The Weekly - June 30, 2020 - 14

How did you end up connecting with Brain Dead?
I met Kyle Ng from Brain Dead
when I did the collaboration
in the fall of last year when
they worked with TNF. He also
rock climbs; his dad is an OG
climber from California. After
that, we had this idea of how
to collaborate in other ways.
Climbing shoes are the perfect
fit. You don't see a cross with
fashion brands and climbing.
Recently, Kyle has been really
vocal and using his company
to support causes and different
organizations in raising awareness and helping people who are
actively working to act against
racism. It's been really empowering to see him take control and
take action to do stuff.
Let's talk about fashion.
I love fashion and accepting
yourself in different outlets.
Clothing and apparel are a huge
part of self-expression. I think
it's the future. We've worked on
the shoe for five months. The
shoe design, the colors, all the
aspects that make the shoe.
Both of my parents went to a
fashion university in Tokyo.
That's where they met. My mom
was a fashion designer for a long
time. My mom made the costumes for my dad and his whole
dance company.
Anything else fashionwise
in the works after this shoe?
Potentially I'll be making a
climbing pants line. My mom
makes all my climbing pants,
and they're unique and they
have Japanese fabric. I might
end up sharing them with the
world.

DONATE TO OIA
Outdoor Industry Association brings our
industry together to
tackle big issues and
to provide a unified,
strong voice. OIA's financial health is at risk,
and we need your help.
By Nora Stowell, OIA
Board Chair, W.L. Gore
The health of Outdoor
Industry Association
(OIA) is tied to the
health of our industry.
We are all experiencing incredible business impacts due to
COVID-19. No business
is unaffected. And that
includes our industry
trade association.
For years, royalties
from the Outdoor Retailer shows made up a
large portion of OIA's
revenue, allowing for
the breadth of essential
OIA activities ranging
from defending public
lands and battling tariffs to providing tools
to navigate the threat
of climate change. OIA
does the work that
businesses depend on
but cannot easily tackle
alone. Now, we are facing a canceled summer
show and an uncertain
funding future. It is
time for all businesses
to stand up and support OIA directly.
OIA must make
every dollar count and
maximize its value for
members. Since the
pandemic took hold,
salaries and expenses
have been cut by more
than 40%. Even with
these cuts, OIA quickly
pivoted to become a

14 THE WEEKLY / OUTDOOR RETAILER SUMMER 2020

vital source of resources, webinars, education, and advocacy
action to support the
industry during this
crisis. The analytics and
attendance numbers
on all these efforts are
record-setting.
Thirty years ago,
outdoor business leaders formed the association to fight a tax that
threatened the viability
of our young industry.
It was the beginning
of coming together
to face a big obstacle.
Some of the many wins
since then include:
* Creating the
Outdoor Recreation
Economy Report
launched in 2012
that measured our
industry's enormous
economic impact
(more than 2% of GDP)
and transformed our
relationships in D.C.
* Leading the introduction and passage
of the REC Act, which
directed the Bureau of
Economic Analysis to
measure the impact
of outdoor recreation
on the U.S. economy-
as a result, outdoor
recreation is now taken
seriously in politics.
* Leading the movement to defeat the proposed Backpack Tax,
which would have levied
an additional burden on
top of our already disproportionately tariffed
specialty goods.
* Saving the industry
$120 million in taxes-
in 2019 alone-through
work on tariffs and
exclusions.
* Advocating for the

Nora
Stowell

protection of millions
of acres of public lands
and increased investment in outdoor recreation at the federal and
state levels.
* Increasing outdoor
participation and building long-term community engagement
through the Outdoor
Foundation and Thrive
Outside Communities
initiative-today, there
are four flagship communities: San Diego,
Oklahoma City, Atlanta
and Grand Rapids,
engaging thousands of
young people.
In just the last five
years, OIA facilitated
the growth and development of 160 of our
industry's emerging
leaders through the
Skip Yowell Future
Leadership Academy.
* Creating the
Climate Action Corps-
one of the boldest
industry collaborative
efforts to fight climate
change by making
measurable carbon
reductions by 2030-
more than 60 businesses have already
joined to ensure their
collective business
sustainability.
OIA played a major
role in shaping our

industry. But there is
more to do. OIA's mission is more relevant
than ever: thriving businesses, thriving people,
and a thriving planet.
Thriving is in short supply right now. As we
come out on the other
side of this pandemic,
we need the unifying
power, collective voice,
and the broad perspective of our trade
association.
It is a hard time to
make an ask, but in the
face of losing almost
half of OIA's revenue
in Outdoor Retailer
royalties, our trade
association needs your
direct support. You
saved significant travel
and exhibiting costs associated with the show
cancellation, so please
consider committing a
portion of those savings to OIA. We make
this request with humility and deep respect
for your own challenges right now. The North
Face, Smartwool,
Hydro Flask, Patagonia,
Eagle Creek and W.L.
Gore have all pledged
financial support.
We ask that you
please join in making
a donation to OIA that
replaces the royalty fee
you would have paid
through your tradeshow exhibiting costs.
We have made it easy
to make a payment
through this donate
link. If you have questions or need to know
your royalty fee, please
write to us at membership@outdoorindustry.
org. Thank you.

CO U R T E SY N O R A S TOW E L L

Resources and Education
https://outdoorindustry.org/donate/ https://outdoorindustry.org/donate/
The Weekly - June 30, 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Weekly - June 30, 2020
