The Brands We're Most Excited to See at Overland Expo Mountain West 2026
Overland Expo Mountain West returns to The Ranch in Loveland, Colorado, August 21-23, 2026, and it has quietly become one of the biggest overland gatherings in the world. Last year's event drew more than 18,000 attendees from 49 states and 9 countries, with 347 exhibitors and over 300 hours of classes, demos, and roundtables. This year, Overland Expo Mountain West is bringing 300+ exhibitors and 150+ classes to the foot of the Rockies, plus ride and drives, nightly happy hours, and a camping scene that turns a trade show into a three-day community.
While the big legacy names always draw a crowd, the brands that caught our attention are the ones building something with real intention: mid-sized companies making purpose-built gear, solving real problems on the road and at camp, and growing their communities one event at a time. These are the brands we genuinely can't wait to spend time with in Loveland.
Bowen Customs: The Hometown Success Story
Bowen Customs builds all-aluminum, fully welded truck bed systems out of Arvada, Colorado, just down the road from The Ranch. Their overland flatbeds, slide-in camper beds, canopy systems, and crawler beds fuse flatbed function with sealed storage and a signature look you can spot across a show field. Everything is designed in-house, built 100 percent in Colorado from US-sourced aluminum, and backed by a lifetime craftsmanship warranty.
Here's what makes Bowen special to us: founder Brent Bowen debuted the company's first two beds at Overland Expo Mountain West in 2021, and it took off from there. Five years later, Bowen beds are on many of the most impressive rigs at the show, including past top-rig winners, and the company is sponsoring Friday night's Happy Hour. That's a full-circle story you can't script, and it's exactly the kind of narrative we love telling: a Colorado builder proving itself at its hometown event, one welded seam at a time.
Kelderman: Midwest Values, Air-Ride Comfort
Kelderman Manufacturing is a family-owned company from Oskaloosa, Iowa that has been building things since 1970. Founder Gary Kelderman started in agricultural equipment, then designed his first air suspension in 1990 after buying a brand-new Cummins Ram and parking it out of frustration with the ride. Today Kelderman produces American-made air suspension systems for three-quarter-ton and larger trucks, trailers, and RVs, all laser-cut and hand-welded in the heart of farm country.
For the overland crowd, air suspension solves a real problem: heavy campers, uneven loads, and washboard roads that beat up both rig and driver. We're excited to see Kelderman systems under fully loaded truck campers at Mountain West, adjusting stance between highway and trail, keeping big builds level and comfortable. As a Midwest company ourselves, we have a soft spot for a family shop from the cornfields of Iowa earning respect in the mountains, and that story deserves to be told with the same craftsmanship they put into their welds.
Alldogs Offroad Coop: Suspension for the Underdogs
Alldogs Offroad Coop is a cooperative out of Lincoln, Nebraska that has become the go-to source for Nissan Frontier, Xterra, and Pathfinder owners who refuse to accept that the aftermarket forgot about them. Their Titanswap suspension packages, coil springs, parabolic leaf springs, and high-clearance control arms are manufactured in the USA and turn overlooked platforms into legitimately capable overland rigs. Their work even landed on Overland Expo's own Ultimate Vehicle Build Frontier.
What we love about Alldogs is the community they've built around vehicles most shops won't touch. Nissan overlanders are a loyal, underserved bunch, and Alldogs has become their home base, complete with a dog-friendly brand identity that fits the overland lifestyle perfectly. Capturing that community at Mountain West, the Frontiers and Xterras rolling in with Alldogs springs underneath and dogs riding shotgun, is the kind of authentic storytelling that turns a niche brand into a movement.
Urban X Campers: The Aussie Debut Worth Watching
Urban X Campers is the American arm of Urban Caravans, a Melbourne-based builder with more than three decades of experience making off-grid trailers tough enough for the Australian Outback. They're the first Australian caravan brand to enter the US market, debuting stateside at SEMA in late 2025 with their Tungsten X-Treme X and Tungsten Armorlite models: TIG-welded aluminum frames, Victron electrical systems, and warranties that tell you how they expect these things to be used, including a 10-year crack-free frame warranty and a lifetime rot-free guarantee on composite panels.
A brand making its US market entry is a brand writing its most important chapter, and Mountain West is one of its first big pages. Gear proven on Outback corrugations meeting American overlanders face to face for the first time is a genuinely great story, and every conversation at their booth will be a first impression. We can't wait to see how the crowd responds to a build philosophy shaped by the harshest touring country on earth, and to capture the moment an established Australian name starts becoming an American one.
Kargo Gear: Packs Made Just Down the Road
Kargo Gear makes some of the nicest packs and bags in the adventure space, and they make them in Lafayette, Colorado, less than an hour from the show. In an industry where "designed in the USA" usually means made overseas, Kargo is actually cutting and sewing domestically, building gear meant to live in truck beds, on tailgates, and everywhere in between.
Soft goods are one of the hardest categories to market well because the difference is in the details: the stitching, the materials, the way a bag actually gets used on a trip. That's exactly where photo and video earn their keep. We're excited to get hands-on with Kargo's lineup at Mountain West and see a local maker connecting with customers face to face, because a brand this close to its own manufacturing has a story most gear companies can only wish they had.
VSSL: Coffee Worth Building a Morning Around
VSSL makes precision outdoor gear with a cult following around their coffee lineup, including the Nest pour-over system and the G25 Java hand grinder. The quality is good enough that people who buy it for camp end up using it at home and the office too, which might be the highest compliment adventure gear can earn.
Anyone who has spent a cold morning at camp knows coffee isn't a luxury out there, it's infrastructure. Camp coffee is also some of the most naturally cinematic content in the entire overland world: steam off a mug at sunrise, the ritual of the grind, hands wrapped around something warm while the light comes up over the Front Range. VSSL's gear practically shoots itself, and we're looking forward to slowing down at their booth and capturing the moments that make people fall in love with a brand.
Snake Staff Systems: The Gear You Hope You Never Need
Snake Staff Systems builds compact, trusted medical and trauma gear, including tourniquets and first aid kits designed to be readily accessible when seconds matter. They're a first-time Overland Expo exhibitor this year, which tells us they're a brand on the way up, investing in the community and betting on face-to-face connection to grow.
Overlanding takes people hours from the nearest help, and the honest truth is that most rigs have $3,000 in recovery gear and a gas-station first aid kit. Snake Staff is solving a real problem the community is only starting to take seriously, and that makes for meaningful storytelling: not fear-based marketing, but genuine education about being prepared for the people you travel with. New exhibitors also have the most to gain from strong content, because one great weekend of footage can introduce them to an entire industry.
Why These Brands Feel Like "Our People"
Across Bowen Customs, Kelderman, Alldogs Offroad Coop, Urban X Campers, Kargo Gear, VSSL, and Snake Staff Systems, there's a common thread we recognize: they build gear that matters most when things get real, they're close enough to their communities to hear what's working and what isn't, and they benefit enormously from real-world storytelling. Photos and video that show their products earning trust on actual trips, not just sitting on a product page.
At an event that brings thousands of overlanders to the foot of the Rockies for three days of classes, campfires, and happy hours, these are the kinds of brands we're excited to support, spend time with, and capture in their element.
This is going to be fun.
Your Mountain West Story Deserves Great Storytelling
If you see your brand in the same lane as Bowen Customs, Kelderman, Alldogs Offroad Coop, Urban X Campers, Kargo Gear, VSSL, or Snake Staff Systems, you're exactly who this Field Note was written for. You're investing real time, money, and brain space to show up at Overland Expo Mountain West in Loveland, Colorado, on the show floor at The Ranch, at the happy hours, and in front of the exact customers you want more of.
Great events deserve more than phone photos and a couple of rushed Reels at the end of a long day. They deserve a story: your products earning trust in the field, your team in their element, your customers talking about why they chose you. That's the kind of content that keeps working long after everyone's packed up and headed home on I-25.
At Aspen Creative Co, this is the lane we live in:
Adventure and off-road brands who care about community as much as conversion
Owner-led teams who don't want a giant agency, just a trusted content partner
Events and trail days where real-world performance matters more than polished specs
If you're bringing your brand to Loveland for Overland Expo Mountain West 2026 and want to turn those three days into months of on-brand photos and video you can actually use, let's talk.
Head over to our Get Started page, tell us a bit about your brand and your Mountain West plans, and we'll map out a content plan that fits your booth, your schedule, and your budget. Grand Canyon quality on a state park budget.
We did the same thing for Easter Jeep Safari. Check out the EJS 2026 list.