The weeks leading up to OR Summer Market are generally full of anticipation, tight deadlines, and frayed nerves. This year, these effects were multiplied by the fact that OR celebrated its 25th birthday, extended the outdoor demo to two days, expanded the square footage of the main hall, and considerably changed the layout of the entire show. In spite of all of these huge undertakings, or perhaps because of them, the team at Outdoor Retailer was able to pull off another successful event.
While numbers have yet to be published on attendance, the feeling in the aisles was that foot traffic was up, and most retailers were looking to buy. With nearly ideal weather conditions for much of the West this winter, and a strong spring and early summer selling season, many retailers at the show were looking at sparse inventory rooms and more open to buy dollars. As a result, the aisles were packed shoulder-to-shoulder with retail floor staff, buyers, media, and sponsored athletes.
Even the Outdoor Demo, which started out relatively slow early on the first day, gained momentum throughout its two-day lifecycle and most of the retailers in attendance told BOSS it was well worth their time.
While OR has built its reputation as the show to attend for innovation, this years show was certainly more evolutionary than revolutionary. There was innovation on the show floor, but this year, manufacturers seemed to focus more on helping retailers communicate the outdoor lifestyle message to consumers in a clear, concise, and effective manner.
The issue of weight continues to be addressed in backpacks, especially at the highest price points. Lighter fabrics, narrower silhouettes, and streamlined shoulder straps and hip belts define the segment. Looking though the eyes of designers, American backpackers apparently hate the idea of sweat-soaked backs. The growing collection of curved frame sheets, mesh linings, and air channels is attempting to keep even the most aggressive hiker fresh at the end of the trail.
In terms of outdoor lodging, tent marketers are facing an interesting dilemma. With the growth of the “park and play” camping segment, brands once thought of as marketing the most hardcore equipment are now offering price sensitive family-sized, car camping models.
Many companies undertook efforts to reduce their SKU count and simplify their product line to make it easier for retailers to tell the brands story. Many of these same companies are increasing their co-op dollars to drive more traffic to specialty retailers, and several are actually lending out their art and PR departments to custom-design ads and PR campaigns for a retailers specific market. So, while the product on the floor saw only tweaks and shifts this year, there were certainly some creative strategies helping the industry grow.
Fashion continues to gain more momentum on the show floor. Even technical brands like Marmot are looking at this trend in a new light. This year, Marmots best selling PreCip jacket will be available in 30 colors. The company is finding that retailers are bringing in two strong-selling colors that are permanent rack fixtures and a few more exotic colors that they rotate throughout the season. While this has little to do with true fashion brands, it does show the importance retailers are placing on refreshing the look of their retail floor more than twice a year-even in technical apparel.
The “green” theme that has been running through the industry took another exponential step up this year. Companies like Patagonia and prAna who are already well-known for their activism both inside and outside of the industry were joined by several new players. In the past there was a focus on donations and financial contributions to fix environmental problems, many of which were being caused by the very manufacturing processes that created the products on the show floor. This year, companies are placing more focus on fixing the root cause of these problems by reducing their impact.
GoLite is going through a company-wide shift to make their environmental impact smaller, and several other companies in every corner of the industry are following suit. Before the show, the industry was talking about Patagonias PVC-free PFD. During the show many bag companies were showng PVC-free products, including SealLine, Teva Backpacks, Crumpler, and Blurr.
Malden Mills entire booth was dedicated to their new recycled and recyclable fabrics. Toray has developed a new recycled nylon, “Recyclon.” Schoeller has developed a more eco-friendly approach to polypropylene and is now using bamboo in some of its fabrics. At the same time, renewable resources like bamboo and coconut are working their way into fabrications across the board.
Also this year, the OR show floor has seen an influx of surf, skate, and snowboard brands that bring reminiscences of the mid-nineties when Extreme! applied to everything from a plank with four wheels to an overhanging roof. New to the scene, 686 and SurfTech both had successful shows, opening new doors and gaining some mind share amongst show attendees who might previously not even have known of them.
686, more widely know for its snowboard apparel, came to its first Summer Market with a newly unveiled spring apparel line. In total, approximately 40% of the brands business is accounted for by the outdoor market.
SurfTech on the other hand, came with a slightly modified line-up than what will be seen at ASR next month, focusing more on the paddling aspects of its brand than on surf. While several long boards were at the booth, the real action came from the companys stand-up paddle boards, which was attributed to a perception by the paddlesports crowd of “have paddle, will ride.”
Blurring the lines between action and outdoor, Simple, “the red-headed stepchild of Deckers,” has taken its skate competencies and turned a green eye on both product and operations. Its Green Steps program introduced last year has surprised people with its success at, of all places, Whole Foods. Like much of the rest of the floor, the footwear manufacturer is looking at the general consumer who is becoming more eco-conscious and hoping to capture some of the early converts to the green lifestyle.
