The next time you go to buy a new piece of gear from a brand or retailer online, there’s an outside chance you’ll be offered a gently used version as an alternative. You can thank the recent explosion of the used-gear marketplace for that.

According to research from online resale platform ThredUp, the pre-owned outdoor gear market is projected to balloon to roughly $75 billion by 2025—an eye-popping figure for a trend still young in the industry. Historically, only a select few brands offered used products for sale through their traditional channels. In recent years, though, that tide has started to turn.

“It’s an incredible value proposition for those that can do it,” said Dylan Carden, consumer analyst at William Blair, a Chicago-based financial services firm. “This is moving at breakneck speed and it’s a way for companies to circumvent a disrupted supply chain.”

Whether you call it “resale,” “recommerce,” or “used gear,” the idea is the same. Selling used gear serves the dual goals of keeping product out of the landfill and capturing business from customers seeking second-hand goods at a discount. Third-party companies like eBay and Poshmark have long provided a home for this type of commerce, but now outdoor brands are increasingly taking control of the process.

Jumping on the Used-Gear Bandwagon

The basics of brand-controlled used gear sales are fairly straightforward. Companies either work through a service platform like Trove, which helps brands sort, repair, and resell products, or they use peer-to-peer (P2P) software like Recurate, which integrates into their online stores. P2P software provides the functionality for a consumer-driven marketplace, where customers list and sell their own gear, with brands taking a percentage of each sale.

“The evolution [of recommerce] is so hard to quantify,” said Asha Agrawal, managing director of corporate development at Patagonia, whose role includes overseeing the brand’s Worn Wear recommerce business. According to Agrawal, hunting for used gear has “emerged as a favored way to buy among certain cohorts of customers,” a trend that confirms consumers don’t always need shiny, new things. “They often prefer the value and the stories from used [gear],” Agrawal said.

The recommerce game in the outdoor industry looks different depending on the company, its products, and its scale. The big names with lots of inventory (and customer returns) can use a service like Trove to get deadstock and archival items into the resale marketplace quickly. Smaller or more niche brands that don’t have as much product on hand may fare better with P2P services like Recurate, where customers essentially run the marketplace.

“Our demand [for used gear] is far outstripping our supply,” said Peak Design founder and CEO Peter Dering, whose company used Recurate to build its new Peak Design Marketplace, a space for customers to buy and sell used Peak Design gear directly within the brand’s website.

Peak Design is a prime example of a niche brand that benefits from a dedicated customer base and thrives in a specialty online marketplace. According to a 2020 survey the brand circulated among its online customers, 27 percent of Peak Design shoppers own ten or more of the company’s products, and half of its customers were already buying and selling used gear online before the Peak Design Marketplace was up and running.

On the other end of the spectrum, large multibrand marketplaces target the masses, from casual shoppers to brand-dedicated diehards. REI’s Good and Used, which launched in 2018 with Trove handling some of the technical aspects of gear resale, is one such marketplace. Last June, both Cotopaxi and NEMO Equipment announced resale partnerships with the platform, which helped those brands achieve a quick entry into the space.

Wooing New Customers

Ken Voeller, REI’s director of circular commerce and new business development, says that beyond keeping existing outdoor gear in use longer, resale provides important avenues for customer acquisition and retention. “In 2021, we sold north of a million used units,” he said. “That’s up significantly from 2019 [the last year of ‘normal’ sales before the pandemic hit]. It lowers the barrier to entry to getting outside, and we see our trade-in offering as a way [for customers] to stay engaged with REI.”

This cost consideration is potentially transformative for higher-end brands like ������’t������, whose steep pricing is often a challenge for new-customer acquisition. Used gear lowers that barrier and is already proving successful with customer conversion, according to ������’t������ VP of Recommerce Dominique Showers. “We are seeing tremendous engagement from a younger audience looking to enter into the outdoor activities we design for,” she said.

And it’s not all online. ������’t������ and Patagonia are both making efforts to bring used-gear sales into brick-and-mortar retail spaces. ������’t������ recently opened its first ReBird store in New York City, which has a dedicated section for repairs and recommerce. Patagonia has integrated Worn Wear into various retail concepts—including two full-floor takeovers at stores in Brooklyn and Denver for the 2021 holiday season.

The Climate Angle

Environmental impact is another oft-touted benefit of used-gear resale—and those claims aren’t hot air.

“The bulk of Patagonia’s emissions—95 percent—come from the supply chain, and most of that is material manufacturing,” Agrawal said. “Through our Worn Wear program, we’ll continue to offer customers clothes with 60 percent lower emissions than new.”

NEMO Global Distribution and Sustainability Manager Theresa Conn says that the company’s recent lifecycle assessment found that more than 80 percent of associated carbon impacts for a tent occurred before the product left the factory. “As the bulk of the greenhouse gas emissions are tied up in the product itself,” she said, “our goal is to keep products in circulation for as long as possible.”

Of course, this doesn’t take into account the bigger dilemma of developing an economically viable way for outdoor brands to produce less in the first place, which would prevent more emissions at their source. But building channels to keep gear circulating in the wild longer is definitely a step in the right direction.

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When Travis Campbell announced in September that he would purchase Eagle Creek from VF Corp. in 2022, it was lauded by some in the outdoor industry as an opportunity to revitalize the 47-year-old travel brand. Campbell, who left VF Corp. last year and has never owned a business before, is quick to note, however, that he doesn’t have all the answers and there’s still much to figure out.

“This is a moment to put my money where my mouth is,” he said. “We’re very much building the plane as we’re flying it.”

Campbell is in the home stretch of finalizing his takeover. On the eve of the transition, he spoke at length with OBJ about what the next few years might look like for Eagle Creek. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How many people do you have on staff right now? How much inventory do you have on hand?

When the deal closed on September 3, VF was kind enough to give us a six-month transition services agreement, meaning VF would run all of the back-end of the business until March 3 of this year. This extends to VF handling customer service, shipping out of their same warehouse in California, and accounting.��

It allows me to focus on hiring a team and building the infrastructure required to get the business going. Although this is a well-known business and brand, we have this new entity that’s totally in startup mode. We have a couple of people in Europe that came over as part of the transaction, but zero employees in the U.S. came with us. Eagle Creek had been commingled with Jansport for a number of years, and VF didn’t want to have a huge brain drain as the brand wound down, so having no new employees for this entity was a result of most people getting new opportunities within VF or landing jobs elsewhere. A small number of former Eagle Creek employees were laid off as well.��

Right now, there are three of us working full time in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and about five to ten remote. Conservatively, we have 15 open roles right now and there is a core number we need to run the business—about 20 to 25 people. I’ve been mindful of not just populating with people who previously worked for the brand. I’m intentional about bringing in people who have had different experiences with the brand, structuring ourselves to look back and look forward.��

As for inventory, when VF made the decision to wind down Eagle Creek, they stopped ordering product. Once the transaction closed, it was a key focus to get back into a good inventory position as quickly as possible, and we bought deep into our core styles. But because of the gap in ordering, we’ll have a leaner January, February, and March than we would like as production capacity ramps back up. Like everyone else, we’re also affected by the global supply chain issues and so haven’t been able to accelerate bringing in our new inventory in the ways we were hoping. We feel like being consistently in stock on core items is critical for us as we rebuild this business, so we’re putting a lot of energy and effort in this space.

What specific pieces of Eagle Creek’s legacy do you want to carry over as part of this new chapter?

If I look at where the brand sits today, it was founded as an adventure company and the travel part came later. Eagle Creek built bags for adventurous people, then became more focused on “adventurous travel,” rather than luxury travel, for example. One of the things the brand lost over time is the “adventure” side of adventure travel. I want to bring that back. Positioning for Eagle Creek has always been a complete travel solution for people—the right accessories in the right categories.

In our current world, adventure travel is more focused on what you’re going to put in the back of your Jeep for a couple of days, as opposed to long-haul travel. Big global adventure travel will come back, but it won’t come to life right away.��

Also, I wrestle with what our culture looks like and how to create a family feel. When people have described what made Eagle Creek such a great professional experience, they say two main things. First, the organization was amazingly human. People brought their whole selves to work. Second, there was a huge amount of trust across the organization that let people be vulnerable. I’m a big believer in trust as the linchpin of an organization, but how do you build that level of trust remotely? I have people working for me that I’ve never met and I don’t know when I’ll meet them in person.

It’s also the way you choose to treat people, like the way you manage their time. I’m geared to lead by giving people lots of autonomy; not micromanaging people makes it much easier to build a high-trust environment.��

Will production change? Are you using the same factories and supply chain?

Even pre-VF, Eagle Creek had a long relationship with one primary manufacturing partner. When that factory got word of the closure, they were as bummed as everyone else. They gave away our capacity as other demand came up, but they’ve been great partners right away as we wedge our way back in there. However, that capacity doesn’t turn on a dime, and that means we’ll be in better shape for the second half of Spring 2022 and really good shape for Fall 2022. For Eagle Creek, the second, less winter-y half of the spring season has always been more important.

Where does sustainability fit into your new vision for Eagle Creek?

Sustainability is really important to the people I’ve hired, the core of this team. If you look at Eagle Creek’s historic product portfolio—and VF as a whole—they’ve done a good job of pushing sustainable practices, but perhaps not telling the story behind it. Eagle Creek has a good baseline around sustainable products, and we’re in a good spot with utilization of sustainable fabrics and things like that.��

We’re not in a spot right now to offer, say, 2030 goals on output, because we don’t have a clean look at our emissions and impact to share yet. We want to make sure we can prove and have evidence for the statements we’re making. Sustainability is central to our business ethos and it’s something we’ll bring to life over time.��

Also, we’re going to launch a line of duffels in Fall 2022 where the textiles are all 100 percent recycled, and other Eagle Creek gear was already pretty far down that road. Our offerings are actually better than most people would expect. For example, all of our packing cubes are made with recycled fabrics, but the messaging overall hasn’t been out there. We’ll tell those stories when we’re more confident in our details.

Are there any specific skills or lessons you’ll take from your time at VF as you transition onto this new path?

My time at VF felt like my second MBA in so many ways. It was a great experience in terms of new ways of thinking about strategy and data, and the need to pivot towards digital.

Pre-internet brands still struggle with consumer connectivity. I mean that in terms of hearing directly from the consumer, instead of hearing from them via a distributor. A brand having a direct relationship with consumers is important to understand them on a more intimate level and to better participate along the consumer journey. One of the things I learned is that we need to connect with consumers, not just sell directly to them. At the end of the day, consumers will choose a brand they connect with.��

How are you going to fund the business on an ongoing basis? Is there a certain way you’ll work funding into your vision for the brand?

We want to run this business really differently and with a focus on doing good, for our customers, our employees, our partners, and our communities, so we’ve tried to create a capital structure that allows us the flexibility to be patient and thoughtful about all our choices. I’ve watched some capital structures create unintended consequences for brands and management teams and we’d like to avoid that as much as possible. We don’t have any pressure to comp a certain quarter, or a year, so our focus is on growing for the right reasons.�� If we get bigger, and run a profitable business, we can scale our impact and that’s a key goal for all of us on this team.��

We’re not trying to turn it into a $500 million business overnight and go public. We do need to grow: businesses don’t sit still—they go forward or backward—and I’d like Eagle Creek to be a professional home that people can have really fulfilling careers at. The more we grow, the more good we can do in the world. We want to be a purpose-driven business, and be able to do the right things for our stakeholders—vendors, customers, communities, etc. You have the luxury of making those choices when you’re not trying to service other interests. I don’t mean to be pejorative towards public equity or markets, but I sort of have this moment to try some different things and see if we can turn this into a brand that does good in the world—one that our community feels really proud to have it in the area and operate in a manner that improves the world that rather than degrades it. Those are lofty aspirations and I think being a small, private business makes it easier to make some of those choices, but you still have to be profitable and run a quality business.��

I might be wrong on some of this, but I’ll give it a hard run to do it as I want. People want to be associated with businesses that want to do good in the world and customers want to buy from these brands too.��

How will the product offerings change? Any new categories being introduced? Any going away?

We’re not going to go crazy with category extension. If I look at the brand and categories we’re in—wheeled luggage, duffel-carry hybrids, and organization—that’s mainly where we’ll stay. We’re not going to build technical bags to climb Everest. We do plan on organizing products more around occasions of use. We’ll build the brand back around the products that cue adventure, and move away from generic items.

Where do you think Eagle Creek can go in five years?

I’d very much like to build this business back into a central, important brand within the adventure-travel ecosystem. We want to be a brand that evangelizes global adventure travel. I think we’re a better global society when people move around more freely, seeing different cultures and environments. I’d like to see us facilitate that more. Eagle Creek won’t be driven by economics, but by the vision of travel as a vehicle for good in the world. If people look at us as doers of good and we make some money along the way, that’s success. It’s about doing the right things in the right way. It’s not an economics litmus test, but an impact litmus test.

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With a distribution center just south of Louisville, Kentucky, footwear maker Keen and its employees felt a direct effect from recent tornadoes that ripped through the state.��

“While the tornados struck about 20 miles away from our facility, the death and destruction hit home,” Keen Effect Vice President Erik Burbank told ���ϳԹ��� Business Journal, noting that the distribution center has a team of more than 130 employees.

Burbank said that in the immediate aftermath of the storms, the company’s teams went into response mode, supporting both victims and first responders on the ground. Part of that response was a commitment of $100,000 in cash and products, split as $75,000 to United Way of Kentucky’s Kentucky Tornado Fund and $37,000 in boots to nonprofit Good360 to help get footwear to those who need it most.��

“We’ve been working with Good360 in response to multiple disasters since 2017 when we partnered in the wake of Hurricane Harvey,” Burbank added. “They’re simply great.”

Asking the Outdoor Industry to Step Up

Keen as a company is asking other outdoor companies to join the relief effort.��

“It’s fortunate that we’re in an industry that makes stuff that people in Kentucky need right now,” Burbank said. “More than 3,000 families lost their homes and all their possessions in this disaster, and we see a great opportunity for the industry to come together and help them out.”

Burbank said Good360 would be happy to hear from brands that make any or all of the following:

• Heavy blankets
• Generators
• Tents
• Sleeping bags
• Non-perishable foods and snacks
• Drinks and water
• Hand warmers
• Socks, gloves, warm hats
• Solar phone chargers
• Baby supplies
• Hygiene kits��
• Holiday gifts and toys for children
• Flashlights/batteries

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Cotopaxi is set to begin the search for its first company president, the brand announced today.��

The role is being created during a period of considerable expansion for the Utah-based company, which has nearly doubled its revenue every year since the brand’s founding in 2014, according to CEO and co-founder Davis Smith. (Cotopaxi does not share exact financials.)

Smith said that, given the company’s rate of growth, it’s time to find additional leaders to help steer the ship.

“It’s a lot easier to accomplish our goals if we have someone who is an expert in this [type of scaling] and has done it before,” Smith told ���ϳԹ��� Business Journal.

Smith said he formalized the search for a company president at the beginning of 2020, but the pandemic derailed those plans, forcing him to get more involved with the day-to-day operations of the business. Now that things are returning to some sense of normalcy, he said the time is right to restart the search in earnest.

Cotopaxi claims to be well on its way to becoming a billion-dollar company in the next 10 years, aided by a large cash infusion from Bain �䲹�辱�ٲ���’s Double Impact investing arm earlier this year. Smith said he expects Cotopaxi to grow from 180 employees at the end of 2021 to 300 by the end of 2022, and potentially to well over 1,000 “in the next handful of years.”

Bain �䲹�辱�ٲ���’s Role in the Search

Bain Capital Double Impact managing director Cecilia Chao said her team will assist with the search, while also “bringing value-added insights and resources,” to the process, such as “introducing the management team to potential [candidates] who have the expertise and demonstrated results to augment Cotopaxi’s growth.”

She added that Bain also sees an opportunity to help Cotopaxi expand its global omni-channel retail strategy, which supports the company’s growth plans at the brick-and-mortar level. In early 2020, Cotopaxi had just two physical retail stores, and now has six locations in the U.S., with a seventh opening soon in Denver. Smith says that number will grow in the years ahead.

A New Role To Bolster Cotopaxi’s Corporate Structure

Smith was quick to point out that the search isn’t meant to replace anyone currently on the team, but rather to support the evolving structure of the company as a whole. “We have an exceptional team of strategic leaders and thinkers, and we’re looking for a collaborative leader to work with them,” he said.

Smith said the company isn’t necessarily looking for an executive from the outdoor space, just for someone who has led a quick-scaling brand and knows how to make the most of rapid growth.��

Cotopaxi’s C-suite will be involved in the interview process, and Smith is still thinking about how the formal reporting structure beneath the president will work once the individual is hired. Smith said it’s Cotopaxi’s goal to have someone in place by mid-2022.��

Smith added that he doesn’t plan to use a recruiter, and that the new hire is part of numerous upcoming additions to the leadership team. To fill those roles, he said, Cotopaxi is actively running its hiring process with diversity and broad perspectives in mind.

As for Smith himself, he said he plans to continue his work as CEO “for the foreseeable future” while transitioning his focus to the shepherding of Cotopaxi’s social missions through the next phase of “hyper-growth,” as he put it. “I foresee myself being involved with Cotopaxi for my entire life,” he said.

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Among the several new product introductions Clif Bar made this year, its entrance into the pet category with Clif Pet seems to be the most ambitious—and unexpected.

“The segment for plant-based, better-for-pets treats is growing and there’s more evidence that this is a space for us to go after,” said Rizal Hamdallah, Clif’s chief innovation officer.

The initial offering of three jerky snacks for dogs (set to launch in early 2022) is the first new product release from the company’s Trailblazers Incubator, and a reflection of the increased influence of the pet market through the pandemic (as many as 23 million American households acquired a pet since April 2020). According to Hamdallah, the incubator serves to help the company conceive and grow new product ideas from within, and eventually bring them to market.

“The incubator is not an ‘or,’ but an ‘and’ to all of Clif’s business categories and part of a multi-pronged approach,” Hamdallah said.

Clif has made public its plans to double the company’s revenue by 2030, and the Trailblazers Incubator is a key part of the path to that goal, according to company officials. The development of a pet line also illustrates Clif’s readiness to step away from its core product offerings.��

“Pets are in our company’s DNA,” Hamdallah said.��

The pet line announcement caps a busy 2021 for the California-based company. Clif released four new products this year, including Clif Cereal. The company also owns Luna bar, which had a couple of new releases itself in 2021.

While Hamdallah didn’t share specifics about how much the new innovation efforts have cost the company to pursue, he confirmed that similar innovation will be a major piece of Clif’s business strategy in years to come. The Trailblazers Incubator will be a cornerstone of the company’s larger plan to stand out in one of nutrition’s most competitive segments, he said.

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Patagonia has won the U.S. Department of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) in climate innovation, the company announced yesterday.

The Department of State awards six ACEs annually to U.S. companies operating internationally, focusing on those that show leadership and “whose operating practices and decision-making exemplify American values and international best practices,” according to a release. Patagonia was recognized for its conservation work in its namesake region of Patagonia in Argentina and Chile through its support of former Patagonia CEO and current board member Kristine Tompkins’ Tompkins Conservation.��

“Patagonia has a responsibility to slow the climate crisis because our company and community is affected by it, and every part of our business contributes to it,” Patagonia director of Latin America Alex Perry told ���ϳԹ��� Business Journal.��

He added that the company protected nearly 800,000 acres of land and 200,000 acres of sea in Argentina, and hopes the company can replicate similar work in other countries.��

“Patagonia demonstrates exemplary leadership through its work to protect land and sea in Argentina while also reducing carbon emissions and its own energy footprint,” said MaryKay Carlson, chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires. “Patagonia’s work makes a difference to local communities and helps create a better environment for the next generation.”

Packaged fish purveyor Australis Aquaculture was the other recipient in the “climate innovation” category, recognized for its work in sustainable fishing in Vietnam. In the other two ACE categories for 2021, multinational conglomerate 3M and vaccine distributor Zipline Ghana won in the “health security” category for their respective work related to the pandemic. Mastercard’s India business and hat maker Purnaa won in the “economic inclusion” category for work related to farmer credit access and long-term employment opportunities in Nepal, respectively.����

For the work pertaining to this award, Patagonia was a key part of a campaign that resulted in the provincial government of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina banning salmon farming, which prevented contamination of the Beagle Channel at the country’s southern tip.��

Additionally, Patagonia partnered with Bureo (a 2016 ACE winner itself) to turn discarded fishing nets recovered from Argentinian waters into hat brims.��

Perry also said the company is working with partners in Europe to establish the continent’s first wild river park on the Vjosa River in Albania, expand marine protections in Australia, and protect old-growth forest in Alaska, among other efforts.

“We urge other business leaders to not only reduce their carbon footprint but also to create the systemic change needed to tackle this existential threat to nature and humanity,” he said. “This award is proof that when local communities, nonprofits, businesses, and government leaders work together for common good, extraordinary outcomes will be recognized.”

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Many of the outdoor industry’s publicly traded companies saw their collective shares decline in November, but a handful of stocks enjoyed significant gains, helping to bring a bit of balance to the overall OBJ Outdoor Index.

While most outdoor companies followed the general rosy October numbers of the broader market, many lost those gains by the end of the month, according to the latest OBJ Outdoor Index. Of particular note, Hydro Flask owner Helen of Troy (Nasdaq: HELE) enjoyed a decent 6.91 percent gain after the announcement of their pending acquisition of legacy pack maker Osprey. Solo Stove owner Solo Brands, Inc. (HYSE: DTC), which IPOed on October 28, endured a modest loss of just below 5.44 percent through November.��

Canada Goose Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: GOOS) was the month’s big winner, up more than 20 percent as it projected a strong holiday demand early in the month and seemed to sustain that energy through November.

The other three indices OBJ tracks as a comparison followed a similar trend. The Nasdaq managed only a 0.25 percent gain, while the S&P 500 lost 0.83 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.73 percent in November.

OBJ Outdoor Index Compared to Other Indices: November 2021

Of the 28 public companies that OBJ tracks, nine saw their share prices grow in November and 19 saw declines—some of them steep. Here are the month’s top stock performers:

1. Canada Goose Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GOOS): 20.19%
2. Camping World Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CWH): 17.75%
3. On Holding AG (NYSE: ONON): 17.56%

And here are the companies that saw the biggest declines in the month:

1. Samsonite International SA (OTC: SMSEY): -12.85%
2. Adidas AG (OTC: ADDYY): -11.67%
3. (tie) Fenix Outdoor International AG ��(STO: FOI-B): -7.01%
4. (tie) Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN): -7.01%

With ongoing supply chain challenges likely to remain an issue well into next year, OBJ will continue to track the ways that brands and retailers are navigating the crisis. Be sure to look for our next OBJ Outdoor Index in early January.

Tracking the Monthly OBJ Outdoor Index

Below is the OBJ Outdoor Index for November. 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 on the last business day of the previous month (October 29), their share price on the last business day of this month (November 30), the percent change in that period, and current market cap (equal to share price times the total number of shares outstanding).

The OBJ Outdoor Index, unlike other indices such as the Dow Jones Industrial, 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 is a capsule 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.

This Index is a living document. We’ll update the chart as needed (monthly and/or quarterly), we’ll edit capsules based on organizational changes made, and we’ll add or remove companies based on mergers and acquisitions, newly available trading information, IPOs, and other relevant developments.��

As mentioned above, this month’s index includes Solo Brands Inc. (NYSE: DTC), which debuted on the stock market near the end of October.

OBJ Outdoor Index: November 2021

*New to the OBJ Outdoor Index
**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 — Suunto, 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
• Outdoor connection: Camping World tried its hand at outdoor retail but abandoned that play in 2019.
• 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, Brunton, 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.
• Key executives: Julien Mininberg, CEO
• Recent OBJ coverage: Osprey announces new ownership

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
• Recent OBJ coverage: On Running goes public, raising $746 million in IPO

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, and is rumored to be on the hunt for more acquisitions.
• Key Executives: John Merris, CEO; Samuel Simmons, CFO

Thule Group AB (OTC: THUPY)��

• Headquarters: Malmo, 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: Rob Katz, 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 Eagle Creek (soon to be dearly departed), 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, and Venor.
• Key executives: Christopher Metz, CEO

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
• Recent OBJ coverage: YETI billboard in Texas—apparently poking fun at Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk—goes viral

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REI today announced the addition of former Amazon VP Cameron Janes as chief commercial officer along with promotions for Kelley Hall and Vivienne Long, who were elevated to the roles of chief financial officer and chief marketing officer, respectively.

While Hall’s and Long’s promotions may come as little surprise to those familiar with REI’s leadership team, Janes’ hiring for the newly-created role of CCO seems to mark a potential shift in the company’s overall retail strategy.

Through a release, REI said Janes “will unite the co-op’s retail and e-commerce channels to help REI push the boundaries of how physical and digital retail connect and build a seamless omnichannel experience for its customers and members.”��

REI declined to comment on the news.

Janes was previously VP of physical stores at Amazon, so the transition to REI may signal an increased focus for the retailer on its 174 physical locations in 41 states. Janes had a 14-year tenure at Amazon, overseeing its entire brick-and-mortar strategy, Prime Video streaming service, and other key parts of the company. Janes departed Amazon in mid-November. He starts at REI January 3.��

In her new role, Hall will oversee the company’s sustainability strategy in addition to its financials. Through a release, REI said Hall “will take on a broader set of organizational responsibilities in her new role, leading the co-op’s efforts to build a future-looking, customer-centric supply chain while continuing to decouple REI’s growth from its carbon footprint.”

Long’s elevated role will focus on shaping REI’s membership and social strategies moving forward, especially as the company expands into more regional markets around the country.

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Three business leaders from the outdoor industry were named to Worth magazine’s inaugural “Worthy 100” list this week—a new “roster of innovators in business who are also uniquely contributing to broader social goals.”

“It shows that recognition is going to those who actually create social impact, and that that is becoming a metric of success,” Mpowerd founder and CBDO John Salzinger told ���ϳԹ��� Business Journal. He made the list along with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and Cotopaxi CEO and co-founder Davis Smith.��

The writers at Worth noted Mpowerd’s broad commitment to expanding safe light access to poor and underserved communities while also mentioning its sustainability efforts. Smith was mentioned as part of Cotopaxi’s efforts to use sustainable materials across its entire production, along with the work it has done supporting families and communities in Latin America.

Chouinard’s inclusion should come as little surprise, as he is widely considered one of the cornerstone innovators of the modern outdoor business. Both he and Smith were unavailable for comment at press time.

The list is split into 13 categories: Finance, Retail, Tech, Food & Beverage, Environmental Betterment, Travel, Media, Non-Profit, Music, Real Estate and Development, Software, Professional Services, and Miscellaneous. Smith and Chouinard are listed in the Retail category. Salzinger landed in Environmental Betterment.��

Some of the other notable names on the list include Serena Williams, Sir Richard Branson, Rihanna, and Eileen Fisher.��

As one of the few representatives from the outdoor industry, Salzinger is excited by what the mention could mean at a higher level.

“We’re all capable of making the right choices and valuing others and our environment,” he said. “Hopefully my addition can inspire everyday people to achieve material positive impact. Our world desperately needs it now more than ever.”

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Even amidst supply shortages and shipping delays, business had been going well for the specialty paddlesports brand Esquif Canoes in recent months. That is, until a fire in the company’s production facility halted operations on October 1.��

U.S. director of sales and business development David Hadden told ���ϳԹ��� Business Journal that the fire began in one of the two specialty thermoforming ovens the Frampton, Quebec-based company uses to form the initial pieces of its sought-after canoes. There were no reported injuries, but the fire did shut down key parts of the business’s operation.

“Thirty percent of the factory was damaged, including offices and spaces where we hold raw materials,” Hadden said.

Perhaps most disruptive: the fire melted several prepared shipments of complete canoes that had been moved to the affected space a short time before the blaze began. Hadden notes these included a key shipment for partners in western Canada. In total, approximately 40 boats were lost.��

Making the Most of the Accident

After the accident, Esquif’s 25-person team on the ground in Frampton (about an hour outside Quebec City) undertook a mammoth effort to clear out the entire building, clean the space, then prepare it to restart production, according to Hadden.

“I cannot say enough about our staff and [Esquif founder] Jacques Chassé,” Hadden said. “Everyone was very focused.”

Esquif’s factory staff essentially worked in shifts seven days a week to clean up and restore the building. Administrative staff were moved to trailers outside while work was being done inside.��

But this tragedy, it turned out, had something of a silver lining. Hadden noted that, although the fire was a “gut punch” at the end of an “amazingly draining” year of production, it did occur at a potentially opportune time for the company.

Prior to the incident, Esquif had been planning a several-week shutdown anyway, at some point in the fall or winter, to reconfigure its factory layout to meet increased demand. The fire, Hadden says, forced the company to accelerate the renovation it had been planning all along.

“It’s been a bit of a blessing in disguise,” he added.

The new configuration will give Esquif another 30 to 40 percent in capacity when full operations resume and a new thermoforming oven arrives in the spring or early summer.

Although Esquif had to cancel remaining 2021 orders due to the shutdown, Hadden said its community and dealers have offered staunch support, including some dealers prepaying for 2022 orders.

The factory officially restarted operations yesterday. Hadden said he anticipates a reasonably quick ramp-up, and expects the company will be able to fill 2022 orders, even amid increased demand. According to Hadden, Esquif does more than $5 million in annual sales and sells to more than 100 dealers in the U.S. and Canada.��

“Since paddling has turned to more of a seasonal business, we see very minimal impact for 2022,” he said. “Suppliers have stocked us with raw materials to complete manufacturing and sales will double those of 2021, even with the fire.”

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