The Daily - June 11,2022 - 31

COURTESY CHRIS GODDARD (X2)
THE BRIGHT SPOT OF THIS TRAGEDY
WAS THAT THE LARGER BRANDS WITH
BIG BOOTHS WELCOMED SMALLER
BRANDS AND STARTUPS THAT LOST
THEIR BOOTHS IN THE STORM. WHAT
OTHER INDUSTRY DOES THAT?
Larry Burke and
Greg Thomsen
shared the Lifetime
Achievement
Award in 2019.
lost. The bright spot of this tragedy
was that the larger brands with big
booths welcomed smaller brands
and startups that lost their booths
in the storm. What other industry
does that?
We saw this amazing sense of
community come together for the
infamous JanSport parties and on
the Keen ferris wheel and at the
demos at Solitude and at Jordanelle
State Park.
We felt this community in the
opening night industry street party
when you ran into everyone you
knew. (Cue, " Everybody knows your
name " from Cheers.) We indulged
in these passions on the show floor
with " right on cue " 4 p.m. in-booth
happy hours, a paddling pool for
canoe ballet, and who can forget
Mountain Khakis' mechanical
bull and Royal Robbins' infamous
coffee bar?
We saw-and continue to see-
athletes, iconic businesspeople, senators,
congressmen, congresswomen,
secretaries of interior, governors,
and mayors walk the Show because
they love what we do and what we
represent and want to be part of it.
We know they are jealous.
OUTDOOR RETAILER HAS SERVED
as a place for brands to share their
passions and ignite challenging
discussions and, in some cases,
share their disappointment about
issues that matter to them. In 2017,
the fashion editor at The New York
Times, Vanessa Friedman, wrote a
feature story on the Show moving
from Salt Lake City to Denver.
Remember the march to the Utah
State Capitol?
As the industry grew up, it
designed the building blocks for
sustainability to serve as the poster
child for the world of fashion-setting
stellar examples of how to
truly be sustainable, such as going
PFA- and PFC-free, minimizing the
use of plastic, renting and reselling
outdoor gear and apparel, and engineering
state-of-the-art sustainable
fabrics. We were way ahead of fashion
and, today, continue to demonstrate
our technology prowess.
That is why global fashion brands
and their designers walk our show-
to see these assets first hand.
And how about those collaborations?
The North Face and Gucci?
Who knew? And Ye releasing an
oversized puffer coat with no way
to close? It sold out immediately.
Fashion wants to be " outdoorable. "
It can't help itself.
Outdoor Retailer and Adidas
Terrex established the Inspiration
wider audience and remove the
intimidation factors faced by consumers
experiencing the outdoors
for the first time.
The outdoor industry still has
a ways to go when it comes to
female CEOs. Progress is being
made, however. Way back when,
some characterized the industry
as " pale, male, and stale, " but we
are seeing a steady increase of
women in senior management.
Outdoor Retailer battled the
The author and
Pale Morning
Media's Drew
Simmons
Awards honoring individuals,
brands, retailers, and nonprofits
that specifically encourage
outdoor participation. Climbing
icon Reinhold Messner christened
the first event, and, 10 years later,
Greg Thomsen gave the Lifetime
Achievement Award to Outside's
Larry Burke-and then, as a total
surprise, Larry Burke said, " right
back atcha, " giving Greg his own
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Outdoor Retailer has also
embraced important issues such
as diversity and inclusion. It has
provided a platform for Patti
Gonia and The Outdoorist Oath,
recognizing that, for this industry
to grow, we need to make the
outdoors far more accessible to a
demons of the pandemic, but the
industry saw a surge in outdoor
participation because it was the
epitome of social distancing. An
entirely new group of consumers
discovered the outdoors for the
first time and, much to our delight,
will continue to indulge. We
still need better price points and
more inclusive sizing and to make
sure we go to where this customer
shops (not likely an outdoor specialty
store, but rather more like
Target), but you will see examples
of this evolution at the Show.
Is there truth to the saying,
the more things change the more
they stay the same? Outdoor
Retailer will evolve, with no
shortage of opinions on what it
should be. We will always have
the solace that the outdoor experience
provides, and no one can
take away the sense of community
that is our soul. And for that
we are incredibly lucky.
OUTDOOR RETAILER SUMMER 2022 /
31
The Daily - June 11,2022

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