Opinion

My parents founded Townsend Bertram & Company in 1988 with the dream of creating a vibrant community of adventures. After 32 years in business, my mom will be closing the doors for the last time this Thanksgiving. Over the last few weeks, we’ve held a “retirement sale” and have ...read more

Industry headlines: Intriguing reads from around the web Suspicious story: Doubts have arisen surrounding the survival story of a woman who was rescued from Zion National Park last week. [The Independent] Vintage gear stash: This Brooklyn couple is running a retro gear shop out ...read more

I am a veteran and an outdoor enthusiast who has spent the last 10 years working in the outdoor industry. Without a doubt, our industry is the first in which I experienced the same level of camaraderie and commitment to purpose as I did during my 22 years in the Navy on active ...read more

2020 will go down as the year of the pivot. The year of Zoom. The year of social distancing, masks, hand sanitizer. The year that we didn’t think we’d ever adapt, but we did. Remember a million years ago when we last convened for Outdoor Retailer Winter Market + Snow Show last ...read more

The pandemic has created mayhem for all of us. Earlier this spring, at Formidable Media, we received more than one phone call from clients who wanted to put their plans on hold. Some needed time to assess the damage to their supply chains. Some wanted to defer payments to ...read more

Last week, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was accosted by Republican Congressman Ted Yoho, who in front of reporters called her a f***ing b**** on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. This was, according to reports, an unprovoked attack. He did ...read more

The outdoor industry makes way too much stuff. That has ramifications all down the line. There is a lot of product in the marketplace that retailers don't buy from vendors, and that customers wouldn’t miss if they never saw it. I would like to see lines shrink overall and focus ...read more

For the past few seasons, I heard industry talk about what the difference is between an “Outdoors-person” vs an “Outside-person.” An Outdoors-person is whom we as an industry have catered to for generations. Outdoors-people hike and ski and climb and ride bikes. They paddle ...read more

For too long now, there has been frequent chatter and some discord around our industry’s ecosystem of national and regional trade shows: the number of shows and their purpose, timing, cost and business need. The persistence of these grumblings means we have issues we need to ...read more

Keep up by reading Industry Buzz. Here are today's top headlines: Have a news tip? Email us at [email protected] Retailer resurrection: The Stable Outdoor Outfitters in Saginaw, Michigan, closed its doors earlier this year when the owner retired after nearly half a century ...read more

Under a government that relies on checks and balances, the U.S. Forest Service has proposed cutting the public out of the decision-making process when it comes to our National Forests and public lands. The proposal would amend the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—a law ...read more

Five years ago, I was involved in a hit-and-run accident. After three months in the hospital and 13 surgeries, my left leg had to be amputated. It felt impossibly hard at first, and I didn’t have a positive outlook. Who would? At age 25, I had just become disabled. It wasn’t ...read more

When you walk into most outdoor retailer shops, you see men’s and women’s sportswear sections, men’s and women’s footwear walls, pack walls divided by gender and men’s and women’s accessories. As a cis woman, (a person whose gender identity consistently matches the gender they ...read more

By 2044, people of color will make up the majority of the U.S. population. Naturally, there’s a resulting urgency for more diverse representation in marketing. Yet even with diversity on everyone’s table, influencers hired to check that box aren’t always eating. Most of us are ...read more

The first time I went to Outdoor Retailer, my eyes bugged out. The multi-story booths, abundance of plaid flannel shirts, and general scale of it all were sights to see, to be sure. But I was focused on the swag. I had just started as an editor for SNEWS, and this was my first ...read more

Outdoor Retailer brings together some of my favorite people in the world, people I am so grateful to call friends and colleagues. I thoroughly enjoy getting together with these fine people of the outdoor and snowsports industry. But the reality is that the thrice-annual OR shows ...read more

Like dogs salivating at the sound of a bell—the classic Pavlovian conditioning example—customers have been trained to expect discounts around the holidays. Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Cyber Tuesday. Cyber Week. What's next? New data from The NPD Group shows that 2018 was the most ...read more

As photos and stories of trash and waste piling up in national parks circulate, the American Alpine Club reached out with an open letter detailing another adverse affect of the government shutdown. Here is the full letter, penned by Phill Powers, Chief Executive Officer, and Mark ...read more

Growing up in the outdoor industry, I noticed from a young age that all the “outdoor” girls featured in the magazines that my mom brought home from work were three things: thin, fit, and exceptionally attractive. Like most middle school girls, I felt uncomfortable in my own body. ...read more

Dear outdoor gear and apparel companies, Each change in season brings a new round of product arriving at stores across the country. My staff and I get excited when the UPS and Fedex trucks roll up…we know the store will soon be filled with cool new gear, and we get to share the ...read more

Before Amy Kleissler was hired in June of 2014, she had been a loyal customer for years. She noticed a call for interested applicants at the bottom of a TB&C newsletter. With her four boys coming home from school for the summer she said,”I had to get out of the house and thought ...read more

It’s so easy to be cynical about politics and politicians these days. If your only connection to what goes on in Washington D.C. is CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, it can feel epicly depressing, like nothing gets done, nothing ever changes, and all our elected officials are just tools being ...read more

When I first set foot at the Outdoor Retailer show in 2011, I wore a gold pin-striped suit, a preppy yellow tie, and a slightly oversized overcoat that was passed down from my grandfather. My loneliness was only surpassed by awkwardness, walking around in a sea of plaid, ...read more

Just a decade ago, local retailers were the biggest influencers of a shopper's path to purchase. But, just like most other industries—from airlines and hotels to restaurants and even schools‑changing consumer behavior has dramatically upended everything we all knew about how ...read more