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May 10, 2024

Photo courtesy of Ope Outdoors

Juno Musonda likes to hike. A few years back, he realized that there weren’t any T-shirts celebrating the places he enjoyed visiting, like Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park or Taum Sauk Mountain State Park. Sure, there were plenty of Yosemite and Big Sur tees, but hardly any featuring all the great local and state parks right in his own backyard.

So, during the height of the pandemic in 2020, Musonda decided to launch Ope Outdoors, a clothing brand that pays tribute to the Midwest and its many natural wonders.

“As Midwesterners, we’re always looking outside of ourselves,” Musonda says. “Sometimes we forget to appreciate the things that we experience. We have culture; we have things that are interesting.”

Photo courtesy of Ope Outdoors

Ope Outdoors is a St. Louis-based retailer that designs and sells T-shirts inspired by Midwest nature. Musonda runs the company by himself, designing the graphics by hand and then working with artists to generate print-ready files.

Photo courtesy of Ope Outdoors

While each piece of apparel – whether it be a T-shirt, hoodie or sweatshirt – features a slightly different retro design style, all effectively capture the vibe of the park they’re depicting. Current offerings include Lone Elk Park, Ha Ha Tonka State Park, Forest Park and Elephant Rocks State Park, among many others. Squint and you may mistake an Ope Outdoors shirt for a band tee.

“When I make these T-shirts, I want them to be something you have for a long time,” Musonda says. “And I feel like that style is kind of timeless.”

The 29-year-old entrepreneur works with a third-party distributor to fill and ship orders placed on his website. He also sells apparel at local farmers' markets and through other area retailers like Big Muddy Adventures. Prices for T-shirts start around $35 while sweatshirts and hoodies start at $55.

Musonda is also committed to giving back to the community. Every other month, the entrepreneur and Ope Outdoors fans meet to clean up trash throughout the city. It’s an opportunity to beautify St. Louis and surrounding areas – and build community too.

Photo courtesy of Ope Outdoors

And while Musonda certainly has more on the horizon – including working with the Missouri Parks Foundation on a design – he’s adamant that he doesn’t want the company to become something it’s not, even if it’s taken on a life of its own. At its core, Ope Outdoors will always be about the heart of the country.

“I don’t want it to be a manufactured idea of what the Midwest is,” he says. “I want to show there is some diversity here, some interest. I don’t want this to turn into a California brand. We don’t take ourselves too seriously here in the Midwest and I kind of like that.”

Ope Outdoors, opeoutdoors.com

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