While the outdoor apparel industry has historically been very seasonal in nature, many companies are looking to lifestyle fashion designs to add more interest to their spring lines. This trend has been gaining momentum for the past several years, and is reaching a tipping point where some retailers are actually specializing in outdoor lifestyle apparel, whereas previously most retailers defined themselves as a “climbing shop,” a “paddle retailer,” or a “backpacking store.” This is beginning to drive volume in the spring and summer seasons and even the most technical manufacturers are learning how to talk about silhouette, color, and texture in both technical and lifestyle products.

Arc’Teryx, for example created a new performance lifestyle shirt called the Motive Polo that offer the look of cotton on the outside and the performance of Polyester inside. It also created new collared soft-shell button down shirts that can cross over from work to play.

Patagonia has always had a considerable presence in lifestyle apparel and is now expanding into surf lifestyle wear through its Patagonia Surf brand. The company is also environmental commitment even further with this line. Their polyester sportswear will all be recycled and all base-layers will be recycled – this will continue to expand until the entire line is 100% recyclable. The initiative with Teijin announced at Winter Market is moving forward with over 2,000 pounds of used capilene shipped to Teijin factories so far.

Cloudveil was one of the first companies to bring a sense of style and fashion to their performance outerwear, and this continues with their line today. The company is still heavily weighted towards the winter months, but summer apparel is now roughly one third of their business and growing. The company’s strategy seems to be working with sales up nearly 90% for the year. In addition, by moving all of their facilities to Jackson the company was able to make improvements to their customer service infrastructure.

White Sierra has also added several new performance/eco-friendly fabrics to their line-up in an effort to create more interesting textures and keep a level performance. They have also created a new line of garment washed pants and shorts that seem to be gaining popularity. The company has found that there is a bit of a shift in the market as many regional chains are shifting back to White Sierra and away from their experiments with private label apparel.

Columbia is also seeing outdoor fashion influencing the mainstream consumer, and the company is expecting lifestyle apparel to grow. Casual outerwear has been one of Columbia’s fastest growing categories while they are seeing success by implementing performance fabrications into nearly all of their sportswear offerings. The company has focused its line considerably from last year, when it was “looking for the limits” of what the brand could do.

While the technical apparel companies are stepping up their lifestyle offering in order to balance out the summer months, the general consumer interest in the outdoor lifestyle has sparked a whole new breed of fashion brands in the industry. While companies like Royal Robbins and Ex Officio have been successfully communicating the outdoor adventure travel lifestyle for years, the next generation of outdoor apparel companies is targeting a much younger audience. Consumers who are as likely to go surfing as they are to go climbing, hiking or trail running.

Horny Toad is increasing its buy cycles to allow retailer to purchase product five to seven times per year. This lets them refresh the look of their floor and windows several times a year, not just in the spring and fall. This strategy is also helping retailer buy in a way that makes them more money.

prAna appeared with a new booth that is certain to win awards for its three dimensional representation of the brand. The company is continuing with its youth-oriented marketing revolving around climbing and yoga, and its designers are creating some truly cutting-edge pieces that are turning heads on the runway and at the crags. At the same time, the company has not lost its utilitarian nature-even the jeans can boulder in the double digits without splitting seams.

Mission Playground is a relatively new brand that launched three years ago at OR with a simple line of T-shirts. The name comes from the company’s underlying philosophy of the ecological mission preserve the earth as our playground. The company is entirely lifestyle in nature and not sport specific. They focus on design and completely refresh their line from scratch each year.

Perhaps the most eye-catching new youth-oriented apparel brand on the show floor was Topo Ranch, a Venice Beach based company that was founded a year and a half ago by Alex Kump and Eric Hartnack. The company was in the back of the hall, but their attention to detail and youth-inspired, earthy boutique feel was attracting crowds of retailers and reps looking for new brands. The line was highlighted by funky printed polos, cargo shorts with a designer jean cut and look, and western homestead graphics.

While wools used to be reserved for the winter months, most of the core players in the market, when they aren’t fighting about who created the category, have seen much success in extending their line into the summer months. Lightweight wool wicks moisture better than many synthetics and is naturally odor resistant.

Ibex is seeing their summer apparel offering grow at a much faster rate than winter, and has introduced lifestyle apparel, made from 100% organic cotton and Merino wool, to compliment their performance line.

Smartwool is extending their lifestyle apparel line with new offerings for men and women in lighter, more breathable fabrications, including one sweater-knit that could be the lightest merino fabrication on the market.

Icebreaker is continuing their rapid growth rate in the U.S. market with a 90% sales increase this year spurred by their focus on style and fashion in their summer line.


Editor’s note: look for more OR Summer Market coverage, including an overview of footwear, hardgoods, and textiles in the next issues of The B.O.S.S. Report