Build a Bigger Community
By Berne Broudy
Over the past five months, a record number of people have been getting outdoors. Out of work or working from home, deprived of access to gyms and studios, and with extra time on their hands, more people are discovering the benefits of being outside, whether to escape and unplug, to exercise, or to fill empty hours.
More users, including communities that haven’t been active in the past and communities that haven’t previously felt welcome, have highlighted ways the outdoor industry can do better—to serve, engage, communicate with, and retain new outdoorists.
Whether you’re a retailer, brand, nonprofit, or state agency, follow these suggestions to broaden your audience and to make the outdoors more welcoming for all.
Address Cost Barriers
If you can’t buy gear to do a technical activity, it’s easy to feel excluded,” says Patricia Cameron, executive director of Blackpackers, a nonprofit that provides gear, outdoor excursions, outdoor education, and networking in order to create economic equity in outdoor recreation and to attack the wealth gap in vulnerable communities. Eddie Bauer’s (EB’s) president, Damien Huang, says EB is a promotional brand to make it accessible to all. In Burlington, Vermont, Outdoor Gear Exchange (OGE) has a consignment department that offers gently used gear at a fraction of the original price. “Our consignment department lowers price barriers for people who want to go outdoors,” says Mike Donohue, mission control at OGE (and this author’s husband). “One of the foundational pieces of our business is to make outdoors affordable and approachable and to create healthy lifelong habits and passions.”
Partnering to provide free gear at state parks is another way OGE has worked toward inclusion. In 2018, the company teamed up with Vermont State Parks on the Happy Camper program. With vendors—including Black Diamond, Kelty, Mountainsmith, and Primus—OGE donated tents, sleeping pads, stoves, lanterns, and tarps. The gear was assembled into packages and loaned free of charge to first-time campers and families who hadn’t camped in the last 10 years. Vermont Parks provided a free campsite and firewood, staff to both help campers set up and to check in on them, and a website full of information on how to set up camp, cook, and more.
“Camping is a super-valuable outdoor rec experience,” says Craig Whipple, Vermont’s director of state parks, who simultaneously set up a Vermont State Park–based fishing-gear loaner program, Reel Fun. “Spending a night outside in the woods creates valuable memo- ries. But it takes equipment and knowledge to get out there, which can be barriers.”
OGE, which won a 2020 Out- door Retailer Inspiration Award (see page 19), has donated to a long list of local nonprofits through its charitable grant fund. It outfits new Americans who land summer jobs trail building with the Ver- mont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC). It donates gear to local schools and Vermont Refugee Resettlement. And, pre-coronavirus, the store hosted frequent events teaching participants how to go backpacking, how to maintain and fix a bike, and more.
“Nationally, there’s an emphasis on helping urban residents explore nature,” says Donohue. “In Vermont, where nature is easily accessible, we’re prioritizing outreach to less affluent and underserved rural communities whenever possible.”
Offer More Sizes
Cost is one notable barrier. Sizing is another. Whether you’re a manufacturer or a shop, if you don’t make or stock technical apparel to fit outdoorists, you’re closing the door.
“There are lots of people who are just not built for most backpacks,” says Rob Coughlin, Granite Gear general manager. In 2012, Granite Gear introduced a width-adjustable pack frame that is being reintroduced for 2021, and three years ago, the brand complemented that with a modular pack waist belt that expands from 26 to 42 inches.
EB’s Huang says the brand has the most complete extended size portfolio in affordable performance gear in the industry, including petite and tall sizes.
At Velocio, Devin Cowens, director of events and engagement, is advocating for the high-end cycling brand to expand sizing up to 6XL, which isn’t currently available from any mainstream cycling brand. “It’s not just about sales,” says Cowens. “It’s about saying we see you, and we want to ride with you.”
Empower Enthusiasts
Women’s bike brand Liv Cycling has supported all levels of riders since its inception. “We believe creating community—both online and on the ground—while also providing tools to assist riders with continued education and skill-building is as important as selling bikes,” says Brook Hopper, global marketing manager. Liv has created 250 video guides— from how-to’s to maintenance, and skills development to Liv TV and Zwift virtual rides with female athletes. Since the pandemic, this content has engaged 6,000 female riders.
Granite Gear’s phones and email servers are buzzing with inquiries. Even the national sales manager is fielding calls from customers asking how a pack should fit and how to adjust load lifters.
OGE empowers enthusiasts with support staff chosen for their diverse skill sets and trained to provide excellent guidance and education to all customers. OGE isn’t commission-based because the company wants every customer to get equal time regardless of purchase dollar amount. “We consider it success if we sell someone a repair part; that’s more important to us than selling someone new gear they don’t need,” says Donohue.
Watch Your Language
“Build a relationship of authenticity,” says Velocio’s Cowens. “Don’t just write a check or hang a Black Lives Matter sign. Make elevating voices of those who have not been served a priority. It takes time. Whether you’re a shop or a brand, don’t accept the status quo. Be willing to look critically at everything. Ask questions. Let people know who and what you are, and what values you represent.”
Marketing content is the face of your brand, whether you’re a manufacturer or a shop. EB’s Huang says that how you portray your brand determines who your customers are. “If you want a broader customer base, representing the widest range of experience within your brand’s guidelines and expertise is important,” he says.
And watch your language. Eddie Bauer intentionally calls the outdoors a playground, not an arena. “Conquering-based culture only validates extreme outdoor experiences,” says Huang. “If you don’t cast a wider net, it’s a missed opportunity. Let people in, and let them define their outdoor experience. Then reflect those choices in your product pricing, sizing, and how you position content.”
Don’t Be Elitist
Historically, outdoorists had to look a certain way and fill a bingo card of extreme pursuits in order to be welcomed. It’s an outdated model. Mother Nature doesn’t discriminate based on age, skin color, body size, economic percentile, or ability. Blackpackers trips are all multi- generational, with participants from 2 to 72 years old years old. “If you don’t get the parents involved, kids have nowhere to take it home to,” says Cameron. “And, you learn a lot from your elders. When you gain knowledge in a community, in a shared experience, it gives you a community with which to continue having those experiences. And the learning continues more naturally when it resembles a family unit.”
Furthermore, brands that restrict sales channels are missing markets. “The industry needs to understand where people are most likely to become active participants, and Walmart, Target, Fred Myer, and other mass-market and mainstream merchants are those shops,” says Huang. “Bypassing wider distribution channels excludes participants.”
The Need Is Greater Than Ever
“People who needed assistance getting outdoors before COVID-19 due to economic distress or health issues need help even more now,” says Cameron. “If you want to continue a community’s interest in the outdoors, reflect that community in your leadership, programming, and outreach. If you don’t know how to get minorities involved, find people in the community who are doing that work and defer to them.”
Granite Gear’s Groundskeeper program, which has picked up 1,117 pounds of trash since 2017, has expanded to include weekend and urban warriors. OGE partners with Burlington, Vermont, climbing gym Petra Cliffs on LGBTQ+ Climbing Nights, which include group belay lessons.
Eddie Bauer is hiring a director of diversity and inclusion and reaching, broadening, and diversifying its guide team, working with the EB Group activists on cultivating outdoor experiences and looking for a more welcoming community of like-minded outdoor enthusiasts. This is along with the company’s All Outside initiative, which strives to define and invite outdoor experience as broadly as possible.
Granite Gear’s general manager has gone online, hosting Hot Minutes, short video interviews with diverse outdoor advocates and enthusiasts. All these initiatives show these brands are in it for the long haul. And they just scratch the surface of what’s possible. “There’s more we can do,” says Donohue. “We’re committed to continuing to learn, to push the boundaries, and to be creative in supporting any and all who want to get outside.”