Author: Eugene Buchanan

New PeopleforBikes CEO Jenn Dice brings almost two decades of bike industry and advocacy experience to the trail, as well as a love of bicycling of all walks. SGB Executive caught up with Dice to talk all things bike in one of the industry’s most prosperous — and participatory — years ever.

Want an up close and personal look at how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected a small outdoor gear manufacturer? Consider the case of Bending Branches and AquaBound, a longtime, venerable maker of canoe and kayak paddles, which has weathered the storm — negotiating its many currents and winds — and stroked through to the other side.

Stand-up paddleboarders are hitting the water in — well — waves, resulting in a boom for the SUP industry during COVID-19.

While Outdoor Retailer was forced to cancel its Summer Market tradeshow due to COVID-19 concerns, it did its best to bring brands and buyers together with its new live online format that ran from July 21-23, 2020, featuring programming, exhibitor booths and more.

The whitewater kayaking world lost one of its most passionate entrepreneurs from the sport’s early ‘90s heyday with the passing of Wave Sport Founder Chan Zwanzig July 24 after a long battle with cancer.

When it rains, it pours. While Big Agnes makes award-winning tents for that, this spring, as if dealing with COVID-19 issues weren’t enough, the outdoor gear maker faced the added hurdle of moving their headquarters during the peak of the pandemic.

It’s a return to paddlesports for Jackson Adventures’ new VP of sales Brad Taylor, who brings 25 years of experience in the paddling world to the brand. SGB Executive caught up with Taylor for his take on Jackson, the paddlesports market and all things COVID-19 and kayak.

By Eugene Buchanan With COVID-19 fanning people’s desire to get outdoors close to home, sales are anything but cooling off in the portable cooler category. The segment is, well, on fire, and expected to snowball over the next four years (some analysts predict growth in the billions). To catch up on the craze, SGB Executive […]

With outdoor companies navigating a slew of new business issues during COVID-19 and today’s diversity movement, Snowsports Industries America, Bank of the West and Protect Our Winters are offering help by launching “Navigating Change,” a webinar series designed to explore sustainable recovery for small businesses.

On day two of Outdoor Retailer’s (OR) Online trade show, climate change took center stage at the virtual OIA Industry Lunch: Thriving Planet Emission Reductions or Policy Revisions: Which Is The Outdoor Industry’s Best Opportunity For Climate Impact?

Bucking the “grass is always greener” assessments from retail doomsayers, those are the take-homes from an SGB Executive’s call with the Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, a national trade association recently reporting its largest one-month growth in membership in its history.

SGB Executive caught up with Pitt Grewe, Utah’s director of outdoor recreation, to talk about the 7th Annual Outdoor Recreation Summit August 25-26, what attendees can expect and recreation issues affecting the state.

When Outdoor Retailer hosts its first-ever Outdoor Retailer Online tradeshow July 21-23, 2020, it will usher in a new era of virtuality to a tradeshow landscape that has seen its share of changes over the past few years. Outdoor Retailer Senior VP and Show Director Marisa Nicholson spoke with SGB Executive on the industry’s need to connect face-to-face and the role Outdoor Retailer plays in it.

Twenty years after being founded as The Travel Hammock, Skokie, IL’s Grand Trunk has been purchased by Utah entrepreneurs Andy Stroman, brothers Bruce and Dale Majors, along with company Co-founder Kevin Kaiser. SGB Executive caught up with Kaiser to find out what’s swinging for their hammock and travel accessories brand.

When Shelley and Andrew Dunbar purchased Boulder, CO-based Neptune Mountaineering out of bankruptcy in early 2017, they already had their hands full but with their full attention on retail, even in the age of COVID-19, the positive results are showing.