Hundreds of representatives from outdoor brands and retailers gathered last night for the Grassroots Outdoor Alliance annual awards, which pay tribute to the vendors and retailers that are leading the outdoor industry in excellence.The presentation happened in Knoxville, ...read more
A Grassroots Outdoor Alliance award is a very big deal. The group, which is a consortium of 64 independent outdoor specialty retailers and 68 vendor partners, represents the best of specialty retail. The awards, which will be given out on June 13, 2018 on night one of the ...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
When Wes Allen finished college and started working part time at Sunlight Sports in Cody, Wyoming, it was supposed to be just a temporary summer gig. Except summer slid into fall, fall slid into winter, and all of a sudden Allen found himself running the show as manager. But it ...read more
On July 5, Ibex CEO Ted Manning announced to company employees that fall 2017 will be the last season the merino wool outdoor clothing company sells product through wholesale channels. Ibex shifts completely to a direct-to-consumer model in spring 2018.“We’re pivoting toward our ...read more
If you’re running a small to medium-sized outdoor brand today, there are so many competing forces trying to shape your business. It’s easy to freak out and be too scattered in your focus or retreat altogether and stubbornly stick to an old way of doing things. Neither approach is ...read more
One of the first things you’ll notice about Wes is that he’s a very affable guy. You can tell right away that’s he’s someone you can trust and I later came to realize how important this DNA is to the success of Sunlight. I had a lot of conversations with Wes, his wife Melissa, ...read more
It’s been at least ten years since I’ve been a proper outdoor consumer. I fell in love with ice climbing—and about a dozen other outdoor pursuits—when I was a freshman in college in 1994. I spent pretty much every spare dollar I had for the next decade assembling my stash of ...read more
Rich Hill now needs a flowchart to explain his work history, which has taken him to a number of well-known brands, from Kokatat to Kelty, Marmot, Patagonia, Ibex and prAna in roles he describes as “sphincter-like”: He has served as a channel through which everything passes. The ...read more