The North Face has long been revered among devotees of hip-hop style, while Patagonia has, in the more recent past, expanded its audience to include urban hipsters. Now, with interest in outdoor sports, and nature in general, as great as ever, a number of fledgling indie men’s sportswear brands are reimagining traditional mountain gear with a more fashion-forward sensibility.

Topo Designs: Colorado-based Topo Designs launched last spring, but its story goes back decades. The brand’s three founding partners grew up in the mountains of the West, where they developed a lifelong love of the grandiosity of the Rockies, and the varied activities that they afford. Bored with the strictly functional gear typically stocked at the REI- and EMS-type retailers of the US, they found themselves hunting down specialty wares from Europe and Asia. Ultimately, they decided to develop a line to bring their own carefully honed brand of Rocky Mountain High to likeminded hikers, climbers, and campers. The resulting collection of bags and accessories is equal parts retro, rugged and refined.

It’s unclear if Gen Ys’ increasing comfort with, and willful reliance on, bikes is why automakers are having difficulty reaching them, but they’re certainly spending the most time on two-wheels than they have since before they had their drivers’ licenses. Consequently, they’re compelled to seek out models that fit into their minimalist, nomadic lifestyles—which, in turn, is propelling a maturing category of folding bikes.

Tern Bicycles: Getting a taxi during SXSW can be like trying to hail one in Midtown Manhattan during a rush hour downpour. Giving attendees of this year’s conference a less stressful and cheaper way to get around (and to work off the week’s all-BBQ-and-queso diet), festival organizers installed SXcycles, a complimentary bike sharing program for qualified registrants. The fleet was supplied by Tern Bicycles, a new brand specializing in bikes that collapse for easy travelling, or for sensible storage in an apartment that has more cockroaches than closets. From the commuter-ready Eclipse model to the speed demon Verge, each one folds neatly and compactly.

The popularity of adult leagues proves that after-work sports have become just as vital as the after-school variety, while the success of Meetup shows that like-minded strangers enjoy networking in the flesh. These two trends converge with the arrival of new location-based apps that connect recreational athletes and ensure that they may never again have to mount an elliptical or treadmill, solo, to get in their cardio work.

Sportaneous: This website and free iPhone app collects information about public recreation areas, providing real-time information about games being organized in users’ vicinity. With competitive activities ranging from baseball and basketball to boot camp and yoga, it’s easy to find social sports gatherings that range in location, schedule, skill level, and players’ preferred competitive intensity. As the name suggests, anyone can use the app to spontaneously initiate a game, for which the app will help find available players. It could prove to be a fitting training tool among those looking for companions with whom to prepare for a certain upcoming marathon.

Boxing has long been a point of fascination in literary circles, as demonstrated by classic and contemporary movies, television, and writings that capture the subject. Though not an entirely new phenomenon, boxing fervor is on the upswing at the moment, as new film projects, TV series, and even fashion lines are finding inspiration in The Sweet Science.

On Freddie Roach: This winter, HBO will offer boxing fans an intimate look at the inner-workings of the sport. A six-episode docuseries featuring celebrated trainer Freddie Roach is set to premiere in early 2012. The show, directed by Peter Berg of Friday Night Lights, will be filmed in the cinéma vérité style (so it should be a notch classier than reality TV), and will follow Roach in his daily life as owner and operator of Hollywood’s famous Wildcard Boxing Club. Meanwhile, HBO has commissioned a pilot for another boxing-themed program: Spike Lee is set to direct Da Brick, a biopic series based on the early career of notorious fighter Mike Tyson.

With approximately 250 shows in just seven days, it’s hard to imagine whittling down New York Fashion Week into just a few bullet points. Yet once again, it seems that the designers were all on the same page when it comes to the trends on display in the Big Apple last week. Here are the stand-outs:

Prints Charming: The Americana-inspired Navajo patterns seen on fall runways have yielded to even bolder prints. Thakoon melded western wear with Bollywood-inspired psychedelic swirls, creating looks that were as gilded as they were groovy. Florals took on massive proportions, as everyone from standard-bearer DKNY to Parisian It Girl favorite Kevork Kiledjian to up-and-comer Prabal Gurung were poised to bloom. And then there were a few tongue-in-cheek prints: Jeremy Scott’s ode to Elly Mae Clampett included lots of cacti, while Anna Sui showed hearts, stars, and, yes, toothbrushes. The critics weren’t universally charmed, but it’s safe to say that by next spring there will be pattern recognition.