In the long history of huge oil companies operating in fragile ecosystems—sometimes to disastrous effect—the case of Texaco’s former presence in the Amazon rainforest is notable, not least for the foe it found in human-rights lawyer Steven Donziger.

According to Donziger, from the 1960s to the 1990s the fossil-fuel giant knowingly dumped 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Ecuadorean wilderness. The pollution took a devastating toll on the Indigenous population nearby: locals claimed that cancer, miscarriages, and birth defects occurred at higher rates.

Donziger’s involvement in the area dates back to 1993. Fresh out of Harvard Law, he helped build a case against Texaco on behalf of the tens of thousands of Ecuadorans affected by the dumping. Many experts considered the effort doomed from the start, but after 18 years, an Ecuadorean judge found Chevron—which inherited the lawsuit after acquiring Texaco in 2000—liable for widespread pollution and ordered the company to pay $18 billion in damages (the sum was later reduced to just over $9 billion on appeal). At the time, it was the largest penalty attached to an environmental judgment in history.

That was 11 years ago, and Chevron still hasn’t paid. Instead, the company launched a legal campaign against Donziger, claiming, among other things, that he helped fabricate key documents in the Ecuador case. “Chevron has spent, we estimate, $3 billion on 60 law firms and 2,000 lawyers to try to undermine the gains of these communities in Ecuador,” Donziger says. “And they’ve done that primarily by attacking me personally.”

Even among similar instances of corporations taking on whistleblowers, the ferocity of Chevron’s crusade against Donziger is nearly unprecedented. In 2018, he was disbarred in New York as a result of Chevron’s counter-litigation. In 2021, he was convicted of misdemeanor contempt and sentenced to six months in jail for refusing to hand over his computer and cell phone during the discovery phase of the Chevron suit—a demand he claims violated attorney-client privilege. While he awaited trial for that charge, he was .

In a statement provided to ���ϳԹ���, Chevron categorically denied the legitimacy of the Ecuador ruling and Donziger’s version of the story. “Virtually every statement that Mr. Donziger routinely makes regarding Chevron and [its law firm] Gibson Dunn is false and defamatory,” a litigation partner at Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher wrote. The firm called him an “unscrupulous con man who has no regard for the truth” and pointed out that a Texaco subsidiary spent $40 million on environmental remediation in Ecuador. “We’re going to fight this until hell freezes over,” a Chevron representative told reporters in 2009. “And then we’ll fight it out on the ice.”

But the house arrest and jail time only seem to have bolstered the public’s support of Donziger. His name generated a flurry of headlines in April, when he was finally released. “It’s been a big year for me,” he says. “I went from someone who very few people knew about to someone who now has the support of hundreds of lawyers and tens of thousands of citizens around the world.”

Donziger’s disbarment means he’s finished with the case in any legal capacity. Yet he senses a tide shifting in his favor in the fight to force Chevron to pay. He may not be able to practice law anymore, but Donziger has become something of a folk hero in the modern environmental movement. His focus is a call to arms to young lawyers with notions of standing up to Big Oil.

“Do the work,” he says. “Don’t be intimidated. The work must be done.”

The post Steven Donziger Took on Big Oil and Paid a Hefty Price appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

Cooler lovers, listen up. T������’s a huge sale on Yetis happening right now in various parts of Alaska that we simply have to share. All models are 100 percent off—yes, that’s right. Free! All you have to do is pitch your body into the icy chop of the North Pacific to get one.

All along the Gulf of Alaska, denizens of the Last Frontier are living out what we can only assume are the wet dreams of old, sunburned beachcombers everywhere. Dozens of expensive Yeti coolers are on shore after a cargo ship 109 containers of them near Washington’s Olympic Peninsula last year. And what do you know—they’re in great shape! (The possibility of Yeti’s marketing team , and perhaps even driving the tanker, now tops our list of most suspicious outdoor conspiracy theories.)

By all accounts, they’re going fast. One greedy collector has reportedly nabbed 20 of them. (Why this Alaska man needs the kind of cooler space that could keep 1,140 beers cold simultaneously eludes us, but it sounds like a great time.) Before the rush is over, we wanted to share some photos of folks gleefully unearthing their new $400 hunks of plastic from the sand.

As accidents like this continue to fill the oceans with trash, a few free coolers are more or less a cold comfort. Still, these people seem to be having a grand old time of it. So, without further ado, scenes from the frenzy. Maybe an Airstream trailer ship will go down next.

In October, the spilled 109 shipping containers near the WA/BC border. Debris has floated north ever since, onto beaches on Vancouver Island, then Haida Gwaii, then SE Alaska, and most recently the Kenai Peninsula (top of the Gulf of AK).
A debris thread… 1/n

— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW)

But Alaskan beachcombers have been thrilled to find in working condition. The high-end coolers retail for hundreds of dollars. 3/n

— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW)

Found a yeti in Alaska !!! Unreal !! A shipping container tipped over and we found this gem on the beach !! @YETI

These were all found on beaches near Seward, Alaska: ~1,000 miles from where the spilled containers off WA’s Olympic Peninsula. Pics courtesy Duke Marolf. 4/n

— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW)

Marolf has been flying the coast and offshore islands of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula in his small plane with fat tires this summer, looking for beached treasure. He says he needs just 200 feet of beach to take off and land. 5/n

— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW)

Hannah Richter uses two beach-found coolers as a platform for cutting salmon in Craig, Alaska. Courtesy . 7/n

— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW)

Treasure hunting for yeti coolers that fell off a cargo ship! @yeti

Steven Peavey finds a Yeti cooler on Alaska’s Suemez Island in April, kicking off a “fun frenzy” of cooler hunting in SE AK.
Melissa Nagamine Peavey pic. 8/n

— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW)

A Yeti cooler found on a remote beach near Elfin Cove (across from ), Chichagof Island, Alaska, in July. Courtesy Chris and Serena Lillehoff 9/n

— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW)

The post Yeti Coolers Are Washing Up on Alaska Beaches. Get Yours Today. appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

On the eve of its 50th anniversary, Patagonia,��one of the nation’s most innovative and ethical corporations, is under new ownership.

The outdoor apparel maker, founded in 1973 by Yvon Chouinard and run by the Chouinard family since its inception, announced today that the company has restructured, with the Chouinards ceding control to two private entities: a trust that owns all of Patagonia’s voting stock and a nonprofit called the Holdfast Collective that owns all nonvoting stock and oversees Patagonia’s environmental work, which is set to expand sharply.

In other words, one of the most powerful businessmen in the world just voluntarily gave away his company. And he did it, primarily, to fight climate change.

Effective immediately, 100 percent of Patagonia’s earnings not reinvested in the business will be distributed to the Holdfast Collective, which will use the money to help slow the advance of the climate crisis. The company has for years donated 1 percent of its sales to environmental causes, but this shift is poised to increase that figure dramatically. The charitable outlay of the new company will be roughly $100 million a year.

Ryan Gellert, the company’s current CEO, will remain in place as chief executive, and the Chouinard family will maintain heavy involvement, sitting on the company’s board, guiding the trust that owns the voting stock, and overseeing the philanthropic efforts of the Holdfast Collective. The company’s headquarters will remain in Ventura, California.

Creating a New Corporate Model

Chouinard, 83, started planning the corporate restructuring two years ago. Searching for a way to grow the company’s positive impact on the environment and increasingly queasy about his status as a billionaire, he began exploring options for divesting himself from the business he founded as a tiny mom-and-pop selling climbing gear and grew into a global brand valued at an estimated $3 billion. His thinking followed the path he has famously trod for years: bucking conventional corporate trends and redefining what entrepreneurs are capable of when they wield their businesses as social tools.

“One option was to sell Patagonia and donate all the money,” he wrote in a letter published today. “But we couldn’t be sure a new owner would maintain our values or keep our team of people around the world employed. Another path was to take the company public. What a disaster that would have been. Even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility. Truth be told, there were no good options available. So, we created our own.”

Gellert and a small team of Patagonia executives were tasked with creating the new business model. Under the cover of a project code name—Chacabuco, a nod to a fishing location in Chile—they began brainstorming solutions in mid-2020. Other than selling the company or taking it public, proposals included transforming it into a nonprofit or a consumer-owned co-op, like REI. Eventually they landed on the current plan.

“Two years ago, the Chouinard family challenged a few of us to develop a new structure with two central goals,” Gellert wrote in a release today. “They wanted us to both protect the purpose of the business and immediately and perpetually release more funding to fight the environmental crisis. We believe this new structure delivers on both.”

The restructuring required the Chouinard family—Yvon, his wife Malinda, and their children, Claire and Fletcher—to donate all their company shares to the new trust, officially called the Patagonia Purpose Trust, which will cost them about $17.5 million in gift taxes.

As for the Holdfast Collective, it’s structured as a 501(c)(4), which the company said it chose for the flexibility of the legal entity. 501(c)(4)s are allowed to make unlimited donations to political causes, meaning the Chouinards get no tax benefit for money that flows to the nonprofit.

Patagonia’s head of communications and public policy, Corley Kenna, said to expect the Holdfast Collective to distribute its funds in wide and varied ways: in grants to organizations addressing the root causes of the climate crisis, investments in land and water protection, and support for stronger environmental policy. For a hint at the type of aggressive advocacy Patagonia is likely to go after, Kenna urged people to remember this is the brand that called on its community to “” during the Trump administration, and joined with grassroots groups in Utah to for its shrinking of��Bears Ears National Monument.

In the end, the corporate restructuring—especially the transfer of all nonvoting stock to a nonprofit—was only possible because Patagonia doesn’t offer employee stock options. In his book The Responsible Company, published a decade ago, Chouinard outlined his concerns about employee and public ownership, arguing that wider control of the company’s shares might have prevented a change like the one announced today.

“[We] are concerned that, with shares more broadly distributed, the company would become overly cautious about undertaking risks in the pursuit of its environmental goals,” Chouinard wrote in 2012. “So that Patagonia can continue to push back the boundaries of what business considers possible, [we] are willing to undertake risks that might give pause to broader ownership, even of employees committed to reducing environmental impact.”

Announcing the Changes

The company shared the news with employees in a virtual town hall this morning. In its announcement, Patagonia pointed out that Chouinard is in good health, but that he “wanted to have a plan in place for the future of the company and the future of the planet,” according to Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, a board member.

“The current system of capitalism has made its gains at an enormous cost,” wrote Charles Conn, Patagonia’s board chair, in a release today. “The world is literally on fire. Companies that create the next model of capitalism through deep commitment to purpose will attract more investment, better employees, and deeper customer loyalty. They are the future of business if we want to build a better world, and that future starts with what Yvon is doing now.”

True to its talent for attractively marketing its environmental efforts, Patagonia has devised a pair of slogans that sum up the company’s retooled structure. Instead of going public, the brand has “gone purpose.” And because the Patagonia Purpose Trust is the business’s controlling shareholder and must adhere to the company’s environmental mission, the brand now claims that Earth is its “only shareholder.”

The claim may be less exaggerated than it sounds. The Patagonia Purpose Trust has no individual beneficiaries and the stock it controls can never be sold, meaning, according to deputy general counsel Greg Curtis, “there is no financial incentive, or structural opportunity, for any drift in this trust’s purpose.” An unnamed independent protector has also been designated to “monitor and enforce” the mission of the trust.

“It’s been a half-century since we began our experiment in responsible business,” Chouinard wrote today, addressing the company’s roughly 3,500 employees. “If we have any hope of a thriving planet 50 years from now, it demands all of us doing all we can with the resources we have. As the business leader I never wanted to be, I am doing my part. Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source. We’re making Earth our only shareholder. I am dead serious about saving this planet.”

The post Yvon Chouinard No Longer Owns Patagonia appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

If you’re already familiar with ���ϳԹ��� Inc.’s flagship NFT, the Outerverse Passport, we won’t bury the lede: they go on sale Wednesday, July 20, at , and you can buy one for $225 with a credit card, no crypto needed.

If you need a refresher, the Outerverse Passport is essentially an entry ticket into the Outerverse, ���ϳԹ��� Inc.’s many-faceted Web3 initiative. With the Passport, fans will have access to everything the company is building to support Web3, including an NFT marketplace selling one-of-a-kind digital artworks, a of creators and peers on Discord, and real-world benefits like gear discounts, event entries, and a three-year O+ membership.

Only 10,000 Passports will be created (“minted,” in crypto parlance), though the company has a roadmap for future NFT drops from the , which includes photographers like , artists like , and athletes like . Each of these drops—along with everything the company intends to do as part of the Outerverse—is designed to fulfill ���ϳԹ���’s mission statement: to get everyone outside.

But Why NFTs?

If that’s all the info you were looking for, great. If the whole ���ϳԹ���-blockchain marriage still mystifies you, read on. (In the interest of absolutely obvious disclosure, these are moves from our own parent company we’re about to unpack.)

T������’s a lot of zeal, debate, and confusion about NFTs right now, and for good reason. Any explanation of the technology behind them is, for most people, either a rapturous affirmation of the internet’s finally turning into the tool it set out to be 40 years ago, or a thicket of baffling jargon. Are they new and flashy? Yes. Can they make boatloads of money for the companies and creators who produce them? Also yes.

Skeptics will observe that combination and think “bandwagon.” But if you ask the boosters, the promise of Web3 (the “new” vision of the internet, powered by the same technology that makes NFTs possible: blockchain) isn’t just that it will generate more digital gewgaws and perhaps make some people rich; it’s that the technology will actually make our lives easier and more equitable, make our work more productive and—in the best case—make us happier.

How? For ���ϳԹ���, the potential advantage of NFTs is simple: they offer a way to reward people directly for spending time outdoors.

What the Passport Actually Gets You

“We see NFTs as another useful piece of gear to add to your kit,”��says ���ϳԹ��� CEO Robin Thurston. “Like any good outdoor tool, an NFT should blend form and function. That’s why we’re embedding real-life benefits into every minting—perks that inspire you to get outside.”��

You’ll hear that line again and again as ���ϳԹ��� delves further into Web3: it’s all about getting people outside. Thurston himself is deeply concerned with Americans’ growing disconnect from anything that isn’t beamed to them via LED screen, and is angling to do something about it. “Today, the average American checks their phone 344 times a day, and screen time for kids ranges from four to more than nine hours daily,” he says. “That’s a huge problem, not just for the wellbeing of our children, but for the health of our society and the planet.” ���ϳԹ���’s NFT project is, in part, an attempt to combat that trend.

If it all sounds a little optimistic—using emerging technology to help wean people off technology—just look at what ���ϳԹ���’s new NFT does, urges Thurston. ���ϳԹ��� envisions a kind of gamification that Passport holders participate in on their own terms.��

Imagine automatically earning a free boot fitting after five days on the slopes this winter, or a free bike tune up after you ride 100 miles, all made possible by the technology embedded in the Passport. That’s the kind of “real-life benefit” the company is talking about: incentives for getting outside that, hopefully, drive more people away from their computer screens and into the fresh air.

And the rewards game is just one feature. The Passport also offers early access to select launches on ���ϳԹ���’s new , entry into events, and an inventory of other attractive perks that the company has promised to continue growing over time. At a recent NFT conference in New York City, attendees got a taste of what these benefits will look like when Jack Johnson performed a private rooftop concert for holders of the Outerverse Bedrock Badge—a precursor to the Passport—and hung out afterward to rub shoulders with the crowd.��

If you’re not into the backend tech of it all, that’s as complicated as the Passport has to be, the company says. Blockchains might be arcane and perplexing, but listening to music on a rooftop is not.

The New Creator Economy

It all sounds pretty good for users, but what about the people actually making the stuff that will appear on ���ϳԹ���’s new NFT marketplace, the photographers and writers and musicians?

One of the hallmarks of Web3 is that users control their own data, and creators control their own digital goods (for a high-level explainer, a good place to start). This is vastly different from Web 2.0, the version of the internet most people use today, in which the buying and selling of personal data, and the advertising money that flows from it, dictates almost everything. Creators of all kinds fill the internet with good stuff—music, writing, art—and then don’t get a cut of the profits generated when people interact online to consume that content.

Web3 is fairer, ���ϳԹ��� argues, as the technology promises creators automatic, unmediated collection of profits from the distribution and secondary-market sale of their work. In a Web3 world—and especially on an NFT marketplace like the one ���ϳԹ��� is building—creators enjoy full control over their works until they sell them, and when they do sell them, they dictate the terms. Blockchain-powered marketplaces also, by dint of how the tech functions, mitigate many of the legal and contractual hazards that content producers face.��

Some of ���ϳԹ���’s most influential creators are already on board. Photographer Malik Martin, who will debut his new Constellation Collection through the Outerverse this month, puts it this way: “Instagram, Facebook, and social media are platforms I don’t own. I don’t have control over them. I look at Web3 as a chance to submit my work forever…to create art that’s always going to be accessible on the blockchain.”

Sustainability and Giving Back

When ���ϳԹ��� announced the Outerverse launch in April, it discussed at length its use of the Solana blockchain to lessen the initiative’s carbon footprint, as well a give-back component that ensures 20 percent of net revenue from all NFT sales (including the Passport sale) go to groups that support environmental issues and diversity in the outdoors.

Despite all the promises and pronouncements, though, ���ϳԹ��� leadership still clearly realize this effort will breed some skeptics. That’s why transparency, as a final metric for success, is front and center in the Outerverse project. The company has synthesized much of its thinking in a that explains the whole thing in more detail.

Finally, of course, it will be up to the users to determine whether they trust the project and, if they do, what it means to them. Whether or not the Passport becomes an essential piece of anyone’s outdoor kit remains to be seen, but its launch makes one thing clear: ���ϳԹ���’s Web3 ambitions go well beyond a single NFT drop. A media landscape dominated by blockchain technology is still a long way off; ���ϳԹ���’s efforts in the space, likewise, are just getting started.

The post Can an NFT Get More People ���ϳԹ���? The Outerverse Passport Aims to Find Out. appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

Someday we’ll have better news about the state of outdoor industry stocks—but that day is not today. May saw another slide in share prices of OBJ Outdoor Index securities, with three-quarters of the companies on our list losing value. Though on the upside, the dip wasn’t as bad as that of last month, or of the three consecutive months before that.

Here’s a look at what happened in May.

OBJ Outdoor Index Compared to Other Indices: May 2022

Of the 28 public companies that OBJ tracks, only seven saw share price increases in May. Here are the month’s top stock performers:

1. Emerald Holding Inc. (NYSE: EEX): 24.54%
2. Vista Outdoor Inc. (NYSE: VSTO): 9.40%
3. Fenix Outdoor International��AG (STO: FOI-B): 8.22%

And here are the companies that saw the biggest declines:

1. GoPro Inc. (Nasdaq: GPRO): -22.53%
2. On Holding AG (NYSE: ONON): -17.30%
3. Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS): -16.26%

Tracking the Monthly OBJ Outdoor Index

Below is the OBJ Outdoor Index for May 2022. The Index shows how 28 public corporations—mostly parent companies of outdoor brands, with a couple of retailers, a ski resort giant, and a trade show operator included as well—performed in the calendar month.

The chart includes the companies’ share prices at the close of the last business day of the previous month (April 29), their share price at the close of the last business day of the tracked month (May 31), and the percent change during that period.

The OBJ Outdoor Index, unlike other indices such as the Dow, doesn’t use a market-cap weighting system.

Foreign companies’ shares are presented here in U.S. dollars and designated as OTC (over-the-counter) securities since they aren’t listed on U.S. stock exchanges. Two exceptions are Dometic Group AB and Fenix Outdoor International Group, whose share prices can be found only on Nasdaq Stockholm and are represented as U.S. currency converted from the Swedish krona.

Underneath the stock chart are capsules on each of the 28 companies of the OBJ Outdoor Index, including headquarters location, connections to the outdoor industry (if not immediately obvious), key executives, and recent editorial coverage in OBJ, where applicable.

OBJ Outdoor Index: May 2022

*Currency converted from Swedish krona

OBJ Outdoor Index: Company Guide

Adidas��AG��(OTC: ADDYY)

• Headquarters:��Herzogenaurach, Germany (U.S. operation is based in Portland, Oregon)
• Outdoor connection:��While��Adidas��might be known for its athletic apparel, the company also possesses some core outdoor DNA through its Portland, Oregon-based��Adidas Terrex��and��Five Ten��brands.
• Key executives: Kasper Rorsted, CEO; Carla Murphy, GM, Adidas Outdoor

Anta Sports Products Ltd.��(OTC: ANPDY)

• Headquarters:��Xiamen, China (subsidiary Amer Sports is based in Helsinki, Finland, and its U.S. operation is based in Ogden, Utah)
• Outdoor connection: Anta is the owner of Amer Sports and its portfolio of outdoor and snow sports brands — Salomon,��������’t������,��Armada Skis, and��Atomic.
• Key executives: Jie Zheng, CEO, Amer Sports

Callaway��Golf Co.��(NYSE: ELY)

• Headquarters:��Carlsbad, California
• Outdoor connection:��Though primarily a golf manufacturer and now the owner of Topgolf, the company made a big play in the outdoor space in late 2018 with the acquisition of European outdoor brand��Jack Wolfskin.
• Key executives: Oliver Brewer, president and CEO, Callaway; Richard Collier, CEO, Jack Wolfskin; Diana Seung, GM, Jack Wolfskin North America

Camping World Holdings Inc.��(NYSE: CWH)

• Headquarters:��Lincolnshire, Illinois
• Key executives: Marcus Lemonis, CEO

Canada Goose��Holdings Inc.��(NYSE: GOOS)

• Headquarters:��Toronto, Ontario
• Outdoor connection: In addition to its eponymous apparel brand,��Canada Goose��owns and operates footwear brand Baffin.
• Key executives: Dani Reiss, CEO

Canadian Tire Corp.��(OTC: CDNAF)

• Headquarters:��Toronto, Ontario
• Outdoor connection:��CTC boasts an iconic outdoor brand,��Helly Hansen, in its portfolio. (It also operates a chain of sporting goods retail stores throughout Canada.)
• Key executives: Paul Stoneham, CEO, Helly Hansen (departing)

Clarus Corp.��(Nasdaq: CLAR)

• Headquarters:��Salt Lake City, Utah
• Outdoor connection:��Clarus is a holding company whose flagship outdoor brand is��Black Diamond Equipment. Clarus also owns��Rhino-Rack,��Pieps,��SKINourishment��plus two bullet manufacturers.
• Key executives: John Walbrecht, president

Columbia Sportswear Co.��(Nasdaq: COLM)

• Headquarters:��Portland, Oregon
• Outdoor connection:��In addition to the��Columbia��brand,��the Portland-based apparel and footwear giant includes��Mountain Hardwear,��prAna, and��Sorel in its portfolio.
• Key executives: Timothy Boyle, CEO

Compass Diversified��(NYSE: CODI)

• Headquarters:��Westport, Connecticut
• Outdoor connection:��Long known for its hook-and-bullet assets, CODI added a big outdoor name in the fall of 2020 with the acquisition of��Boa Technology Inc.
• Key executives: Shawn Neville, CEO, Boa Technology

Deckers��Outdoor Corp.��(NYSE: DECK)

• Headquarters:��Goleta, California
• Outdoor connection:��Deckers is a major player in outdoor and active footwear with such brands as��Hoka One One,��Teva,��Sanuk, and��Ugg.
• Key executives: Wendy Yang, president, performance lifestyle brands

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc.��(NYSE: DKS)

• Headquarters:��Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Outdoor connection:��The sporting goods retail giant recently launched an outdoor store concept called��Public Lands, led by industry veteran Todd Spaletto.
• Key executives: Lauren Hobart, president and CEO; Todd Spaletto, president, Public Lands

Dometic Group AB��(STO: DOM.ST)

• Headquarters:��Stockholm, Sweden
• Outdoor connection:��The Swedish-based company manufactures��accessories for mobile-living end markets such as campers and RVs, and it recently acquired��Igloo Products Corp.
• Key executives: Juan Vargues, president and CEO

Emerald Holding Inc.��(NYSE: EEX)

• Headquarters:��San Juan Capistrano, California
• Outdoor connection:��Emerald is the owner and operator of the twice-annual��Outdoor Retailer��and��Surf Expo��trade shows
• Key executives: Hervé Sedky, CEO

Fenix Outdoor International��AG��(OTC: FNXTF)��

• Headquarters:��Zug, Switzerland (U.S. headquarters in Louisville, Colorado)
• Outdoor connection:��The Swiss company’s outdoor brands include��Fjallraven,��Royal Robbins, and��Primus.
• Key executives: Martin Nordin, CEO; Nathan Dopp, CEO Americas

Garmin��Ltd.��(Nasdaq: GRMN)

• Headquarters:��Schaffhausen, Switzerland (U.S. headquarters in Olathe, Kansas)
• Key executives: Clifton Pemble, president and CEO

GoPro��(Nasdaq: GPRO)

• Headquarters:��San Mateo, California
• Key executives: Nick Woodman, CEO

Helen of Troy Ltd.��(Nasdaq: HELE)

• Headquarters:��El Paso, Texas
• Outdoor connection:��Among its many consumer brands is��Hydro Flask, the maker of insulated and stainless steel drinkware, and��Osprey.
• Key executives: Julien Mininberg, CEO

Johnson Outdoors Inc.��(Nasdaq: JOUT)

• Headquarters:��Racine, Wisconsin
• Outdoor connection:��The company owns two outdoor brands (Eureka��and��Jetboil) and two watercraft brands (Old Town��and��Ocean Kayak).
• Key executives: Helen P. Johnson-Leipold, chairman and CEO

On Holding AG��(NYSE: ONON)

• Headquarters:��Zurich, Switzerland
• Outdoor connection:��The running shoe brand recently went public, pricing its IPO of 31.1 million shares at $24 a share—up from its initial expectations—for an initial raise of $746 million.
• Key executives: Martin Hoffmann, co-CEO and CFO, Marc Maurer, co-CEO, and Olivier Bernhard, co-Founder and executive director

Newell Brands��Inc.��(Nasdaq: NWL)

• Headquarters:��Atlanta, Georgia
• Outdoor connection:��The company’s core outdoor brands are��Marmot��and��Coleman��(and there is some crossover into outdoor with its other consumer brands��Contigo,��Ex Officio, and��Stearns)
• Key executives: Ravi Saligram, CEO

Samsonite��International SA��(OTC: SMSEY)

• Headquarters:��Hong Kong
• Outdoor connection:��The luggage giant owns outdoor pack and bag brands��Gregory Mountain Products��and��High Sierra
• Key executives: John Sears, VP, Gregory

Solo Brands, Inc.��(NYSE: DTC)

• Headquarters: Southlake, Texas
• Outdoor Connection:��The growing specialty company owns Solo Stove, Oru Kayak, Chubbies and water sports company Isle.
• Key Executives:��John Merris, CEO; Samuel Simmons, CFO

Thule Group��AB��(OTC: THUPY)��

• Headquarters:��Malmö, Sweden
• Outdoor connection:��The Swedish maker of��Thule��car racks, luggage, and baby strollers recently got into car-top campers with its purchase of��Tepui.
• Key executives: Magnus Welander, CEO; Hilary Hartley, president Americas

Vail Resorts Inc.��(NYSE: MTN)

• Headquarters:��Broomfield, Colorado
• Outdoor connection:��In addition to being the largest ski resort operator in the world, Vail also operates massive lodging and retail operations.
• Key executives: Kirsten Lynch, CEO

VF Corp.��(NYSE: VFC)

• Headquarters:��Denver, Colorado
• Outdoor connection:��One of the biggest, most influential corporations in the outdoor industry,��VF Corporation��owns and operates an “outdoor” portfolio of��The North Face,��Altra,��Icebreaker,��Smartwool,��Timberland, and an “active” portfolio of��Eastpak,��JanSport, and��Vans.
• Key executives: Steve Rendle, CEO

Vista Outdoor Inc.��(NYSE: VSTO)

• Headquarters:��Anoka, Minnesota
• Outdoor connection:��Vista did some rightsizing of its portfolio in recent years by shedding its firearms assets and acquiring new brands in the outdoor and shooting sports spaces. Its outdoor portfolio now consists of��CamelBak,��Camp Chef,��Bell,��Giro,��QuietKat,��Stone Glacier, and��Venor.
• Key executives: Christopher Metz, CEO
• Recent OBJ coverage:��

Wolverine World��Wide Inc.��(NYSE: WWW)

• Headquarters:��Rockford, Michigan
• Outdoor connection:��Another of the big footwear players, Wolverine owns and operates such outdoor brands as��Merrell��and��Chaco, while other brands include��Wolverine,��Saucony, and��Cat Footwear.
• Key executives: Blake Krueger, CEO

Yeti Holdings Inc.��(NYSE: YETI)��

• Headquarters:��Austin, Texas
• Key executives: Matthew Reintjes, president and CEO

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The sale of single-use water bottles and other containers will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a new plan from interior secretary Deb Haaland.

On Thursday, Haaland requiring federal land managers to phase out the sale of single-use plastic products on 480 million acres of Interior Department property by 2032. The move supports a recent executive order from President Biden calling for federal agencies to minimize waste and increase recycling efforts. The order also effectively undoes a 2017 policy, issued by the Trump administration, that stopped national parks from banning the sale of plastic water bottles.��

“As the steward of the nation’s public lands, including national parks and national wildlife refuges, and as the agency responsible for the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats, [the Interior Department is] uniquely positioned to do better for our Earth,” Haaland said in a statement.

The decision is one that leaders in the outdoor industry have consistently rallied for over the past several years. In January, CamelBak president Greg Williamson wrote an calling for more water stations on federal lands to slow the sale of plastic water bottles in national park visitor centers and other public facilities.

“The result of a throwaway culture is more plastic waste finding its way into landfills or, worse, into waterways,” Williamson writes in that piece. “Expanding water refilling stations on public lands, along with promoting the practice of reusable water bottles and hydration packs, would give visitors more options for staying hydrated, improve the visitor experience, and reduce waste and trash collection costs.”

In a statement Thursday, Williamson expanded on his earlier comments: “CamelBak’s longstanding mission has been for the world to ‘ditch disposable,’ and this order brings that ideal within reach. We wholeheartedly support Secretary Haaland’s order because reducing plastic use on public lands is good for all stakeholders. Phasing out single-use plastics by 2032 and creating alternative options, such as installing reusable water bottle filling stations, will bring myriad benefits for our people and our planet.”��

According to Interior Department reporting, almost 80,000 tons of municipal solid waste was generated on Interior lands in the 2020 fiscal year. Plastics accounted for a significant portion of that total.

“Less than 10 percent of all the plastic ever produced has been recycled, and recycling rates are not increasing,” Secretary Haaland wrote in Thursday’s order. “The United States is one of the world’s largest producers of plastic waste and other types of waste, and the U.S. Government is a large consumer with significant market power and the ability to drive change through its waste reduction policies and procurement patterns.”

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In a decade, plastic water bottles on federal lands may be a thing of the past, thanks to a new plan from interior secretary Deb Haaland.

Earlier today, Haaland requiring federal land managers to phase out single-use plastic products on 480 million acres of Interior Department property by 2032. The move supports a recent executive order from President Biden calling for federal agencies to minimize waste and increase recycling efforts. The order also effectively undoes a 2017 policy, issued by the Trump Administration, that stopped national parks from banning the sale of plastic water bottles.��

“As the steward of the nation’s public lands, including national parks and national wildlife refuges, and as the agency responsible for the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats, [the Interior Department is] uniquely positioned to do better for our Earth,” said Haaland in a statement released today.

The decision is one leaders in the outdoor industry have consistently rallied for over the past several years. In January, CamelBak president Greg Williamson wrote an op-ed, published in ���ϳԹ��� Business Journal, calling for more water stations on federal lands to slow the sale of plastic water bottles in national park visitor centers and other public facilities.

“The result of a throwaway culture is more plastic waste finding its way into landfills or, worse, into waterways,” Williamson wrote in that piece. “Expanding water refilling stations on public lands, along with promoting the practice of reusable water bottles and hydration packs, would give visitors more options for staying hydrated, improve the visitor experience, and reduce waste and trash collection costs.”

In a statement today, Williamson expanded on his earlier comments: “CamelBak’s longstanding mission has been for the world to ‘ditch disposable,’ and this order brings that ideal within reach. We wholeheartedly support Secretary Haaland’s order because reducing plastic use on public lands is good for all stakeholders. Phasing out single-use plastics by 2032 and creating alternative options, such as installing reusable water bottle filling stations, will bring myriad benefits for our people and our planet.”��

According to Interior Department reporting, almost 80,000 tons of municipal solid waste was generated on Interior lands in the 2020 fiscal year. Plastics accounted for a significant portion of that total.

“Less than 10 percent of all the plastic ever produced has been recycled, and recycling rates are not increasing,” secretary Haaland wrote in the order published today. “The United States is one of the world’s largest producers of plastic waste and other types of waste, and the U.S. Government is a large consumer with significant market power and the ability to drive change through its waste reduction policies and procurement patterns.”

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PrimaLoft, the outdoor ingredient brand whose synthetic insulation is used across the industry by companies like Patagonia and The North Face, will have a new owner as of July. Compass Diversified Holdings has agreed to buy the brand from Victor Capital Partners for an estimated $530 million. PrimaLoft will join several other outdoor companies in Compass Diversified’s portfolio, including Boa Technology and the hunting brand Velocity Outdoor.

“PrimaLoft has all the attributes we look for in an acquisition and once closed, will add to [our] track record of acquiring industry-leading, innovative businesses with strong competitive advantages,” said Elias Sabo, CEO of Compass Diversified, in a release today.

Sabo added that PrimaLoft was particularly attractive for its “significant intellectual property” and operations in a “large, growing addressable market” with a high free cash flow. As of this month, PrimaLoft contracts with more than 950 brand partners across the outdoor space, including Patagonia, Stio, La Sportiva, Helly Hansen, Marmot, and Canada Goose. The company also owns about 90 global patents.

PrimaLoft’s environmental focus also appears to be part of the attraction for Compass Diversified. According to the brand’s reporting, PrimaLoft has “diverted 614 million plastic bottles from landfills since 2015, pioneered biodegradable and carbon-negative fiber polymers, and reduced emissions by up to 70 percent for its proprietary line of insulations made with P.U.R.E. manufacturing technology.” Sabo noted in today’s release that the company “operates at the forefront of sustainability and is fully aligned with [Compass Diversified’s] mission of conducting our business in a responsible and ethical manner while delivering superior investment results.”

“I am incredibly proud of PrimaLoft’s success with Victor Capital Partners and am thrilled to be partnering with [Compass Diversified], which shares our commitment to building a sustainable future through innovation,” said PrimaLoft CEO Mike Joyce in the same release today. “We believe PrimaLoft is well-positioned to continue its purpose to unleash the full potential of people, products, and planet.”

Following the close of the deal, PrimaLoft will continue to be led by its current executive team.

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Sea to Summit, the legacy gear maker whose products span numerous categories including camping, watersports, and hunting, has a new owner as of today. The company this morning announced it has closed a deal to sell a majority of its shares to Sydney, Australia-based Five V Capital, a private equity firm and certified B Corporation. Financials of the deal were not disclosed.

“Sea to Summit has been on a pretty steep growth curve for more than a decade globally,” said Josh Simpson, Sea to Summit’s general manager for North America. “There comes a time when founders see that they have taken the brand about as far as they can without support.” For Sea to Summit, apparently, that time has come.

It’s been a busy few years for the brand by any measure. In 2020, the company acquired its own North American distribution rights back from the two individuals who have owned them—Andrew and Shelley Dunbar—for 22 years. Since then, Sea to Summit has appointed a new CEO, Greg Dupont, and “fine-tuned a lot of the global alignment and road map for the business,” according to Simpson. “We have a pretty clear and ambitious mission about where to head in the next five years,” he added.

Part of Five V’s interest in Sea to Summit, according to Simpson, lies in the brand’s broad appeal and global reach. “I think Sea to Summit is unique in how diversified we are from a global business perspective,” he said. “It’s also a very approachable brand that aligns across a vast array of activities and consumers. We’re not just top-of-the-mountain, super technical gear.”

As for changes to the brand’s market strategy following the sale, Simpson says nothing major will be altered that wasn’t already in the company’s roadmap. “Five V Capital sees a significant opportunity to accelerate [Sea to Summit’s] global growth…including in key areas that can benefit from Five V’s omni-channel consumer, e-commerce, supply chain, and sustainability expertise,” the company said in a release Tuesday.

One change that will take place, which was already planned: the brand will overhaul one of its largest verticals—dry bags and stuff sacks, which it groups together in its “storage” category—debuting new products at Outdoor Retailer in Denver this June. The new gear focuses heavily on sustainable materials, Simpson said, and also includes fun touches like new colorways that lean into the brand’s Australian heritage.

Simpson also said the brand has no plans to launch any new categories in the near future. The company’s last new-category entrée was into the backcountry tent market in late 2020. “Tents were a big lift, and that brought our category count to eight,” Simpsons said. “We have no imminent plans for new categories right now. Our ambitions are to renovate the existing categories we’re in for the next few years.”

Sea to Summit’s CEO, Greg Dupont, said in a release today that he “anticipate[s] this transaction to rapidly accelerate our brand and distribution-business growth domestically and globally,” thanks in large part to Five V’s “knowledge of the digital ecosystem, coupled with its demonstrable track record of international expansion.”

Simpson said the company plans to grow its global workforce following the sale. The brand’s headquarters will remain in Perth, Australia. Sea to Summit’s founder, Roland Tyson, will continue to advise the company on product design and marketing, and Sally McCoy, the brand’s executive chair, will step down from that position and become a non-executive director.

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Cotopaxi and Grassroots Outdoor Alliance both announced the appointment of new presidents this week. At Cotopaxi, Damian Huang, the former CEO of Eddie Bauer (EB), will ascend to the post. At Grassroots, it’s Gabe Maier, formerly the organization’s VP, who will take on the role.

Both Huang and Maier have significant experience in the outdoor space. Before Huang’s time as chief executive of EB, he spent several years at Patagonia as VP of design and merchandising and nearly a decade at The North Face in product-focused roles.

According to a release from Cotopaxi, Huang’s accomplishments at EB included honing the company’s focus on accessibility in the outdoors, establishing a sustainability roadmap, and helping the brand win more than 50 industry awards. Perhaps most significantly, he was instrumental in “guiding [EB’s] transition from a catalog retailer to a digitally-driven business with deep omni-channel integration.”

The appointment—a newly created position at Cotopaxi—was made possible by $45 million in funding from Bain Capital Double Impact, which the company secured in September 2021. Part of that investment is being used to expand the executive team as the brand continues to grow at an impressive clip, having nearly doubled revenue every year since 2014. The company’s founder, Davis Smith, will remain CEO.

“To say I’m excited to join Cotopaxi would be an understatement,” said Huang. “Every once in a while a company comes along that is not only new and different, but has an energy, a soul, and a purpose that makes an organization remarkable. I’m deeply inspired by what Davis and the team have built, impressed by the leaders at Bain Capital Double Impact, and honored to help push the company forward.”

Said Smith, “We are elated to name Damien to our team. He’s an incredibly talented individual with an authentic passion for our mission to fight extreme poverty. His position as President is integral to the next stage of growth for Cotopaxi.”

Huang will work out of Seattle, the company said, making frequent trips to the brand’s headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.

At Grassroots, Maier brings more than half a decade of direct experience to the role, having worked with the group for two years as business analyst and four more as vice president. Since 2021, he’s served as the director of business development for BrandKeep, a SAAS company focused on helping independent retailers organize digital assets.

“It’s heartening to see that retailers are having a bit of a moment right now, as both brands and investors are recognizing the enduring importance of specialty retail as commerce continues to evolve,” said Maier. “I’m very excited to be coming back at this moment, and to have the opportunity to be a steward for independent specialty and all of the amazing individuals that form this community.”

Maier will replace former president Rich Hill, who ran the group from 2016 to 2022 and in March.

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