"Give mountainwear the life it deserves"

Mammut Continues To Sell For The Summit

With creative agency DEPT, it spotlights mountainwear getting the life it deserves

By Creative Salon

08 September 2025

Mammut, the 162-year-old Swiss mountaineering brand, is doubling down on its anti-gorpcore stance with the launch of "Mountainwear Rescue", its new marketing campaign created by lead agency DEPT® that positions the brand as the vigilant protector of technical outdoor gear against urban misuse.

This campaign builds on the friction that Mammut's 'Not a Streetwear Brand' campaign explored, which aimed at competitors who started selling clothes for the street, not the summit. Since then, there has been an accelerated cultural shift away from gorpcore, with audiences turning away from the surface-level trend and poking fun at people wearing mountainwear built for extremes, only to see it wither away in the flat, urban environment.

Building on that success, Mammut "Mountainwear Rescue" was born: a fictional rescue division that doesn't save people from mountains, but liberates mountainwear from gorpcore captivity and returns it to its natural habitat—the mountains.

Spotting the Anti-Gorpcore Moment

DEPT®'s insight came from observing a growing shift in how people were treating their gear—or rather misinterpreting it, in the eyes of fanatical alpinists at Mammut. The team noticed not only that mountainwear was finally being used for what it was built for —real adventure —but also people calling out others for not giving their gear the life it deserves.

"This tongue-in-cheek campaign raises awareness of mountainwear misuse, encouraging people to use their Mammut gear as intended: on a mountain in the great outdoors," said Nic Brandenberger, Chief Marketing Officer, Mammut, "Our engineers carefully craft products for mountain conditions, not coffee shops or shopping malls. So, we put together a team of rangers to rescue our products from the concrete jungle and return them to their natural habitat in the mountains.”

"It’s no secret that a lot of our most highly technical mountain gear sees more city streets than snowy peaks, and our audience was starting to notice," said Bel Moretti, Creative Director at DEPT®. "So with Mammut’s unwavering dedication to everything above the treeline, it was the perfect opportunity to build on the momentum and call out 'Mountainwear rescue', a playful campaign that pleads against misuse. Speaking to our bigger mission but not taking itself too seriously."

Caught on Camera: The Great Gear Rescue

The hero film employs a multi-footage lo-fi approach designed to create an authentic, raw campaign shot from a third-person POV. DEPT® used a mix of high-fidelity cameras and 360s to emulate the aesthetic of CCTV, dash cams and ring doorbells, creating 'caught on camera' footage showing Mammut officers handing out 'notices' to offenders and taking their misused products in the process—an exaggerated and comedic take on the reality of the gorpcore epidemic.

"We're blending authenticity, confidence, and the authority of our role as a mountainwear brand with the playful humour of clothes literally being rescued," added Moretti. "It'sa knowing, playful wink to show our audience that mountainwear belongs in the mountains, concluding with a punchline as an open invitation for all to use our gear as intended."

DEPT® has been working with MAMMUT since 2023, enabling the kind of long-term strategic thinking that allowed "Not a Streetwear Brand" to evolve naturally into "Mountainwear Rescue".

Beginning September 8, the campaign launches across social media platforms in key markets, including DACH, the US, and the UK, with additional executions planned throughout the campaign period.

Credits:

DEPT®:

Account: Olivia EllengerFfi EvansRebecca DrumFinn Sullivan

Producer: Elivia CrawleyNatalie PriceJonathan Augustus

Strategy Director: Tom Greeves

Creative Director: Bel Moretti

Senior Lead Creative: Lewys Williams

Creatives:Bradley Palmer Sophie Lock

Designers:Brad CoxJade SmithDavid NikolovskiJaime Rivera MartinezBen Harwood

3D designer - Simone Vulcano

Client Credits:

Nic Brandenberger