The Summer Outdoor Retailer Show kicked off Thursday at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
A few things stood out:
The show is huge. Over 27,000 people are expected to attend, up 2,000 from last year. There are also over 1,200 exhibitors showcasing the latest gear from backpacks and sleeping bags to sandals, apparel and more obscure products like ecofriendly camping stoves, liquid coffee, organic beef jerky trail mix, backpacks for pets and even standup paddleboards made from coconut husks.
Because of the sheer number of brands, OR added an extended Exhibitors Pavilion mostly with new brands from the paddle sports space, and a new SUP demo pool.
Standup Paddling has exploded. There are 366 paddle sports/SUP companies at the show, which includes all accessories and apparel.
“There’s a lot of comparisons from standup paddle boarding now to snowboarding and skiing in the eighties as there are a lot of new companies,” said Tyler Callaway of FCS. “I think the big difference is that standup paddling can be done by anybody almost anywhere and you don’t need a lift ticket,” Tyler added.
I also asked Global Surf Industries President Mark Kelly what he thought of the number of standup paddleboard companies. He laughed, saying, “Every cheap Charlie is here with a rack of boards.”
GSI’s business is up 35% mostly from SUP and the company was showing at OR for the first time in the pavilion section.
Mark agreed that standup has been great for business and great for introducing so many new inland customers to the water, but said the playing field will eventually even out with business going to brands that deliver on service and quality products.
Ken Driscoll, co-owner of a standup company called Glide that makes boards in the U.S. agreed that the playing field will eventually even out. “I don’t think all the standup companies will make it – a lot of them are all made in the same factory in China,” he said.
Action Sports companies are seeing success in the outdoor market. Brands with a major presence in surf such as Quiksilver Waterman, Sanuk and Reef and others are doing good business in the outdoor market.
“This show is epic for us,” said Reef President Jeff Moore. “The brand is really resonating in outdoor. We are somewhat of a younger brand for this market, but our products are doing great everywhere from REI to independents like Helly Hansen out of Boise Idaho.”
Innovation continues to attract customers. Outdoor brands continue to create product stories grounded in innovation. Examples include Mophie, which makes cases for iPhones that allow them to function like GoPros; another brand that makes a solar powered stove; and many others that are creating eco-friendly technology in apparel, footwear and hardgoods.
Roxy Fitness. The fact Roxy was at the show surprised me. The fact that Roxy is launching an outdoor fitness line with functional swimsuits, backpacks, outerwear and footwear seems to be a natural fit.
“The idea is basically to piggyback off the strength of Roxy’s 22-year heritage as the first women’s action sports brand,” said Eric Merk who came to Roxy from Columbia and Nike in April as the VP of Sales for Roxy’s new Outdoor Fitness division.
“If you look at Roxy’s heritage in boardshorts and swim, we reach up to that 17-year-old girl, and this line is for more of a millennial consumer ages 18 to 28 years old. When you look at the outdoor industry, most of these brands here trend older and are trying to reach a younger customer, but we are already there. This line will reach an older consumer for Roxy, but a younger consumer for this industry.”
See photos from the first day of OR above in our slide show, and we’ll have more interviews with brands who attended OR in coming weeks.
