Stamping Out Racism
The Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge catalyzes business leaders to bust up the all-white club
During the summer 2018 Outdoor Retailer show, Teresa Baker roamed the aisles and asked company leaders to sign her just-launched pledge to make outdoor businesses more inclusive of people of color. More than just a statement of intent, the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge committed signatories to developing a bona fide action plan.
And Baker is all about action. She was far from the first person to talk about the lack of diversity in the outdoor industry. But her Pledge, and the accountability it creates among leaders, has accelerated change in a powerful way.
Initially, Baker didn鈥檛 rouse an avalanche of responses. As founder of the African American National Park Event, she wasn鈥檛 a well-known figure within the industry. But she sensed that gear brands represented a powerful way to amplify her DEI efforts beyond the national parks. After all, Baker鈥檚 hikes around Big Sur and other spots near her California home convinced her that outdoor enthusiasts already included people of color. 鈥淲e hike, ski, climb鈥攚e do all these things,鈥 said Baker. 鈥淏ut looking at the social media feeds of [gear] brands, you wouldn鈥檛 know that.鈥
So along with Chris Perkins, a Yale University forestry student, Baker developed the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge and its supporting program. Marmot鈥檚 general manager, Joe Flannery (who has since moved on to Callaway Golf), was among the first to sign in May 2018. A year later,聽the Pledge had amassed 28 CEOs who promised to craft a specific set of actions for their companies to hire and support a diverse workforce and executive leadership; present representative marketing and advertising in media; engage and support broadly representative ambassador and athlete teams; and share best (and unsuccessful) practices within the industry.
Those focus areas and the consultations with Baker鈥檚 team have helped Granite Gear take DEI 鈥渢o another level,鈥 says Rob Coughlin, general manager, who signed the Pledge in 2018. 鈥淭eresa has had such an influence on me and made me look at myself really hard,鈥 Coughlin said. That scrutiny prompted the brand to diversify its team of trash-removing Grounds Keeper hikers, to represent BIPOC and LGBTQ+ issues on its social channels, and to emphasize diversity when hiring. Still, Coughlin knows the work is far from done. When detractors slam the company鈥檚 representation of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ hikers in its newsletters and social media feeds, 鈥淭hat just makes us want to do more,鈥 said Coughlin.
Such efforts are snowballing into even greater impact. At press time, more than 220 brands had signed the Pledge and 200 more were in the pipeline. The program鈥檚 job board now lets participating organizations target and recruit diverse candidates.
The current climate has awakened Americans鈥 understanding that opposing racism requires active change rather than passive agreement in the status quo. But the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge issued that call to action more than two years ago. Its earliest adopters are showing how a real commitment to this issue can lead to real change. 鈥淧eople are finally understanding that the demographics in this country are shifting into a scenario where people of color are dominant,鈥 said Baker. 鈥淲e need and we demand a change.鈥
Green Police
REI Co-op pushes the entire industry toward a more sustainable future

How can the biggest outdoor retailer in the country be a disruptor, you ask? Its size gives it leverage, and it鈥檚 using that leverage to change the way the industry makes gear.
In spring 2018, REI unveiled a new set of sustainability standards and told its more than 1,000 vendors that they鈥檇 need to comply with everything on that list by fall 2020鈥攐r lose the opportunity to sell through REI. The five guidelines (see sidebar, below) direct companies to pursue healthier supply chains, get savvy about harmful chemicals, and incorporate sustainable materials such as organic fibers, humanely sourced down, and Bluesign-certified fabrics into their products.
These might not seem like controversial聽asks. After all, who would argue against the treating factory workers fairly, or avoiding the use of toxic chemicals? Yet standard manufacturing practices continue to rely on habits that harm people, animals, and the planet鈥攂ecause changing those norms takes tremendous effort and resources. REI has forced the issue, and brands are scrambling to comply.
Of course, not all manufacturers are behind the curve. For some, REI鈥檚 requirements merely describe practices that they鈥檝e already put in place. But they鈥檙e the exception, not the rule. REI wanted to hasten widespread adoption, so it issued an ultimatum and set out a clear path to reach it. 鈥淥ur standards are meant to help scale sustainability best practices beyond just these leading brands and to make them more achievable by every brand across our industry,鈥 explained Greg Gausewitz, REI鈥檚 product sustainability manager.
Some standards resonate with consumers (those who prefer humanely collected down, for example). Others dictate back-end changes to supply chains, logistics, and sustainability monitoring. The requirement for brands to complete the Higg Index self-assessment tool has proven to be so difficult that REI is revising the timeline for its compliance, to be released sometime in 2020. But the disruptive effect of REI鈥檚 product sustainability standards is about more than any one requirement. It鈥檚 the sum of the parts, and the fact that brands that aren鈥檛 willing to walk the sustainability talk will lose out on the聽industry鈥檚 most sought-after door, potentially devastating their businesses.
The threat shocked a number of brands, says outdoor industry veteran Ammi Borenstein. As principal at Snaplinc Consulting, Borenstein has helped a half dozen brands comply with REI鈥檚 standards. 鈥淭hey were asking, 鈥楬ow do I get my arms around this?鈥 Because many of them didn鈥檛 have any basic, meaningful sustainability foundation in place,鈥 Borenstein said.
Yet REI鈥檚 requirements also set brands on a clear path to best practices, Borenstein said: 鈥淚f you鈥檙e coming from zero, it鈥檚 very hard to know what to do first, but the standards provide a starting point and roadmap.鈥
Even Royal Robbins, which wasn鈥檛 starting from zero, received valuable guidance from the Product Sustainability Standards. 鈥淭here were a lot of things that we were working on, but the guidelines helped to sharpen our focus,鈥 explained Kaytlin Moeller, Royal Robbins鈥 brand sustainability manager. As a member of the Fenix Outdoor family of brands聽(which includes Fja虉llra虉ven and Primus), Royal Robbins had already begun to map its supply chain and had asked its tier one suppliers (which sell directly to Royal Robbins) to sign onto a sustainability code of conduct, but REI鈥檚 standards nudged Royal Robbins to extend that code of conduct to tier two suppliers (which sell to tier one).
Now, Royal Robbins is evaluating how to eliminate the practice of wrapping individual products in polybags. 鈥淚t can鈥檛 happen overnight because we need to make sure our logistical system is set up to process that change,鈥 said Moeller. Ditching polybags represents a significant change in any company鈥檚 operations, but the hope from REI is that Royal Robbins and other brands will find big strides to be more achievable once the Product Sustainability Standards lay down the stepping stones.
Of course, REI benefits from its vendors鈥 advances in sustainability. 鈥淭hird-party brands account for the majority of REI鈥檚 product sales,鈥 said Gausewitz. 鈥淭hese products also account for the most significant component of REI鈥檚 environmental footprint. So if we want to bring a more sustainable offering to our customers and continuously reduce our footprint, it鈥檚 critical that we partner with the brands we work with.鈥 REI has dropped brands that do not align with its standards, he adds.
A crib sheet on REI’s product sustainability standards
1. Create fair and safe supply chains, using a manufacturing code of conduct that outlines social and environmental standards and pursuing Fair Trade certification wherever possible.2.聽Manage chemical use to avoid toxic substances, such as oxybenzone (in sunscreens) and long-chain PFAS.
3. Source materials that comply with guidelines for responsible land stewardship, such as organic crops and wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
4. Ensure that animal-derived materials (such as down, wool, and leather) come from animals that received humane treatment.
5. Address products鈥 environmental impacts across their entire life cycle鈥攊ncluding disposal鈥攂y completing the Higg Index Brand & Retail Module.
However, says Borenstein, some of the most exciting and far-ranging impacts of the REI guidelines have been the ways that brands are now exploring sustainability beyond those basic requirements. Fulfilling REI鈥檚 sustainability expectations has prompted a groundswell of excitement within companies that鈥檚 buoying them to greater things. 鈥淧eople want to do the right thing, and they want to work for a company where they know they do the right thing, so we鈥檝e seen [REI鈥檚 guidelines] activating employee excitement,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hen it becomes meaningful to brands鈥 customers, employees, and leadership, companies start dedicating money and time to it. That鈥檚 when sustainability takes on a life of its own.鈥
As with any change to the status quo, results can be somewhat hard to track, but REI remains optimistic that its efforts will address the biggest problem of our time: climate change. 鈥淲e do not yet have data to show the carbon benefits of our standards,鈥 Gausewitz said. 鈥淎ddressing climate change is at the heart of our mission to fight for life outdoors, and our Product Sustainability Standards are an important tool in that fight. We continue to work to get better data so we can fine-tune our efforts and better understand our impact.鈥
No Strings Attached
Stio provides retailers with new gear on consignment terms

It鈥檚 one of retail鈥檚 most fundamental tenets: Shops buy goods at wholesale, sell them to consumers, then figure out what to do with the inventory that doesn鈥檛 sell. But, in 2016, Stio hatched a novel kind of consignment deal that placed new apparel 鈥渙n wheels鈥 in select brick-and-mortar outdoor retailers. If items don鈥檛 sell there, Stio takes them back and doesn鈥檛 charge the shop. The program, called Outpost, lets Stio sell product in retail shops while retaining the direct-to-customer model at the core of its business. But it also opened retailers鈥 eyes to a new realm of possibility for their聽partnerships with manufacturers and the idea is catching on.
鈥淚t gives specialty retail some bargaining leverage,鈥 said Brendan Madigan, owner of Alpenglow Sports in Tahoe City, California. He says that his participation in Stio鈥檚 Outpost program has made him reevaluate his existing relationships. 鈥淚 can say hey, here鈥檚 a company that鈥檚 giving me the same terms you do, but with zero inventory risk,鈥 said Madigan. And Outpost addresses one of Madigan鈥檚 biggest, most persistent problems: cash flow.
With Outpost, Stio provides retailers with product, delivered about eight times per year (compared to the two deliveries in spring and fall that are the norm for the broader apparel industry). Those retailers are not permitted to market Stio pieces using any kind of national reach, so Stio retains control of its brand identity. But retailers are expected to honor flash sales and seasonal clearances that Stio occasionally offers through its DTC channel. Retailers collect the typical, keystone wholesale margin. And they return unsold items to Stio, which developed the program because retailers kept asking for a way to carry Stio apparel in their stores. According to Stio, only a very small percentage of product has been returned, which Stio combines with its other inventory for sale online.
鈥淚t started at the insistence of a bunch of old retail friends of mine,鈥 explained Stio founder Stephen Sullivan, who had developed extensive retailer relationships during his days at Cloudveil (another Jackson-based apparel brand that Sullivan helmed until 2010). Jans in Park City, Utah, and Sturtevants in Ketchum, Idaho, were among the first retailers to become Stio Outposts. 鈥淲e seek out high-quality shops that really focus on customer engagement, have high-quality staff, and invest in a lot of staff training,鈥 Sullivan said.
Madigan likes that such terms let him be more financially fluid. But he also thinks they separate the wheat from the chaff. 鈥淭here are a lot of average brands in a saturated, competitive market,鈥 he said. Offering retailers product on wheels strengthens retailers鈥 negotiating position and puts pressure on manufacturing brands to earn their spot in brick-and-mortar showcases.
Currently, the Outpost program includes about 40 stores, and Sullivan expects that number to grow鈥攁lbeit slowly. 鈥淚 think a lot of the other brands are probably pissed off at me for having stuff on wheels, so we won鈥檛 expand it too aggressively,鈥 Sullivan joked. Besides, Outpost is most valuable as a piece of Stio鈥檚 broader puzzle of markets; leaning too hard on it for sales incurs too much inventory risk. But from a branding and marketing standpoint, said Sullivan, it鈥檚 been very successful. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to quantify what it鈥檚 done,鈥 he admitted. 鈥淔or us, it鈥檚 been a way to build consumer awareness, especially in major metro areas away from our core markets in the mountains.鈥
Not every apparel brand is likely to be able to offer product on wheels, Sullivan says, because most are dedicated to traditional wholesale models. Nevertheless, at least one major brand鈥擳he North Face鈥攊s dabbling with buy-backs. When contacted, the company declined to elaborate on its policies. 鈥淲hile we don鈥檛 disclose our specific sales programs, we do support our retail partners in a number of ways to ensure our relationship is positive for them,鈥 said The North Face spokesperson Kali Platt. But multiple聽retailers have confirmed that they鈥檝e accepted 鈥渙n wheels鈥 deliveries of The North Face product, such as the high-dollar Summit Series line of alpine apparel.
If so-called pinnacle products are shipping to stores on wheels, that could be enough to tip the entire brick-and-mortar retail model.
The Breakaway
The Big Gear Show goes its own way

The Outdoor Retailer trade show has been the industry鈥檚 reigning conference since 1982, when 93 exhibitors gathered in Las Vegas. But The Big Gear Show has designs on OR鈥檚 dominance: This upstart is planning a new trade show, to stage just weeks after Outdoor Retailer鈥檚 typical Summer Market (and in the very city that OR abandoned, Salt Lake), with exhibitor rates that radically undercut OR. Of course, there鈥檚 no telling yet if anyone will win this showdown or if the industry has an appetite for two shows. Both were canceled this summer because of COVID-19鈥攂ut The Big Gear Show has clearly fired a shot across Outdoor Retailer鈥檚 bow.
The Big Gear Show鈥檚 founders, Darren Bush and Sutton Bacon, both hail from retail鈥攕pecifically the paddling realm (Bush currently owns Rutabaga Paddlesports in Madison, Wisconsin, and Bacon was CEO of the Nantahala Outdoor Center from 2007 to 2018). Convinced that OR had become too expensive and too focused on apparel, they launched the Paddlesports Retailer show in 2017. Buyers liked that the show took place in late summer (rather than in June, which is the busiest month for paddling shops) but they preferred the diversity of brands and traffic that comes with a multisport exhibition like OR. So Bush and Bacon revised Paddlesports Retailer into The Big Gear Show, which includes paddling, cycling, camping, and climbing brands鈥攂ut is limited to hardgoods only.
鈥淪o much of the [outdoor] industry is based around apparel, but that timing doesn鈥檛 work for all aspects of the outdoor industry,鈥 said Kenji Haroutunian, who directed the Outdoor Retailer and Fly Fishing Retailer shows before Bush and Bacon tapped him to direct The Big Gear Show. Tents and kayaks, for example, aren鈥檛 always updated every year (as apparel generally is) and such hardgoods aren鈥檛 always made in Asia, where most apparel gets sewn, which makes lead times shorter. Plus, Haroutunian adds, the buying practices for apparel and hardgoods differ, so most retailers dedicate separate buyers for each category. 鈥淗ardgoods buyers from retail stores can order just a few tents to test how they sell; they don鈥檛 have to buy a whole season鈥檚 worth of jeans and button-down flannels as they would for apparel,鈥 he explained.
By calling out jeans and flannels, Haroutunian hints at the increasingly mainstream character of OR. As that trade show welcomes more streetwear, home furnishings, fashion footwear, and other goods that don鈥檛 qualify as 鈥済ear,鈥 it has ballooned into a much bigger, more generalized production that can seem less relevant to core outdoor brands.
Beyond hardgoods, there are other ways that The Big Gear Show offers a narrower focus than OR. Its target is specialty retail, 鈥渘ot so much the big-box stores or even REI,鈥 said Haroutunian. Nor is The Big Gear Show chasing the biggest manufacturers, he adds. Instead of exhibiting Patagonia and The North Face, says Haroutunian, the show will highlight 50 to 100 smaller brands such as Inno, which makes roof rack systems, and Liberty, a purveyor of water bottles. And those brands will benefit from exposure to consumers, since The Big Gear Show is expected to be partially open to the public, as OR was in its earlier days.
Adaptations to COVID-19 forced The Big Gear Show to reschedule its debut for August 3-5, 2021. In the interim, smaller brands and retailers will have an even greater need to compare ideas for how to survive and overcome this common challenge. Thus COVID-19 is likely to make The Big Gear Show even more relevant.
Retailers are ready for a trade show shakeup. As Wes Allen, owner of Sunlight Sports in Cody, Wyoming, said, 鈥淭he advent of the Big Gear Show will disrupt the outdoor trade show landscape, giving retailers and brands a large-format show experience for discovery, without the large price tag.鈥
This story originally ran in the Summer 2020 issue of The Voice.