The Outdoor Retailer Winter Market had a number of consistent messages across the show floor, but perhaps none was more prevalent than the story about the move to add more fashion to technical product. The story was heard at the last Summer Market, but exhibitors certainly turned up the volume on the conversation for the most recent show. Footwear companies in particular moved aggressively to evade the sameness in technical attributes across the floor, showing new materials, treatments, textures, and colors to differentiate their product from the competition.
It was almost as if companies got together to give the same pitch that usually started with, “Everybody has Gore XCR, everybody has a TPU shell, and everybody has Thinsulate, but we stand out because we added more fashion to the line by ”
There were some lines that stood out once again for truly changing the way people look at footwear in the outdoor category. Others stood out for the way they changed the way people looked at their brand.
Keen again stands out as the most innovative fashion footwear brand at the show. This little footwear project, which has seen just its fourth OR show, had a new two-story booth that was clearly a reflection of the success it has seen at retail. Keen snagged REIs Vendor Partner of the Year award during the show, after its first full year of business with the retailer.
Keen is certainly one of the brands spending a lot of energy changing perceptions of their nascent line. Known originally for its unique sandal design, the company is starting to make its mark in the closed-toe category. Jim Van Dine, who was recently promoted to president of the company, told BOSS that closed-toe styles made up 45% of company sales in 2004. For Fall 2004, Keen is taking the Trailhead category a step further by adding closed-toe performance footwear to the line. Van Dine pointed to the $105 Targhee product, which carries a one-year waterproof guarantee, and the Ouray as key items here. Keen also expanded the Blvd collection, cleaning all styles up by scaling back the rubber toe treatment a bit.
Teva is the other brand working hard to change perceptions about its product line. The brand now sports close to 400 styles as it truly becomes a footwear brand, rather than just a sandal brand.
Always continuing to innovate, Teva has pulled another great idea out of the bag for the traveler that can only take one pair of shoes on a trip. The new Flipsole product, found in six women’s styles and four men’s styles, enables the user to extract the insole and detach a rear strap from the insole that connects in the front to create a three-point sandal. The new Teva products, which retail in the $80 to $110 range, are the first to offer full keystone pricing. They will start shipping in July 2005.
Jay McGregor, VP of sales for Teva, told BOSS that Teva is now about 80/20 Spring to Fall product sales, a ratio they plan to see at about 65/35 for 2006. Those ratios suggest that Teva is having a great deal of success with the non-Sandal product. Since Spring 2005 bookings were said to be tracking about 21% ahead of last year.
Timberland was all about partnering at Winter Market, highlighting product that was developed in concert with GoLite, a Nordic walking venture with Exel, and another that was result of its previously-announced partnership with Smartwool.
The GoLite collaboration, which was based on the companys focus on the lighter, faster, farther positioning, enabled TBL to tap into years of knowledge and athlete input to develop product in the adventure racing category. The resulting Delerion product features Gore-Tex XCR and a unique new rail system that allows for easy attachment/detachment of a gaiter.
The partnership with Exel to develop the Nordic walking program resulted in three styles under the Iduion product name. The top of the line shoe, which has slip-on entry, features maximum protection with Gore XCR, and two other styles, one lace-up and one slip-on, are built with lightweight mesh uppers. The features pull-string binding systems and a protective over-flap for a snug, dry fit in the slip-on models.
The Smartwool program is being marketed to a much broader audience under the new Power Lounger series that features a Smartwool liner that is designed to regulate foot temperature and enhance moisture management in the shoe. Based on early feedback that retailers gave to BOSS this series should give Timberland a nice boost in both the Outdoor Performance sector as well as the regular Suburban business.
The TravelGear line is a new category that was tested this last fall in Timberlands owned-retail stores and will roll out to The Walking Company stores in May 2005. The collection features a line of lightweight, compactable outer shells that are designed to use a common “chassis”, enabling a traveler to switch from a Touring Shell, to an Adventure Shell, to a Business Shell with the same level of comfort and stability in each. The chassis comes in a comfort or active version for differing cushioning or firmness. A hydrosock is also available is the user needs a waterproof shoe.
At Sorel, the team is expanding the line quickly in an effort to get back to revenue levels of the past. New Sorel president Mike Prendergast told BOSS that Sorel did just $2 million in the first year after Columbia bought the brand name, but had the volume up closer to $28 million by 2003. Prendergast said that a move to split off a separate sales organization from the Columbia team paid big dividends, pushing volume to $44 million last year. He said the five year plan is to get to $80 million. The line is fairly equal in sales volume between the mens, womens, and kids lines, but Prendergast stressed the fact that women buy two-thirds of Sorel product in explaining the focus on womens product expansion for Fall 05.
The company will add 30 new styles for the Fall 05 season, the first with new styles since Columbia acquired the brand.
Non-shell product is the other key focus for Fall 05. While BOSS can clearly see that this is not your fathers Sorel anymore, the company hasnt lost sight of its heritage or its stable of iconic product designs. They will bring back the original Premium Pack Boot for the season, a product that first debuted in 1964. They will focus the same level of energy on mens for Fall 06, with another 30 new styles slated for that season.
Columbias casual footwear business is really starting to click, according to Bill Berta, VP of sales. He said the effort to “Columbia-ize” traditional product is paying off for the business. While sandals are the fastest-growing category, Berta said the line has grown to more than 350 styles now, compared to the five styles in the line when he first went out with the line three years ago.
The company is also showing a lot more non-shell product, focusing on the fashion winter boot market. One of the key new innovations in the shell category is the dual density TPU shell that enables Columbia to add more flexibility in the shell boot range. The two piece shell also enables the brand to do a lot more with color to add more fashion flair to the traditional winter boot line that features a 200 gram boot, a 300 gram boot, and a zipper product.
Berta said the company “took the high road” in the childrens boots category, declining to take the bait and chase price-point product. Most of the kids product is take-down of the adult product, with little compromise on technology or quality.
Kamik feels they have found the secret to expanding their kids business, and that starts with recognizing the different needs of kids at different ages and developing product lines accordingly. The company has now created two lines for kids; one designed for the needs of the four- to eleven-year-old child, featuring price-point boots and basis styles for kids at an age when mom makes most of the purchase decisions; and another that is designed with the needs of the older kids between the ages of eleven and fourteen, when fashion and “cool” become much more important to the buying decisions that are influenced much more by the kids themselves. Kamik said they believe they currently hold a 30% market share in the kids category, while they maintain tighter distribution and selling into only 25% of the accounts many of the other large brands sell.
The Spyder brand gives Kamik an opportunity to get a little (okay a lot) faster with design and styling in the outdoor and snowsports footwear categories. The license deal was struck after the two companies collaborated on color in the winter boot category, with Kamik designing their product to work with Spyders snowsports line. The relationship evolved to a point where Kamik introduced at Winter Market a full line of winter boots for men, women, and children for Fall 05.
The signature piece for the new Spyder line is the Shamus, a black leather and mesh boot featuring an eVENT lining, Thinsulate insulation.
Hi-Tec said they were committed to narrowing the focus of the company’s Hi-Tec brand and stayed true to their word this year by cutting sku count to under 200 sku’s from 400 sku’s, with the most energy committed to the light hiker category.
The company also continues to put increased energy behind its Phibian program to enroll kids in outdoor programs. The program reflects one of OIAs key initiatives and that of a number of other industry leaders, including Dennis Madsen, who is retiring as CEO of REI to work on programs to get kids involved with the outdoors at an early stage.
The company’s Magnum line now makes up about 45% of company sales and is outpacing Hi-Tec growth. The company said there is more competition and more players in the duty business, but technology “has been lacking.”
Management said a lot of the Magnum growth is coming from the big box sporting good s guys adding the category. Hi-Tech has also added a line of compression gear to the Magnum offering. Management said it wasnt developed to address the sporting goods market, but served a void in the duty category.
Merrell management estimates that the Continuum product line introduced at for Spring 2005 delivery will represent half the Merrell sales and half the brands skus in 2005. Management pointed to positive trade reception to the project as a key driver for a 20% increase in Merrells order backlog at year-end.
For Fall 05, the brand sees styles ranging from a moc to an eight-inch boot, but it is a six-inch waterproof boot at $100, a shell moc, and a multi-sport non-shell boot that are seen a key items for the business for the season. BOSS was particularly wowed by the Thermo Moc Waterproof product the Thermo Multi-Sport Gore-Tex shoe.
The other key collection for Fall 05 is resides in the Transit grouping. The Pace series delivers a strong look that will rival anything the fashion athletic brands have to offer.
One manager suggested that the brand triple its business at the show if they let retailers buy into the line the way they wanted. The company is apparently still quite committed to its segmentation strategy.
