Major exhibitors at the second-annual Switchback Spring show held last week in New Orleans told SGB Executive they remain committed to a national outdoor show and said they had “quality” conversations with the dealers attending the event, but they also lamented about the overall shortage of retailers, particularly independents.

Commentary about low numbers of attending retailers are standard trade-show fare from exhibitors, even heard during the heydays of the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City and the now-defunct Super Show in Atlanta.

To some, however, retail attendance at Switchback felt even less than the inaugural stand-alone trade show that took place in Nashville at the same time last year. Switchback first debuted in 2022 in Austin, Texas, as part of The Running Event (TRE), a trade show also organized and operated by Switchback’s parent Diversified Communications.

Some felt the leaner traffic might partly be a perception issue as the New Orleans expo space spanned 40,000 square feet versus 30,000 at the Nashville show to accommodate a hike in exhibitors by 21 percent, to 235 booths from 194.

The increased commitment comes despite rising lodging and travel costs, along with the impact of higher gas prices on discretionary spending at retail, that are forcing exhibitors to closely watch spending around trade shows.

But many attendees assumed the show was facing competition from other trade shows more dedicated to order taking, including Grassroots Connect that took place the prior week over four days in Reno, Nevada; and 360 Adventure Collective, ,a major regional show that ran from June 15 to 18 in Greenville, South Carolina. 360 Adventure, in particular, was seen siphoning off nearby Southeast dealers.

Switchback ran for three days from June 16 to 18, with the first day dedicated to education sessions and the remaining two focused on the expo.

Several trade show veterans expressed confidence that Diversified, which has committed to capping booth sizes, investing in scholarship programs to attract retailers, and stressing quality over quantity in attendees, will be able to slowly build back a viable national trade show in the outdoor space. Diversified has been widely credited for its stewardship of the popular The Running Event since acquiring the popular trade show in 2018.

Merits of a National Trade Show
Following the numerous challenges facing the Outdoor Retailer show even well before the pandemic, independent retailers may need to be reassured of the value of a national trade show more dedicated to community-building and collectively spearheading advocacy efforts and exploring strategies for accelerating growth in an outdoor space lately seeing anemic growth.

“I’m just so happy to be here because there’s value in the industry being together,” Nate Borne, director of product strategy, REI, told SGB Executive from the show floor. “That’s how I think an industry can remain healthy.”

Borne believes idea generation is optimally generated when people can meet face to face. He added, “It could be having lunch together or meeting in the hallway, but I think ultimately that’s the biggest benefit of a show like this. It’s different than the regional shows for that reason, and I think the brands recognize it. I certainly do. And I really hope that this continues on.”

Borne was among those suspecting the larger size of the New Orleans’ expo space was part of the reason attendance felt lighter, but he also feels it reflects Diversified’s focus on “high-quality traffic.”

He added, “We’re not just filling the halls with whoever’s off the street. These are outdoor industry folks. But I assume there’s a lot of other competing events around the country that are happening at the same time.”

“I think we need a unified voice,” said Marty Lillis, founder and CEO, Franklin Retail Solutions, a marketing and visual merchandising agency that serves the sporting goods and outdoor  retail space. “Everybody needs to spend time talking with each other and this show should be the centerpiece of outdoor.”

He believes while many key outdoor brands have stepped as exhibitors, the big boxes are also showing support and the specialty dealers that are foremost in developing the industry’s brands need to have their voice at such events to drive the conversation as well. Lillis said, “I think the organization running the show is amazing, and they clearly want to make it successful.”

Matt Powell, veteran active lifestyle industry consultant and advisor at Spurwink River, added,  “I think there’s a tremendous energy here, even though maybe the traffic isn’t where we’d like it to be. The industry needs this show to work, and I’m calling on everybody out there who didn’t come this time to get here next time and be a part of this. This is really an important event for the industry, and we need to show up for it.”

Powell said he believes the outdoor industry has become too cautious and a national show may help brands and retailers explore bolder approaches.

“There are brands, like Arc’Teryx and Salomon, who are really doing well, but the industry is still pretty sideways, and in my opinion, we’ve got to get back to taking some risks,” he noted, “We’ve been so risk-averse since the pandemic and rightfully so with the challenges of too much inventory and slow sales. But we’ve got to get back to running this business with a little more aggressiveness. When there’s newness or freshness, people are buying.”

Eoin Comerford, principal at Outsize Consulting and former CEO of Moosejaw, said the exhibitor support from brands and the opening-night party at Generations Hall sponsored by Merrell shows the industry “wants to be together.” He added, “Getting the retail buyers to show up is really the next step.”

Debate Continues Over Show Timing
As was the case last year, many discussions on the show floor explored the timing of the show, including the merits of holding the show prior or after the busy buying-focused months.

“An event is hard to do,” Kent Ebersole, president, Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), told SGB Executive from the show floor. “Anybody that’s done events, and a lot of people in this room have done events, knows it’s hard.”

In late 2024, OIA became the strategic event partner for Switchback.

Ebersole is confident Diversified is taking the right steps to develop the show. He added, “We have great brands here, great booths, it’s clean, it’s bigger than last year, but if you step back and ask, ‘What can we do better?’ We have quality people here, but we need more.”

He adds, “People will ask about the dates. I don’t care when the dates are, we need more people no matter what. If it’s the first show of the season, we need more retailers. If it’s in August, we need more retailers. I’ve said a long time here, the dates don’t matter near as much as making sure that the right people are at the show.”

Ebersole was busy visiting booths discussing tariffs ahead of a July-6 deadline for when the industry can submit comments recommending which products should receive exemptions under the next round of tariffs expected to arrive in late July. He said, “We are fighting like crazy for that.”

Troy Sicotte, president at Mountain Hardwear and a board member at OIA, said that while aligning timing of a national show to “order-taking shows” is always a challenge, he was enthused by the “energy” and the uptick in exhibitors at Switchback.

“Mountain Hardwear is committed,” said Sicotte. “We love connecting with the community and with the press. It’s a good opportunity to kind of remind attending retailers what our seasonal initiatives are, and it just feels great to have this community back together.”

He adds, “From a Mountain Hardwear perspective, we’re just glad to be able to show and tell all the great work that we’re bringing to market and ensuring retailers are armed to tell our stories and bring more consumers to our sports.”

Sicotte described Mountain Hardwear’s business as “steady” despite rising freight costs and fuel costs impacting consumer sentiment currently and driving up raw material prices for 2027.

“We’re hitting our numbers despite all those things, and I think it’s because we have a sharp focus,” said Sicotte. “Trying not to get overly distracted by things that are out of our control but understanding that we have a business to run.”

Sicotte said national chains or larger regional chains, supported by consumer insights teams, appear to be a “little bit more enabled and confident” to take risks in the current climate. He said while it’s “understandable” given the challenges working down excess inventories post-pandemic, many mom & pops remain in “wait and see” mode and have less of an appetite for innovative product or marketing approaches that might stimulate growth.

Said Sicotte, “I fear that independent retail is still a little bit in survival mode versus like, ‘If this is the new normal, how do we adapt, how do we change, how do we do things differently to navigate these new challenges or headwinds that we’re facing every day.’”

Vendors Step Up As Sponsors
The North Face, along with Merrell and Snow Peak, were Summit Sponsors for the event.

“We feel it’s the right thing for the industry to be here and kind of support the community, connect with people across other brands, as well as with the retailers that Switchback are driving to the show,” said Pat Duca, senior director of sales, outdoor specialty, The North Face. “There’s been decent traffic and good conversations with folks, but a little on the lighter side.”

He said TNF delivered a “really successful” fall/winter with strength with retailers in the east balancing the challenges faced in the mountain west tied to snow shortfalls. Duca said, “We’re seeing that momentum continue into this Spring ’27 season with a lot of interest around the newer sportswear products that the brand is offering and a lot of momentum in footwear with our Altamesa 500 on the trail run side, as well as in climb.”

Duca believes that although it depends on the region, the outdoor channel is “fairly stabilized” with most dealers appearing more upbeat versus the prior year. Duca said, “There’s macro-economic challenges in the market, but buyers generally feel upbeat and optimistic about the future and that seems to be translating into writing orders.”

“I’ve been reinvigorated to see the quality of the exhibitors and the attendees and the engagement at the theater here,” said Rick Case, founder and CEO, Nite Ize, the outdoor accessories specialist. The latter point referenced the Trailheads Theater education sessions being held during the show next to Nite Ize’s booth.

He stated, “I feel there’s good attendance and we’ve had really important meetings at the show. Overall, it’s fun to see a lot of this group back together again. I think it’s early days, but I see a lot of potential.”

Case agreed that traffic was a “little light” at the event, also believing that it likely reflects competition from other shows. He also stressed that the “quality” of meetings is often more important at shows than the volume. Case adds, “Of course, we’d always like to see more retailers and dealers attend and I think if they knew how good it was, they would be interested in attending. We need to let more of them know they should take the time to come down and check it out.”

“We believe in a national show, and we definitely want it to work,” said Mark Mathews, chief commercial officer, Scarpa. He was among those feeling traffic seemed similar or slightly lighter than last year’s Nashville show, noting his team saw six or seven retailers on the first day of the show as well as several media members.

“From a brand standpoint, I definitely believe in the importance of a national trade show,” said Mathews. “In my perfect world, it would be the first trade show to kick off the season with maybe regionals or other stuff after that. So maybe we migrate towards that point in the future.”

Mathews said business conditions at outdoor retail appear to be improving over 2025 with retailers appearing more upbeat after a year of tariff angst and some uncooperative weather out west. He said, “We’re seeing a modest growth and looking forward to what we hope is going to be a pretty good fall based on our bookings, and what’s supposed to be a Super El Niño, so we’re supposed to have a good winter. We’ll see how that plays out, but definitely people are more optimistic right now, for sure.” He said it has been a bit of a “chaotic roller coaster” the last couple years.

“There’s quality people showing up here and we did have a few good meetings for sure, but it’s been very slow,” said Kris Versteegen, national sales manager, Teva. He estimated Teva has had “eight or nine meetings” on Tuesday in total compared to about 150 appointments over four days at Grassroots and his team was facing back-to-back meetings – “sometimes double and triple booked” – at 360 Adventure.

He added, “This is a great media show. We’ve seen a lot of journalists and influencers. Our PR team is definitely very busy, but from a sales perspective, it’s definitely been slow.”

Versteegen believes the show would work better after the buying cycle is complete when brands could shift to talking about marketing with accounts.

He said Teva’s business is “on the upswing,” with the broader open-toe sandals category recovering and Teva‘s newer running sandal business gaining traction. He said, “We’re just really kind of getting back to our roots, embracing our heritage as a performance brand born in the Grand Canyon.”

Graeme Esarey, founder and CEO, Ignik Outdoors, the maker of sustainable outdoor heating and camping products, called it a “bummer” that his Southeast sales rep couldn’t attend because he was at 360 Adventure, and he suspected many regional dealers were attending that show. However, Esarey said he was having some worthwhile conversations at Switchback with the camping category overall seeing some strong demand.

“I like the environment,” said Esarey. “The people that I’m talking to are happy and excited, and business is getting done.”

Bob Fay, senior manager, tech reps and channel programming, Asics America, said Asics attended the show to promote its trail range as the brand seeks to capitalize on the momentum seen in road running and lifestyle offerings. He added that Asics has a strong affiliation with The Running Event and Switchback became the “first logical extension” as it explores outdoor shows, with Grassroots and regional shows next on the brand’s radar.

Fay said traffic was particularly lean on Wednesday that he attributed to some attendees leaving early due to storms. Around 5:30 a.m. on Thursday attendees were woken up by tornado warning alerts on their mobile phones that eventually led Merrell to cancel a morning walk planned for Audubon Park.

Fay said his team had some solid meetings. He said, “I’ve met some new partners, as well as some people we already work with here.”

Dan Abrams, co-founder and president, Flylow Gear, the ski and mountain apparel brand that celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, said Flylow stopped attending national shows for a while as major brands such as Arc’teryx and Burton pulled out due to the pandemic.

He was also frustrated that well before the pandemic major brands were building out colossal booths, causing Flylow’s booth to end up in a fringe zone. He remained hopeful a viable national show could return post-pandemic. Added Abrams. “I think there’s something to be taken from the old days of ISPO, where you focus it more on marketing and sales leads, and also getting the factories back so that the designers will show up.”

Zensah attended its first show in a few years as the sports apparel brand came out with some new alpaca wool socks; recovery products, including a muscle balm and bath products; as well as new prints for its core line of compression socks. Ze’ev Feig, CEO and founder, said of the show, “We’ve seen a lot of quality here even though you see what the traffic is.”

Images courtesy Switchback/Diversified Communications and interviewees/LinkedIn