This paradigm shift brought to you by Poler.
Next week, the outdoor retailer industry – gear manufacturers, retail stores, athletes and ambassadors, and the attendant media – will converge on Salt Lake City for the twice-a-year Outdoor Retailer trade show. Some 30,000 folks, give or take a rep, will wander through the Salt Palace to check out the latest goods, and for regular attendees it won’t appear all that different from the last five or ten shows, with one exception: At the southeast end of the convention center, there will be a new area, called Venture Out, that looks more like a lovefest between Instagram, Tumblr, and Etsy than an REI.
Venture Out is a show within the show, a collection of mostly small, mostly indie upstart brands that in some way articulate the New Outdoor trend, which has a look and style that most will call “hipster” for lack of a more accurate or descriptive term. This is where you’ll find Poler, and Topo Designs, and other icons of the neo-naturalists, who’ve discovered success well outside the traditional retail channels but are now, um, venturing in to the old school arena.
Seea is bringing bold and stylish new looks to women’s wetsuits.
Although a trade show within a trade show might seem to be boring beyond words, the existence of Venture Out brings into sharp relief the divisions between old and new, core and not core, fashion and function, purpose-built and lifestyle, all of which color and flavor how we perceive the outdoor industry and culture, through their effect on the media, social venues, and manufacturers. These little companies are upending the idea of what it means to be an outdoor brand, or at least upending the idea that a traditional Outdoor Retailer vendor has any sort of birthright to the people who play outside, and if they haven’t yet affected what you wear or use, they probably will.
Venture Out, which made its debut in an auxiliary tent at the farthest reaches of the summer show, where few saw it, but now moves front and center, is the brainchild of Scott McGuire, a former Mammoth ski patroller who spent many years working for traditional outdoor companies (TNF, Keen, others) before launching a branding and consulting business called the Mountain Lab. Scott also wrote the AJ story, The Outdoor Industry Is Old and Tired: Will It Change, which lamented the industry’s lack of foresight. Venture Out is Scott’s attempt to turn things around, and I caught up with him to learn more.
1. What is Venture Out? Why do it?
The short version is that I had a hard time finding inspiring brands in the modern outdoor lifestyle space. There were brands scattered about the Outdoor Retailer show, but in a singular presence, which failed to bring to life the trend they represented. The longer version is that I’ve had conversations with brands that I felt were integral to the evolution of outdoor who said they might not want to come to OR in the future because they were pigeonholed into trying to justify a technology story while being next to a behemoth brand selling only tech while they wanted to have meaningful conversations with retailers on brand, outreach, and trend. Venture Out was a place for those ideas to gather and percolate between brands, retailers, and industry leaders.
Wait, why aren’t there more compression straps?
2. Why should consumers care about a trade show within a trade show?
Consumers will probably never known the nucleus, this show within a show, but they will see the effects in their retail shops via assortment updates, merchandising changes, and brand presentations. For retailers, the brands in Venture Out have to show the best of their brand in a small and highly curated space. This is the same challenge every retailer faces. How do you showcase brand stories and unique assortments when space is constrained and every square foot has to generate revenue? In Venture Out, you can see how a brand can come to life in a space less than 100 square feet.
3. Venture Out is selective, and not every brand can get in. What connects the brands that you choose to include – style? philosophy? facial hair?
It is not an easy selection process. There are lots of interesting and compelling brands at OR or looking to come into the show, and far more brands that feel they are a fit for Venture Out than we have space or think is appropriate right now. While one might think it is as simple as picking hipster brands with beards and retro colors, it’s more about what the brands stand for in their space. Ideally, every brand in the space hits a trifecta of getting retailers to think about trend, new consumers, and an ever-changing understanding of what constitutes “outdoor.” Not every brand will work for every retailer, but the goal is that a retailer spends time in the Venture Out space, bounces between several brands, and leaves with more than just a bunch of workbooks -ideas regarding what this space and the next five years look like for their shop.
4. Most of the products shown in Venture Out aren’t very technical or designed for intensive use. How do you respond to critics who dismiss lifestyle products as less than core or irrelevant to the true outdoor experience?
I’m not going to be popular for this, but I think most of “Outdoor” is a fallacy made up in marketing departments. Fractions of the folks that tout the technical actually use it, need it, or understand it. I can’t give you a statistic, but my guess if you surveyed 100 percent of the show attendees if they would rather go ice climbing or go beach camping and play cornhole, most have far more experience or interest in the latter. As an industry, our desire to “out core” the next guy means we have created a language that alienates the neophyte. Truth is, we are collectively far more aspirational than core and I don’t see why we can’t be honest about this.
Motorcycles and surfboards, what’s up with that? Deus Ex Machina, L.A.
5. How important is style? And why?
Style is key. It always has been. It’s why my generation prided themselves on duct tape on their shell pants. That was a style that communicated what mattered to us. Today, that style may be more fashion than function driven, but a large part of the consumer segment sees that you are not relegated to one without the other. Yes, there are numerous examples where one might point to a fashion trend co-opting an outdoor function and write it off as novelty. But there is much more to learn by understanding the back stories and inspiration. People like to look good and if they feel that they can do that, have performance function that meets their needs, and allows them to feel like part of a tribe, you have success.
6. The ethos of so many of these new indie brands is very much retro. How long can they continue mining the past? Do you see a break from that developing? Do you think there will be a new, modern, indie look?
In the fashion world, this is already starting to pass. Traditionally, outdoor is many years behind fashion trends. So what seems like a new movement within our industry is already blasé in the trend-setting world. That said, there are reasons why the retro trend appeals. This reflects a time of simpler pleasures, of people forging their own way, an era of discovery. That in and of itself is part of the universal appeal of the outdoors. I think we will continue to see elements of this in all future design, but not likely quite as directly tied to historical pieces.
7. We’re already seeing Establishment brands embracing plaid, hunting patterns, and other keystones of the indie outdoor movement. Do you think traditional will try to co-opt the upstarts? Will it succeed?
Yes, traditional will try and co-opt the upstarts, and they will do it on the back end of the curve, as outdoor has almost always done. We need the upstarts to bring fresh ideas to the space. By the time the traditional brands find success, it will be limited to their core customers’ interpretation. I am not talking about when The North Face does a co-lab with Supreme, but when the inline product from TNF is on the shelf at Dicks. But by that time, the next thing will have emerged. It won’t all go away. There has been product styling that has come from outside, be it surf trunks or skate shoes, that has become part of the language of traditional outdoor. I suspect we will see some of this happen this time, likely affecting day packs and soft-shells, which are universal pieces of appeal that are traditional outdoor found in broad markets.
Behind the trade show, you find the trend. Behind the trend, you find the man. Behind the man, you find…his…nucleus.
where are questions 8-10?
Why must thou be so literal?
ahh I see, I really enjoyed the article, I just wanted more!
Statements like this from the article are a little worry-sum, “ever-changing understanding of what constitutes “outdoor.”” As long as OR, Marmot, and Mammut continue to make outdoor gear meant to be used, I’m happy. If they go the way of North Face and start making fashionable stuff that can not handle actual use, I am not sure what real outdoor people are going to use.
A lot of outdoor gear looks good, but can not handle any hard use. Most everything at stores like Dicks is either to heavy for the backpacker, or too light to handle any abuse.
Love this article, but wondering if questions 8-10 are missing?
Sounds like someones been shopping at Thalia Surf Shop…
Sad attempt at giving credibility to poorly made hipster junk.
Great read.
He nailed several brands within the bike industry with his answer to #4. Enough with the personal-vanity-run-amuck $600 shorts and bespoke organic mustache wax already.
Looking forward to taking a spin through Venture Out.
Several Canadian brands are on this wavelength – Sitka, Lifetime Collective, and, most importantly, Herschel Supply. Ironically, the price points for many of their items come in at pretty close to Patagonia or TNF; and I think both companies have been making plaid shirts for a long, long time. The demographic they are targeting has a ton of student debt, reduced employment opportunities, and values recycling/upcycling more than buying any PolerStuff. And if you need a tent, just wait for something to come up on SteepnCheap.
Steve, excellent points. I agree that Poler is probably missing an opportunity here to add sustainability to their message, as ‘social good’ is becoming a factor in buying decisions.
I just wish people would stop buying the latest and greatest and just buy what works then use it for a long time. It doesn’t matter if it’s Black Diamond or if it is Poler. Buy responsibly and stop purchasing a new tech shell each year if you only go climbing six days a year. If a ski bum can rock two year old snow pants with holes in them but still enjoy himself skiing every day in them I think the weekender will be fine going without the latest shell for his once a year climbing break. The outdoor industry in general has a lot of issues that makes them appear as if they’re going the way of the red carpet instead of the way of environmental integrity, and if you enjoy the outdoor lifestyle you may want to care about that a little bit too. This goes equally for the traditional brands and the emerging brands.
Valid points, but doesn’t the ski bum get affordable pants that last for more than two years of abuse because the weekender’s consumerism paid for their development?
I was thinking about Venture Out being a newer brand, Indie style and USA made, but since I could not be in 2 places at once, I decided to stay in the main hall booth #23050
Being a smaller indie type company creating unique, yet functional bags- it would be fun to see what everyone else is up to, I find buyers, stores and authors love the idea of whats new in the OR world- I think with so many people getting OUTside- not everyone does it in the usual items we all know & love!
Trying to break that mold can sometimes be easy, but other times people want the same old.. we know what sells.. but with a whole new OUTdoor bread out there.. maybe people really dont know what people need and good to look OUT side the box:)
see ya all at the show- and BTW great name Venture OUT!!
How ironic, the attitude of this pointless essay, against the sidebar headline, “Why Is Climbing the Dawn Wall Such A Big Deal? “. While Tommy and Kevin will use and endorse gear, get compensation, blah, blah, the essence of this effort transcends product placements, and gets back down to following one’s own dreams – it’s not about the…carabiner. Having seen 40+ years of outdoor gear companies come and go, I’ve learned there’s very little ‘new’ that Alice Holubar or George Lamb didn’t try decades ago. The cycle that seems to repeat, forever, is some tiny startup reinvents “core” gear, purpose-driven, used by core participants, but the business languishes / goes under, unless / until they see the “standup shorts” light and expand production with faux core / less costly versions, appealing to poseurs who recycle the appearances of core sports types without actually venturing beyond the bistros or bookstores. If they’re astute enough to reach TNF stature (there’s only one Patagucci) the void opens again in the tiny but needy hardcore market, where yet another tiny, altruistic startup will launch to provide the gear core types need, repeat process, on and on, forever. As they say, the rest is fashion.
this was interesting, but rather than optimism, I’m taking away a feeling of disappointment. Dissiappointed that companies got lost on expensive over-tech gear, and that other companies started making retro-styled but poorly made gear, and that everybody cares so much about both. Either way, you’re trying to get people to buy lots of stuff. You had a rain coat last year? Well look, now people are wearing ones like THIS…so you should buy this! It’s superficial and materialist–two things that don’t belong in the great outdoors. Be authentic (I know, that’s too much to ask of anyone these days). Make a good product that will make people’s lives better for years to come, and if the way it looks makes them happy, all the better.
Useful article, thanks to both of you.
I’ve never understood why someone who feels as ‘at home’ in NYC as they do in their home state of Idaho has to choose between the mountain and the city look. All things being equal, can’t someone with a flair for personal style expect and receive performance characteristics from their everyday clothing? We’ve been trying to sell this concept into fashion retail for the last year and some people get it and some people don’t. I’m also looking forward to checking out VO next week. My brand is Parker Dusseau – curious to hear your thoughts.
“Duct tape on their shell pants” : former ski patroller, indeed!
But remember that if you duct tape your gear you might just be showing that you’re one of the super cool kids who are “above all that”. And cheap with it.
I had the same experience at Summer OR when by chance, and a bit of effort to get into the pavilion tents in a hailstorm, I stumbled on the Venture Out booth. Just as Steve said, it was a mirage in the desert of the same floorpan from the last ten years. Worth checking out at the winter show is all I’m saying! Best of luck for all those exhibiting.
Duct tape on $400 ski pants is an abomination. Take care of your equipment. There is nothing “core” about doing a half-assed repair job.
However, the fact that people would rather repair than replace IS hardcore to me. Buy the best you can, and rock it until the wheels come off.
I’m a little biased because we work with brands at Venture Out (blatant plug: Visit Ridgemont at the show!), but a lot of this goes back to dressing the part for the activity, not over dressing. Look at DAKINE, which has made awesome bags for years. They’re now making packs with a similar look as what you’re going to see in Venture Out.
Most people don’t need a $5,000 bike to ride the trails they’re riding on the weekend. Some do, most don’t. Most people don’t need compression straps on their packs.
There are great stats from OIA and others to support this trend in design. Skateboarders surveyed by OIA in 2007 were more likely to also go hiking and ride bikes on the regular. Chances are they may not want apparel that has an over technical look if their average hike is 5-8 miles, which fits within the average mileage people recorded on National Hiking Day too. A lot of what’s in Venture Out speaks to their design aesthetic.
Venture Out is on point with the current trends. Will it be a part of OR in 10 years? I have no idea, but it’s an appropriate part right now!
A few thoughts
1. Because Scott rolls around in $300 Japenese selvdge denim, and that is “modern” do we all have to? Convertible pants might not be cool to some, but serve a function to others. Kind of like duct tape on pants.
2. Regarding #7. Am I missing something or how is a plaid shirt an indie movement? Every company makes a plaid shirt, and has for years and will continue to do so for years. Hunting patterns? Hunting is an outdoor activity. God forbid in your mind you don’t agree with hunting, but it’s still outdoor.
3. What is the indie outdoor movement? A Filson jacket, Japenese selvdge denim, and a pair of Red Wing boots? How much can we all spend for our outfits? The one above would cost more than $1,000. Surf snorts are not a movement
4. Almost all outdoor companies pay money to a trend service. This service tells them about emerging trends. So when all outdoor companies look the same that’s why. Ever wonder why different companies show the same new colors in a season? that’s why colors,and trend services.
5. I agree with #4 outdoor may be an aspirational look. The guy walking down the street in Chicago with Arcteryx jacket is not core that day, but I bet he is warm and dry. what’s wrong with that?
6. Does Scott realize independent retailers can’t all look at cool as the shop above? Not all stores have the money to make such a beautiful store or a merchandiser so they can’t look as cool as the one above. Buyers buy what they feel their customer will buy. When customers start asking for something the bring it in.
7. I do like how Scott is pushing the outdoor industry to modernize, but does he realized his personal fashion may not be for all.
8. Let’s be honest. Scott is making plenty of money by companies paying him to be in his venture out booth.
Johnny,
1. I’ve never owned pair of selvedge denim, from any country. You obviously have an impression of me, but you’d walk right past me in a crowd, my Levi’s 505, Salomon trail running shoes and my “what ever sample shirt handed out to me three trade shows ago” style very far from the Venture Out demographic. It was never said everyone had to do anything, it was just that Outdoor would benefit by looking at style and fashion as it influences a large part of their target demographic.
2. If you know what selvedge denim is, then you are probably in tune enough with fashion to know that not all plaid is the same and that the reference to these looks is the fashion trend interpretation of classics.
3. A lot of what is driving this stye is not just high price point fashion. In fact there are many successful brands in the space that are much less that their core outdoor counterparts. A lot of this demographic is far more frugal and mindful of their spend than you might believe and in many ways more cognizant of their consumptive behaviors and the impacts consumerism has on the planet. It’s why a lot of this demographic has high regard for Patagonia and their stance on nt just buying another jacket every season.
4. This is half true. Companies do pay trend services, but most don’t listen. I’ve had first hand experience where designers inside got trend insight, but management thought it was too forward until they saw it somewhere else 2-3 years later and wondered why they didn’t have that in the queue. Color, yes, but outdoor is painfully slow to respond to trend. If it weren’t, you wouldn’t have Venture Out, you’d see this in Columbia’s booth.
5. Nothing is wrong with that. That’s the point of my answer.
6. I didn’t supply the photo, but yes, I do realize this. I was a retailer at one point and know those challenges. I also know that at Venture Out, brands made some pretty cool displays out of cheap cinder block and pine planks in 100 sq feet. If you are waiting for the customer to come find you and ask you to carry something of interest to them, don’t be upset when the new guy on the block takes risks and draws those potential customers away. You have to build it to draw them, not the other way around. No one stood in Anaheim asking for a giant princess castle, Walt had to have the wherewithal to know that he could create something that would attract people. By the time your customers are asking for it, you are probably late. That’s why the best buyers are eager to find what’s new before anyone else.
7. See my first comment. This is not me, not even close and I don’t try and pretend like it is. So yes, I do know it is not for all. No one, not ever, has looked at me and called me stylish. I am ok with that. But don’t dismiss that those that appreciate style are also valuable contributors to the outdoor economy, both in purchases and in recreational spend for activities.
8. It’s not my booth. In fact, not one of these brands pays me at all. I had an idea about something I thought would bring some life to the OR space and the OR team bought into that vision and helped make Venture Out a reality. These brands are booking space with OR, just like every other brand at OR. I work with OR in curating the space and spreading the message. It’s their show and I think they have kicked ass in taking the risk and looking beyond what was comfortable and known in the market. It would have been easier, cheaper and far less stress for the OR team to just sell that same booth space in blocks as they do elsewhere in the show, but they invested both financially as well as a tremendous amount of time to make it happen because they believed it was good for the industry to see this side of things.
And sense I am being defensive, John Canfield, I never said $400 pants. I got paid $9 an hour to ski patrol and the pants I had for days off were 5 season old uniform pants I scored when the mountain dumped them. Sure, I should have taken a needle and thread to them with a little Aquaseal. Except the duct tape was there, it worked, was free and kept the leaks out so I could keep skiing, which is all I wanted anyway. A tube of proper sealant cost more than a beer and I had my priorities.
Fascinating. I think the arguments about fancy gear here are largely irrelevant. Part of this is, I believe, a recognition of reality. This guy is also a marketer who is thinking critically about the business. I get that whether it resonates with me or not.
Having lived in suburban south Texas (20 years) and Washington, D.C., (5 years) before “hard core” Colorado, I find this relevant. Outside the small, serious recreation bubble and the people who work in the outdoor industry (myself included), things look very different, particularly for my age group—the Millenials. And I’m not talking about the Millenials who are ski bums. I mean people like all my old friends working in Congress back in D.C. who might have time for a hike once a month and get all their outdoor gear at … oh, wait, they don’t have any. It’s jeans and t-shirts and beautiful hikes in the Virginia mountains.
I have an uncle who lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and who used to join my dad and I for the family backpacking trip every year when I was a kid. He always showed up in gear from Target, and as a snobbish youngster in fancy technical stuff with a dad and other uncles clad in Patagonia, I’d look down on him somewhat for that. But he was fit (from running) and always had, I think, 10 times more fun than the rest of us because he appreciated the rare outdoor opportunity so deeply.
Superficial and materialistic it may be, but I think a recognition is long overdue that the race to the top of technology is only for a select few. Quality is one thing, but not everyone needs a $500 jacket that can survive 20 years of hurricanes, falls on sharp rocks, burns from campfires, sweat, snow, dirt, etc.
First, hats off to Scott and OR for trying something different and making it a success.
I don’t believe that the brands within Venture Out are the (only) future of the industry, but collected in one space they have gravity and an influence that would otherwise be diluted or dismissed in the canyons of the OR Show.
Venture Out as a whole provides a great opportunity to question who and what “outdoor” really is (hint: we’re not all aspiring alpinists). The only real downside being an impression that Venture Out owns casual outdoor and is dismissive of established, main-floor brands that have been doing it for longer.
I do believe strongly in the model of creating more show-within-a-show areas to highlight shared perspectives. It happens at Outdoor and ISPO (both in Europe) and it works very well to break up the monotony of the floor and create community. Long after the beards have been trimmed and the flannel gives way to polyester (or whatever), the need for community over commodity will still exist.
Anyway, kudos to the minds and might that made this happen. Kudos to all of the brands willing to challenge preconceptions and keep the outdoor industry young.
As a retailer who has been puting lifestyle into my outdoor shop for a decade, its nice to know Im where everyone now apparently hopes to be. This “outSIDE” movement, rather than “outDOOR”, didn’t happen in a vacuum. The great brands who made technical strides with fabrics and construction the last 20 years haven’t made a darn new compelling thing in awhile. You are left to reinvent the fashion of items as a result. Go to OR, take a good inventory of whats going on, you’ll probably see improvements on the margins with brands, but where is the next Polartec, Crocs, Uggs, Vibram, the big commercial successes from new brands that create new revenue/new product categories for retailers, not just a brand that moves revenue from another to it? Henschel would be ground breaking if they came up with an alternative to a back pack, not simply more fashionable design to steal market share from TNF. Same goes for Poler and all the Poler-wannabees. Thank you for making flannel shirts like Ive enjoyed for 30 years. How about you make a short sleeved one and let that find its way into a retailers assortment in the shoulder months instead?.. Ridgement? Just an outdoor version of Skeechers. Outddor used to invent stuff that fashion eventually had to emulate. Now its the other way around? To me, that signals outdoor has lost its innovation fastball and needs to get it back. When that happens, all this talk of new fashion is a thing of the past….having said that, thanks for grouping these brands together at OR. As a 55 year old aging baby boomer, Im curious what my outdoor store is going to look like when Im gone. That answer is coming from people a bit younger than I.