Holiday Recap 2025
Jan 05, 2026
Rarely run falls, raising $25K for BETTER Friday, 2 rounds of atmospheric rivers, and two IR athletes taking Female Paddler of the Year awards...whew. A lot is going on. Let's talk about it.
BETTER Friday: $25k for Our Hometown Food Programs
This November, we launched BETTER Friday — committing 50% of all Black Friday + Cyber Monday revenue, to our hometown food programs in Hood River, OR and Confluence, PA. We wanted to see what would happen if we took one of the biggest sales weeks of the year and turned it into something that served our communities.
To bring it to life, we leaned into the theme ‘Out of Place on Purpose.' We put our gear where it didn’t belong. Dry suits far from rivers. Skiing in them. Working out in them. Mowing the lawn in them. If it felt a little wrong, that was the point.
The goal was simple: sell gear, donate proceeds, and make a REAL impact. We hoped to raise around $6,000...
Wow did you all show up for us.
Because of our loyal customers, Immersion Research made the largest cash donation in our history — $25,000 total:
- $12,500 to the FISH Food Bank in Hood River, OR: helping keep families fed during a critical winter stretch
- $12,500 to the Turkeyfoot Food Pantry & Backpack Program in Confluence, PA: funding an entire year of pantry support and relaunching a K–6 backpack food program that was nearly shut down
“IR’s donation allows us to move forward and assist some of the most vulnerable in our community…” - The Turkeyfoot Food Pantry
This campaign was about showing up — intentionally — and using our platform to do something that mattered. Something that felt better.
If you want to see the out-of-place imagery that brought it all to life, check out the Better Friday campaign post.
Kayak Session Paddlers Awards: Recognition Earned
This year’s Kayak Session Paddlers Awards were stacked — and we’re proud to see so many of our athletes recognized among the finalists.
Finalists (in order):
- Sophie Gilfillan
- Isaac Hull
- Nouria Newman
- Jude Franczyk
- Ottilie Robinson-Shaw
- Millie Chamberlain
- Rad Dobson
You can see all of them in action here.
On top of that, two standout wins:
Community Highlights: Five Moments That Stopped Our Scrolling
#5 — “Clean Lines, Questionable Rolls” with Sergey Ilin
#4 — “Between Storms - We Surf” by Seth West with Dave Fusili
#3 — “From Above!” by Eric Parker with Jeremy Nash
#2 — “Controlled Chaos” with Thomas Franco
#1 — “Right Place, Rare Time” with Isaac Hull
Made in Hood River (MIHR): Still Experimenting
We couldn’t close the year without showing love to the gear that keeps coming off the sewing machines in Hood River.
Made In Hood River (MIHR) is a return to IR’s roots — small-batch, design-forward gear built from the ground up. Some pieces become staples. Others are experiments that push what paddling gear and technical apparel can be.
Learn more about MIHR here and explore the full collection [here].
