The 6 Sales Gear Guy Is Shopping This Black Friday

There’s a whole lotta hubbub about Black Friday in the outdoor industry. If you’re on one side of the issue—i.e., hating Black Friday and the capitalist excess it stands for—you are unlikely to get pumped about the rest of this article. But if you’re like me and you do research beforehand and hold out on purchases until they are on sale, then Black Friday is a great way to save on things you were planning to buy anyway. Below are six items I have either tested for this publication in the past or use on the regular in my day-to-day life. I swear by every single one, even in normal times. But this week, you can snag up to 30 percent off, making now a great time to strike. This is the stuff that’s worth waiting around all year for.

Swiftwick National Park Socks

The Product: Blister-proof socks with flair
The Deal: 11/25 to 12/2, you can get 25% off sitewide

$17 at Swiftwick (25% off)

By my best calculation, I have put more than 500 miles into my pair of Swiftwick Yosemite National Park Socks and they are still the first pair I grab from my drawer when I’m headed out for a run. They were my sock of choice for a 50-mile race I ran back in 2021 because the six-inch cuff helped keep rocks out of my socks, and the Yosemite print added a little flair to my kit. In my opinion, Swiftwick socks are the best at blister mitigation, which is why this pair remains my favorite a few years and hundreds of miles later.

DUER Performance Denim Slim

The Product: The highest performing slim-fit jeans I have tested
The Deal: 11/25 to 12/1, up to 50% off sitewide

$79 at DUER (30% off)

Back in the summer of 2018, we published an article boldly titled, “Duer Makes the Best Jeans. Here Are Our Favorites,” based on the fact that an inordinate number of people putting this publication together at the time were all wearing DUER jeans as our daily drivers. While I did not contribute any writing to that article, I was one of the louder voices suggesting we write about the Canadian brand due to the fact that I was wearing a pair of slim-fit performance-denim jeans at least three days a week for everything from work meetings to re-working the irrigation in my garden. Ten months later I wrote about how their fleece lined jeans “changed my life. Superlative headlines aside—I am still wearing a pair of the slim-fit performance-denim jeans the DUER sent me back in 2018. They continue to fit in such a tailored fashion that I can pull them off when business casual is the expected attire and stretch like the dickens thanks to the two-percent spandex, 28-percent polyester, and 70-percent cotton weave. So yeah, after six years, I can say that they are indeed the best jeans.

Buff Tech Fleece Hat

The Product: The ultralight, ultrawarm hat of your dreams
The Deal: 11/25 to 12/3, up to 40% off select styles sitewide

$20 at Buff (25% off) 

Back in 2018, I did a comprehensive test of cold weather running hats and absolutely gushed over Buff’s extraordinarily comfortable fleece option. At the time, I wrote: “the Tech Fleece elicited notes like ‘LUXURIOUS!!’ and even an ‘ooh la la!!!!’” Embarrassing number of exclamation points aside, the brushed polyamide interior was so supple on my ears and forehead that I forgot I was wearing it while running. This beanie is still a go-to six years later. Buff’s current technical fleece hat looks a little different from its predecessor, but is still extremely comfortable thanks to the four-way stretch DryFlx material it was built from (this, by the way, is an upgrade from the hat I have held on to all these years.) Forgive the brand’s intentional misspelling and credit DryFlx’s 71-percent recycled material and hearty four-percent dose of elastane for a build that doesn’t pin down your ears and provides a similar, wildly soft feel.

ARMRA Immune Revival

The Product: Stomach-settling superfood supplement
The Deal: 11/28 to 12/2, get 20% off jars and bundles with promo code MYREVIVAL20, and 10% off sitewide with code MYREVIVAL10

$96 to AMRA (20% off)

My wife and I are definitely planning to buy this colostrum from ARMRA when it goes on sale because we typically pay full price—and it’s always worth every penny. I am always skeptical of superfoods that use as many superlatives as ARMRA does, but we have been using this stuff daily in our household for months and have noticed serious benefits to our guts and digestive systems. I will spare you details, but can say with confidence that Immune Revival helps keep our stomachs feeling good and settled—something I’m grateful for both while running and during everyday life.

KT Tape Pro

The Product: Stretchy support tape for muscles and joints
The Deal: 11/19 to 11/30, get 25% off sitewide

$18 at KT Tape (25% off) 

I am falling apart at 41 as a result of treating my body like it was invincible in my 20s (and most of my 30s). In the past six months, I’ve watched a massage therapist, chiropractor, and physical therapist all wrap up different parts of this breaking body using KT tape, and every time, I’ve walked out of their offices feeling like I had a little hug supporting my injuries. It’s a great way to help relieve pain and speed up recovery. I even have a roll of KT Tape at home that I bought to treat my own plantar fasciitis. KT Tape is comfortable going on, stretchy as hell so it doesn’t feel too binding, and comes off without much hassle.

Kane Footwear Active Recovery Shoe

The Product: Cloud-like slip-ons for post-workout recovery
The Deal: 11/20 to 12/2, BOGO 25% off

$75 at Kane

I named the Kane Revive Active the most versatile recovery shoe in a recent footwear test because it helped me cushion and support hammered legs but still wore like a regular shoe in all the ways I wanted it to. The footbed texture and smooth ride made the Kanes feel like a recovery shoe, while plentiful heel support, decent breathability, and a more streamlined silhouette made them functional enough for running errands. This is actually my second pair of these funky-looking recovery kicks—and likely won’t be my last.