Outdoor Retailer Starts Over in Minneapolis, Smaller and Stranger
The industry's big show left the Mountain West, moved later in the summer, and filled the floor with brands nobody has heard of.
Outdoor Retailer opened in Minneapolis on August 19, its first show after leaving the Mountain West, and it is a different event. Organisers have pointed it at specialty retailers, emerging brands and industry innovation, with a steering committee drawn from across the sector and a scholarship fund to help small shops cover the cost of attending.
Anyone who remembers the show at its peak should adjust expectations. It is much smaller and dominated by small brands, and the major players largely did not bring product. What filled the space instead were founders building businesses from the ground up, which made for a better floor to walk than a better floor to buy from.
A pavilion run with Garage Grown Gear and Founded Outdoors gathered more than fifty independent brands and ran an inaugural summit for a couple of hundred founders. The Industry Day conference took on tariffs, artificial intelligence and sustainability, which is a fair summary of what is keeping the trade awake.
Among the actual products, the updated Hyperlite Unbound packs drew the most attention from thru-hiking reviewers: retooled fabric and revised features on a pack that became a favourite almost immediately when it first appeared.
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