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 →