In the past month, two big changes have rocked the merino market.听

First, apparel conglomerate VF Corporation, the parent company of brands including the North Face, Lee, and Timberland, to acquire New Zealand-based Icebreaker Holdings. The purchase鈥攙alued at 鈥攊s particularly notable because VF also owns another wool聽heavyweight: Smartwool, which it bought in 2011.听

Four days after news of that acquisition broke, that Ibex, a smaller, high-end merino brand, had laid off nearly half of the staff at its home office in Vermont and was headed for bankruptcy. Late聽last week, Ibex announced聽plans to shut down entirely.听鈥淎s much as Ibex has succeeded and created opportunities for itself, it has also dealt with the headwinds of seasonal volatility, shifts in the retail landscape and an ever-changing consumer,鈥� Ibex CEO Ted聽Manning wrote in .

While these two developments聽aren鈥檛 directly linked, they are indicative of an outdoor industry facing a聽steady attrition of smaller, independent brands. 鈥淚n general, the outdoor business is not nearly as good as it was three years ago,鈥� says聽Matt Powell, outdoor industry analyst for . 鈥淚t鈥檚 a difficult time to be a small brand or a small retailer. The pressures have never been greater.鈥�

鈥淭he industry seems to be going in the direction where a lot of more niche brands are being snapped up by larger companies,鈥� he says.听

In leaner times, small brands can get overextended if聽earnings don't keep pace with expenses. Being part of a bigger company, on the other hand, tends to allow for more flexibility, helping companies weather dips in sales.听Parent companies聽can聽reduce聽brands鈥� operational costs, allowing them to tap into large-scale manufacturing, transportation, and other resources. That鈥檚 part of why Powell believes the recent acquisition is a good move for Icebreaker, just as it was for its new sister brand six years ago.听鈥淭he Smartwool acquisition has been a positive for the brand,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is going to give Icebreaker a bit more capital and access to distribution that they didn鈥檛 have before.鈥�

Consumers may benefit from this boost in efficiency. Increasing sales volume in the U.S., Asia, and Eastern Europe could lead to cheaper Icebreaker goods, company chairman Rob Fyfe . 鈥淲e could double the size of our business in the next five years,鈥� he told the reporter. 鈥淭hat would have a material impact on unit prices.鈥�

Lower price tags aren't the only change buyers should expect. Once competitors, Smartwool and Icebreaker聽must now reposition themselves as counterparts. What will that mean for their brand identities? A representative from VF Corporation says it鈥檚 too soon to say, but one thing is likely: consumers聽will notice a shift in one or both brands at some point after the acquisition is complete early next year. The merino wool market is still a relatively small segment of the overall outdoor industry, so VF will want to ensure the two brands appeal to distinct customer bases. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want them competing with each other,鈥� Powell says. 鈥淐learly they will draw a distinction.鈥�

That brand differentiation could take shape in a number of ways. Perhaps one focuses on technical apparel while the other becomes more of a lifestyle brand. Or maybe Smartwool reverts back to its beginnings as primarily a sock supplier. Or the brands might delineate based on price. 鈥淧otentially, you could see one being more focused on mid-market and one on up-market,鈥� Powell says. 鈥淰F has tremendous strength in mid-market categories, like Lee.鈥�

The bottom line? There are some wolves circling the merino industry, with some brands herding together, and another getting picked off. We'll see if coming together helps them in 2018.听

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When it comes to being green, men have a problem.

A recent series of studies led by a Utah State University business professor found that greenness carries a feminine connotation among both male and female consumers, which researchers believe plays a role in the that women are more environmentally conscious than men.听鈥淐onsumers who engage in green behaviors are stereotyped by others as more feminine and even perceive themselves as more feminine,鈥� says the report, . 鈥淭his green-feminine stereotype may motivate men to avoid green behaviors in order to preserve a macho image.鈥澛�

But all you earth-loving dudes out there, take heart: among buyers of outdoor brands, at least, it seems that men are about equally as eco-enlightened as women.听鈥淚鈥檝e never really heard (green) characterized as feminine,鈥� says Matt Powell, outdoor industry analyst for . 鈥淣ever have I had a conversation with anybody in the industry about it.鈥�

That may be partly due to the environmental ethos that already pervades the outdoor apparel and gear sector. Reflecting on the biannual Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, Powell says he can鈥檛 think of a single brand in attendance that 颈蝉苍鈥檛 green in some way. 鈥淚t would be marched out of the building,鈥� he says.

The most prominently eco-focused outdoor brand may be Patagonia, which has made sustainability a central tenet of both its business philosophy and marketing strategy since its founding in 1973. In its mission statement, the company promises聽to 鈥渃ause no unnecessary harm鈥� and 鈥渋mplement solutions to the environmental crisis,”聽aspirations it backs up with initiatives from garment repair and recycling to environmental activism.

Though the recent studies suggest this kind of well-publicized stewardship would appeal more to female shoppers, for Patagonia, that鈥檚 not the case.听鈥淧atagonia鈥檚 customer base is roughly 50/50 by gender,鈥� says Vincent Stanley, the brand鈥檚 director of philosophy and co-author of The Responsible Company,聽with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard. 鈥淥ur gender mix indicates that more men who wear Patagonia actually buy it for themselves, which would contradict the research.鈥�

The brand also doesn鈥檛 subscribe to the studies鈥� theory聽that companies looking to sell green goods to men should adjust their marketing campaigns accordingly鈥攖hat 鈥渕en鈥檚 inhibitions about engaging in green behavior can be mitigated through masculine affirmation and masculine branding,鈥� as the research says.

Instead, Patagonia opts for a gender-neutral strategy when touting its eco-consciousness. “We don't differentiate by gender when telling our environmental and social stories,鈥� Stanley says. 鈥淚nstead, we have in mind a 鈥榗itizen鈥� when we talk about those issues.鈥�

If there鈥檚 any divide among outdoor consumers鈥� appetite for sustainable brands, it may lie more along age lines than gender. A found that 72 percent of millennials were willing to pay more for purchases from companies with a strong environmental and social ethic鈥攎ore than any other age group聽. 鈥淢illennials really want to know what the values of the company they鈥檙e doing business with are,鈥� Powell says. 鈥淭hey want to understand that this company is taking a stand.鈥�

Yet no matter how consumers perceive an outdoor聽brand or product鈥攇reen or conventional, feminine or masculine鈥擯owell says聽the bottom line is performance. Stanley speculates that may be another key to Patagonia鈥檚 success in striking a gender balance.听鈥淧erhaps the fact that we make clothes for difficult and rugged use, designed to stand up to the most difficult conditions, provides safe harbor for our male customers who may be reluctant to look green.鈥�

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No, it鈥檚 not the trailer for a new Will Smith movie.听 that surfaced earlier this month showing a humanoid robot hiking through the woods with an eight-person entourage in tow is completely鈥攊f a bit unnervingly鈥攔eal.

Even robots, it seems, can benefit from hitting the trail. But the 5-foot-9-inch, 180-pound Atlas robot, developed by Waltham, Massachusetts鈥揵ased , wasn鈥檛 just enjoying the fresh air.听鈥淲e鈥檙e interested in getting this robot out into the world,鈥� said Marc Raibert, co-founder of Boston Dynamics, in . 鈥淥ut in the world is just a totally different challenge than in the lab. You can鈥檛 predict what it鈥檚 going to be like.鈥�

Atlas is well suited to the outdoors, using laser-powered LIDAR technology in its head to assess and navigate terrain and sensors and hydraulics in its legs and body for balance. In that has received聽nearly 18 million YouTube views since February, Atlas traverses a snow-covered forest, occasionally slipping but regaining its footing with ease.

Who might want a robot with the skill set of the average day聽hiker? The military, for one. Boston Dynamics, which Google acquired in 2013, has nabbed millions of dollars in government contracts in recent years, peaking at from the Department of Defense in 2012. In addition to Atlas, the military has funded other Boston Dynamics robots, including BigDog, a four-legged, load-carrying creature built for rough terrain that doubles as robot-man鈥檚 equally disturbing best friend.

Maybe we鈥檝e seen too many sci-fi films, but after watching Atlas march down the trail, imagining聽it as the robot soldier of the future is not a huge leap.听鈥淲e鈥檙e making pretty good progress on making it so it has mobility that鈥檚 sort of within shooting range of yours,鈥� Raibert said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not saying it can do everything you can do, but you can imagine if we keep pushing, we鈥檒l get there.鈥�

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Good news for gear junkies, bad news for arachnophobes: we鈥檙e now one step closer to swaddling ourselves in spiderwebs.

Earlier this month, Bay Area startup Bolt Threads announced a new partnership with Patagonia to develop goods made from its proprietary spider silk-inspired fibers and textiles. Along with the news that Bolt Threads has secured an additional from investors, the collaboration indicates that the latest in a series of attempts to harness the powers of spider silk could prove to be the most successful yet.

鈥淲hen a big brand like that steps up and makes this kind of commitment, I think it signals that people are really feeling that there鈥檚 some major improvement from this technology,鈥� says Matt Powell, outdoor industry analyst for .听

Scientists, entrepreneurs and big business have tried for decades to replicate spider silk, which is lauded for its superior qualities: ounce for ounce, it鈥檚 five times stronger than steel and three times tougher than Kevlar. So far none have succeeded on a commercially viable scale, but Bolt Threads is among a handful of companies worldwide racing to do just that. Using a fermentation process鈥攎uch like brewing beer鈥擝olt Threads creates large quantities of silk proteins, then spins the raw protein into fibers. Since its founding in 2009, the company has moved from concept to reality, this summer transitioning into yarn manufacturing.

鈥淲e鈥檙e scaling up,鈥� says Sue Levin, Bolt Threads鈥� chief marketing officer. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be producing metric tons of material in the months ahead.鈥�

Less clear is what exactly Patagonia will make from Bolt Threads鈥� Engineered Silk material; both companies have thus far declined to comment on specifics of the deal. But the earliest possible debut for a Patagonia-branded item would be in 2018, Levin says, due to the brand鈥檚 product lead time.

That doesn鈥檛 rule out the possibility of some other type of Bolt Threads product hitting shelves sooner, however. The company has previously predicted it would bring a product to market sometime this year and its presently declares, 鈥淪tay tuned. We are planning to change your clothes in 2016.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檙e really not interested in talking about timelines,鈥� Levin says. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e trying to do is make textiles for the next century. It鈥檚 not really a question of if they鈥檙e going to be (available) in a month, or a year.鈥�

Looking to the future, sustainability is a major selling point for Bolt Threads: sugar, water, yeast, and salts are the primary foundation of its fibers, as opposed to the petroleum used for most synthetics. These more environmentally sensitive practices make Bolt Threads a natural fit for an eco-conscious brand like Patagonia鈥攁nd vice versa.

鈥淏rands, especially in the outdoor space, are very interested in new technologies that are much more sustainable than previous ones,鈥� Powell says. 鈥淚 think we鈥檒l see more of this kind of thing happening over the next year or so.鈥�

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Outdoor apparel has evolved more in the past 60 years than it did in the preceding 6,000. Evidence? In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary聽 Everest wearing cotton. But today, a handful of companies worldwide are racing to take the next big leap in performance textiles, this time with a nod to nature鈥檚 own super fiber: Spider silk.

In September, the industry started buzzing when Japanese companies Spiber and Goldwin, a Tokyo-based licensee of The North Face,聽jointly , the first prototype jacket made of synthetic spider silk. The one-off puffy promptly embarked on a tour of North Face stores throughout Japan, signaling the start of a dash to bring new spider silk-based products to market in 2016.

Why the excitement? Turns out the material spiders have evolved to make naturally over the past 400 million years is more advanced than anything humans have come up with. Each of our eight-legged friends聽, tailored for everything from nabbing prey to laying eggs. The strongest variety, dragline silk, provides structural support for the spider鈥檚 web and its own lifeline for escaping predators.

鈥淒ragline silks are the toughest materials in nature,鈥� says Todd Blackledge, a biology professor and spider silk expert at the University of Akron. Ounce for ounce, it鈥檚 five times stronger than steel and three times tougher than Kevlar, which can stop a bullet. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a combination of being quite strong and quite stretchy at the same time, which is very unusual,鈥� Blackledge says. 鈥淚t will stretch 30 to 50 percent of its length before it breaks.鈥�

For decades, scientists, entrepreneurs, and big corporations have tried to replicate spider silk, but none have succeeded on a commercial scale. DuPont filed a patent for the production of genetically engineered spider silk using E. coli bacteria in 1993, but never marketed it commercially. German chemical giant BASF聽has . Part of the problem is the spiders themselves: raising spiders for silk is a lot like farming for wool鈥攊f the sheep were all fiercely territorial and cannibalistic.听鈥淚f you have a spider farm, you quickly have one really big, tough spider,鈥� says Jon Rice, chief operating officer of spider silk startup聽. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 play well with others.鈥�

In recent years, companies like Spiber, Kraig Labs, Araknitek, Bolt Threads, and Germany鈥檚 AMSilk have devised closely guarded methods of synthesizing spider silk. Kraig Laboratories, headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has genetically altered silkworms to create a fiber containing spider silk proteins. Bay Area-based Bolt Threads uses a fermentation process鈥攕imilar to brewing beer鈥攖o create silk proteins in large quantities, then spins the raw protein into fibers.听鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to do something that鈥檚 incredibly complicated,鈥� Sue Levin, chief marketing officer of Bolt Threads. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really confident about our technology and our ability to scale and make a product available at a price that people could buy it.鈥�

Until such a product hits shelves鈥攍ikely later this year鈥攎anufacturers aren鈥檛 revealing much about how it will look and perform. But given the properties of spider silk, Blackledge expects to see outer shells that are less prone to tears and stretchy, lightweight mid- and baselayers.

Sustainability may also be a big selling point for spider silk apparel; while most synthetics derive from petroleum, input for the new fabrics includes yeast, water, and sugar (for the fermentation method), and mulberry leaves (for silkworms).听鈥淭here鈥檚 no question that sustainability remains a very core value to the outdoor consumer,鈥� says Matt Powell, outdoor industry analyst for . 鈥淚f we can have products that are light, durable, do what they鈥檙e supposed to do and are sustainable, that鈥檚 a big win.鈥�

But don鈥檛 clean out your closet just yet. Spider silk is unlikely to become the industry standard anytime soon. Blackledge expects biomedical applications鈥攕uch as tendon repair, sutures, and burn bandages鈥攖o drive the spider silk market more than textiles in the next decade. And you won鈥檛 catch him sporting a spider silk jacket right away.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e probably going to be way too expensive for me at first,鈥� Blackledge says. 鈥淚 think it鈥檒l always be more of a specialty item.鈥�

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In 2012, Skechers was hit by a , which accused the shoe maker of falsely claiming that its聽Shape-Ups (famously ) would help wearers tone muscles, fight heart disease, and lose weight.听Contributing to the damage, the company manufactured too many of the shoes, leaving a large inventory when the toning fad faded.

Fast forward three聽years, and the SoCal-based company has clawed its way back from the public-relations disaster, with a聽stock market valuation that's skyrocketed from $600 million to $8 billion, . Net sales reached $2.4 billion in 2014, up 29 percent from 2013 and 52 percent from 2012. In May, Skechers catapulted past Adidas, New Balance, and Asics to claim the number-two spot (behind Nike) in the U.S. athletic footwear market.听In his Sneakernomics blog on Forbes.com, industry analyst Matt Powell called Skechers 鈥攁nd that was last year, when it was still in fifth place. 鈥淚 think they鈥檙e doing a lot of stuff right,鈥� says Powell, vice president of The NPD Group.

So how does a brand transform from punchline to powerhouse in just a few years? A clever marketing campaign, coupled with a diverse array of product offerings. Instead of pinning the company鈥檚 profits to one product, the new-school Skechers makes a wide variety of shoes that appeal to different types of customers, Powell says. 鈥淭hey now have over a dozen different categories that are doing well,鈥� he says.

One success story is Skechers Performance, the athletic arm of the company that launched in 2010 as an answer to the growing popularity of running nationwide. The brand recently became the title sponsor of the Los Angeles Marathon, and it scored a marketing coup when sponsored athlete Meb Keflezighi won the 2014 Boston Marathon wearing a pair of its midfoot-striking sneaks.

鈥淢eb鈥檚 win gave our performance brand additional visibility to the general public, who may not have been aware that Skechers makes performance running shoes,鈥� says Rick Higgins, senior vice president of marketing and merchandising for Skechers Performance. 鈥淥ur target has been core runners and has expanded to recreational runners.鈥�

Though Meb鈥檚 triumph lent athletic cred to a brand better known for outfitting retirees than elite runners, sports stars are only a small piece of Skechers鈥� overall marketing strategy. Its roster of celebrity endorsements speaks to the broad-based, everyman appeal the company strives for鈥攆rom teen pop icons Demi Lovato and Meghan Trainor to aging greats like Ringo Starr and Sugar Ray Leonard.

鈥淚 think they are really smart about which people they鈥檙e picking to endorse the brand,鈥� Powell says. Skechers鈥� emphasis on comfort (many styles have a memory-foam insole) and a marketing message that鈥檚 less urban-centric than many competitors also resonates with average Americans, he says. 鈥淭hey really have their finger on the pulse of what鈥檚 happening with middle America.鈥�

Despite its record pace in recent years, Skechers still has plenty of room to grow: Even as the brand elbowed its way into second place earlier this year, number one Nike/Jordan still , compared to Skechers鈥� five percent.

鈥淚 think the future is really bright for them,鈥� Powell says. 鈥淲hen a brand can have that many winners across the spectrum, it says to me there鈥檚 some real longevity there.鈥�

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As the peloton crested the 12,095-foot summit of Independence Pass near Aspen, Colorado,聽thousands of spectators crowded the highway, bells clanging and flags waving. Inside a race vehicle winding through the tunnel of fans, USA Pro Challenge CEO Shawn Hunter glimpsed the same enthusiasm he鈥檇 witnessed watching the Tour de France ascend the Alps earlier that summer of 2011. Overwhelmed, Hunter held back tears.

Since its auspicious debut four years ago, the weeklong USA Pro Challenge has become by some measures the biggest bike race in the country. This year鈥檚 fifth聽annual installment, which started Monday and ends Sunday, will attract more than one聽million spectators and 100-plus riders to a 605-mile course through the Colorado Rockies, with 40 hours of television coverage broadcasting the event worldwide.

The Pro Challenge is the closest thing to the Tour de France you鈥檒l find on U.S. soil. But there鈥檚 one key difference: While its French counterpart rakes in millions each year in earnings, 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Race鈥� has yet to turn a profit.

According to a , the Pro Challenge has lost more than $20 million since its inception. Race officials decline to comment on exact losses, though Hunter says the race is on track to possibly break even within two years.

The event is in good company among domestic stage races in its struggle to get out of the red. The other two top-tier internationally sanctioned U.S. races鈥攖he eight-day Amgen Tour of California and weeklong Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah鈥攈ave faced financial difficulties of their own. The Utah tour, begun in 2004, was paused in聽2007 due to a lack of funding. And聽for聽its first聽five years, the decade-old California race聽聽was losing between $1 million to $2 million per year.听

So why do America鈥檚 most prestigious bike races have a habit of hemorrhaging cash? Multiday stage races are an expensive proposition, costing more than $10 million per year to host, by some estimates. Television production and distribution alone鈥攔equiring two fixed-wing aircraft, a helicopter and three motorcycles鈥攃osts the Pro Challenge up to $350,000 per day, Hunter says. And unlike traditional stadium sports, organizers can鈥檛 rely on ticket sales and concessions to recoup expenses.

鈥淚f you got a dollar for everybody who stood on the roadside, you鈥檇 have a fairly significant revenue source,鈥� says longtime race organizer David Chauner. 鈥淏ut you can鈥檛 charge admission. That鈥檚 one of the pluses and the minuses of the sport.鈥�

Races must therefore depend on other types of income to stay afloat. Successful European races operate largely from lucrative television contracts and corporate sponsorships, built upon a large, well-established fan base. All three premier U.S. races have tapped a more immediate funding source: A wealthy underwriter willing to endure steep loses on the arduous ascent toward profitability. 鈥淚t takes visionaries who have a lot of money and a lot of patience to embrace these events,鈥� says Jim Birrell, race director for the Pro Challenge and, until recently, the Tour of California.

California鈥檚 race belongs to billionaire business magnate Philip Anschutz. Utah鈥檚 Miller family, whose holdings include 55 car dealerships and the NBA鈥檚 Utah Jazz, owns that state鈥檚 tour. And the Pro Challenge owes its existence to Quiznos co-founder and avid cyclist Rick Schaden.听鈥淭here would absolutely not be a USA Pro Challenge or stage racing in Colorado without him,鈥� Hunter says. 鈥淚t takes amazing patience to support a race like this. There鈥檚 a reason why there鈥檚 not 20 of them.鈥� Schaden that he understands the race might not turn a profit anytime soon, but that he's into the sponsorship for the “long haul.”

Some question the sustainability of the聽current financial model, and there is a precedent for popular-but-unprofitable stage races to go belly-up (see聽). Though Chauner credits today鈥檚 races with developing creative revenue streams like VIP experiences and entry fees for amateur gran fondos before the events, he 颈蝉苍鈥檛 convinced that U.S. stage racing will ever achieve the success that the sport鈥檚 grande dame has enjoyed for more than a century.

鈥淭he problem with the stage races is they鈥檙e trying to model themselves after the Tour de France,鈥� Chauner says. 鈥淲e need to look at it and say, 鈥楬ow could we address the challenges of cycling and make it more appealing to an American audience?鈥欌€�

But from Hunter鈥檚 perspective, the magic of the Tour is exactly what American cycling needs.

鈥淭he Tour de France is in a category by itself,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the number-one race in the world, and hopefully always will be. Our goal is to be number two.”聽

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