By Jen Doll

The winter of 2026 may go down as one of the coldest in decades, but the frigid temperatures did not slow down Jody Canavan and Amy Maugeri, the mother-daughter duo behind Hikas. If anything, the cold has been a boon for their product.

Hikas, which fall somewhere between a legwarmer and a scrunchy sock, are made of recycled fabric and an animal-free filling made of oyster shells mixed with recycled water bottles. Water-resistant, quick-drying, and weighing just 2.5 ounces per pair, the ankle accessories regulate body temperature without trapping excessive heat, explains Maugeri, the company’s creative director, who has a background in sustainable fashion.

Hikas do the job of a traditional gaiter, protecting hikers from potential outdoor dangers ranging from debris to brambles to ticks. “I hiked through a Massachusetts summer and a New York summer, and I could not get a tick to bite me,” says Maugeri, CEO of Hikas. Unlike traditional gaiters, which tend to look utilitarian to the point of drab, Hikas come in 20 poppy colors, from “safety orange” to “blue spruce” and a pattern inspired by the Berkshire birch trees.

A lifelong hiker and outdoors enthusiast who’s lived in North Egremont for the past five years, Canavan had the vision for Hikas some 15 years ago. “I’m a rock magnet,” she says. “I’m always pulling pebbles and dirt and whatever out of my boots or shoes.” She played around with doodles and hand-sewn iterations until COVID struck and she found the trails more packed than ever. One day she remarked to her daughter that she wished she’d done something with her long-simmering idea. “Amy looked at me and said, ‘What if we just went for it?’” her mother recalls.

The pair developed 75 prototypes and tested them rigorously. “Most memorably, I wore one Hika to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back to the top for science,” says Maugeri. These days, her gaiters have been serving a far more pleasurable purpose.

Jody Canavan and Amy Maugeri, founders of Hikas