mottled colors and shapes of the T-shirts in the collection reference the feeling of being deep in the woods as the light breaks through the trees during the harvesting of salmon berries. The colors and textures of the bucket hat and shorts nod to the cedar—covered in moss, then stripped to its light-brown wood—used in baskets and canoes.
“And last but not least—definitely not least for me, it’s kind of the cherry on top—is the blanket,” Sparrow-Crawford says. “That one is very personal for me and my history. As a lot of traditions were lost through residential schools and what happened to my culture, Salish weaving was one that was almost extinct in this territory. Three of my aunts, Deborah Sparrow, Wendy Sparrow, and Robin Sparrow, were able to track down a 150-year-old blanket from a museum that was stolen from us to dissect it and study it. ... Now there’s over 50 weavers that practice that tradition here. And they have their own businesses and put their blankets up in our museums and are revitalizing that tradition in our culture. And I really just wanted to pay respect and honor to them through that.”
The long-term aim, Sparrow-Crawford says, is to continue Walk Gently not just as a one-off collection but as an ongoing means to elevate and amplify Indigenous voices and reach people who are “willing to learn from Indigenous people and hear our voice and our story.”
“It’s a platform for all people to come together and figure out ‘How do we walk gently on the land that we occupy together? How do we learn from those before us, the generations that left abundance for us to be able to live here and be alive? To be able to practice the things that we do?’” he says.
“My people, Indigenous people, emulated that through walking gently,” he continues. “And that’s really what I am most excited for with this platform, through these designs, is building that community together—through truth and reconciliation, through celebrating Indigeneity, and finding a way to come together to represent that.”
The Walk Gently collection is available starting July 10 at select retail locations across the U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, Norway, China, and Japan and online in Canada beginning July 17.
