Brands, Europe, Footwear and Apparel, Strategy

Land of the Lemings, Euro Version

A while back, I posted an article deriding the lack of creativity and “sameness” in the outdoor industry. After having spent the past week  in the US and Europe visiting Outdoor Retailer and ISPO in Munich, I’m saddened to report that the Land of Lemings has not changed and even worse, there are more brands and excess product in Europe.

Most striking that how few global or pan European brands there are in the outdoor industry in Europe. Outside of The North Face, Patagonia and the emergence of Arc’Teryx, most popular brands remain small, regional players. There continues the belief that only product matters but we all know, from personal experience, it’s often hard to tell the difference between two items. That’s why you see many more BMW’s vs. Hyundai’s on the road throughout Europe.  What these companies don’t truly comprehend is that success is not about features and benefits but rather creating an emotional connection to the consumer.

This dynamic is slowing starting to change as competition heats up from US brands and capital remains tight for these smaller brands to expand.  Like many other consumer industries, consolidation is starting to occur in the outdoor industry as well. Once the floodgates open, there will likely be the decline of many of these brands. Hopefully, those that survive will learn that just being “me too” isn’t a long term recipe for success

Brands, Footwear and Apparel, News

Nike’s latest craze…Socks!

You might be wondering why I would ever consider writing about such a staid product like socks. Walk around any school yard these days and you’ll quickly realize that the days of the basic white tube socks are gone. As a father of two 9 year olds, we are seeing first-hand the craze of the Nike Elite basketball sock. (Disclaimer: as the former GM of Nike’s Equipment division, socks was one of my largest product categories. Yet, I can take little credit for this recent success).  Selling for a whopping $16/pair, my kids must have an equivalent of 1-2 pairs of shoes worth of socks in their drawer, in all colors imaginable.  While Nike created this newest craze, many other brands in the sporting goods industry are capitalizing on the trend and achieving 25% – 40% sales growth. So, what’s behind this phenomenen?

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Footwear and Apparel, News

Outdoor Industry – Land of Lemmings?

Touring the Outdoor Retailer trade show last week, I was struck again by how much of the industry is littered with small, enthusiast run companies that are just copying others. Stand up paddle boards (SUP) were the most egregious example of a bunch of lemmings (Webster’s definition: a member of any large group following an unthinking course towards self destruction) who were all thinking that the explosion of this sport was going to continue unabated. Looking back at the history of many other once hot categories like snowboards, inline skates and Razor scooters, I can already predict what the SUP paddle board industry will look like in a few years.  The bigger question is why does this seem to happen so frequently. I believe there are a few key drivers of this behavior. Continue reading