Outdoor Retailer PostShow - Summer 2019 - 34

The Pulse

B I G

P I C T U R E

Graham saw
accountability
at the Show but
wants outdoor
brands to pay
more attention
to retention.

"One of my biggest takeaways from this
week was that I also have blind spots,
and that there were things that I could
learn from Summer Market and take
back to my community."

Writer Latria Graham was impressed during her
first visit to Outdoor Retailer Summer Market-
but she saw some room for improvement.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR, I WAS SIT-

ting on my couch at home, taking
in Summer Market's proceedings
via some of the outdoor personalities I follow on Instagram.
After writing about the outdoors
(specifically environmental
racism and access to recreational
spaces in the Deep South) for a
couple of years, the Show seemed

34

like something I should be participating in-but wasn't invited
to. This year, via Outdoor Retailer magazine, I made my way
to Denver. The region, city, and
trade show were all new to me, so
my goal was simply to take it all
in. I came with no expectations.
I just wanted to understand how
it all works.

/ SUMMER MARKET 2019

MORE THAN MY OVERTIRED FEET

and chronically rumbly tummy
(seriously, I should've built in some
lunch breaks; don't be like me), I
had this chronic, nagging feeling: It
felt as if I was let onto the grounds
but not into the house, and I was
watching all the events happen
through a window. For a while, I
wondered if it was me-if I had a
case of first day nervousness, or if
I'd suddenly become an introvert. I
sat in workshops and panels where,
at the end of the day, it felt as if
we were supposed to examine the
concept of power and to unpack
the notion of privilege without
ever questioning who got to have it
and what to do when they weren't
willing to give it up.
My disposition changed during
the "In Solidarity" event at the
Hyatt Regency, where a mostly
black and brown crowd talked in
groups about experiences with the
Show, the outdoors, and interacting
with major brands. I learned that
nagging feeling was real-there
still is a tiered system. One influencer of color working for a brand
talked about how undervalued
she felt when her white counterpart was paid 15 times more for
the same style of campaign, even
though their metrics were similar.
Representation matters-it does-
and that is the bare minimum a
company can do. There's more to
it than just checking a box and
self-satisfyingly calling yourself
"diverse." What are the retention

CA R LO N AS I S S E

Fresh Take

The first day of the Show, I
spent quite a bit of time people-watching-seeing who was
drawn to whom, what they had to
say, and how information exchanged hands.
One number in particular kept
coming up every day: $887 billion.
Folks loved quoting it, and I heard
it at the beginning of several
panels and workshops I attended
during the week. In case you don't
know: According to the Outdoor
Industry Association, outdoor recreation generates $887 billion in
consumer spending annually and
sustains some 7.6 million jobs. But
few retailers wanted to talk about
other money questions-whether
or not they believed in equal pay
or whether they were paying their
influencers on a consistent scale.
I don't think of money as good
or evil. Money is a tool-it matters
what we do with it, who can access
it, and what happens when we use
it to create a more equitable world.
In arenas like this where everyone
is competing for validation, it is all
about being seen. But what are we
seeing? What, exactly, does this
money do-and for whom?
I also noted the number of visible people of color I saw working
for companies with booths. I became obsessed with counting and
made a point to walk the entire
floor before the Show was over. I
wondered what percentage of jobs
BIPOC (black, indigenous, people
of color) held in the industry.
Outdoor Retailer PostShow - Summer 2019

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