Is The Outdoors Trendy? (Pt. 2)

For part two of our little article series, we're going to focus on a topic that I am sure many of you out there have picked up on; the slow transition from function to fashion. This is an issue that has become more prevalent in recent years and for those of us who work in the outdoor industry, more specifically retail, it's a subject we have grown all too familiar with.

The Birth of Fast Fashion

Many of us have heard the term fast fashion but few know about its origin. During the mid-1990s, fashion giant Zara began integrating a new production model that would see an acceleration in both production and staging in retail stores. Later, The New York Times picked up on this quickened business model and coined the term "fast fashion." Today, nearly every clothing and accessory manufacturer has implemented this same model, where articles are made fast and cheap to maximize profits and keep up with current trends. More recently, this unsustainable business practice has slowly worked its way into the outdoor industry. Models can be seen walking down the runway in GORE-TEX branded hard-shells, The North Face and Patagonia have become some of the most iconic outdoor clothing brands worn for casual, everyday use, and companies such as Arc'teryx specialize in making state-of-the-art technical garments now produce the kind of jackets that Cruella Deville would wear.

What Happened And Where Is It Going?

The most likely answer to why this is happening and what the future looks like is simple; it's profitable and it will get worse. Many outdoor gear companies realized they could increase sales by appealing to a broader audience with casual apparel, increasing prices due to the high demand for what is considered fashionable, and producing goods that "make you look outdoorsy." As far as anyone in the outdoor community can tell, this isn't likely to go away anytime soon and it could potentially lead to certain fan-favorite brands disappearing from the technical market completely. Many of my past coworkers used to look back in fondness over their favorite brands, upset over their stray from the path (pun intended).

Cottage/Garage Grown Brands

The best solution to combat this growing fashion trend is to shop local and shop small for your technical gear. There are hundreds of garage and cottage-grown gear manufacturers that produce excellent technical equipment and buying second-hand gear is a great way to reduce waste and support local stores. I discuss this with greater detail in my Second-hand Outdoor Gear article. Since many of these businesses are made up of a handful of people, there is a lesser chance they will fall into the fast fashion model, many produce custom gear the way you want it, and many offer unique solutions to problems we face in the outdoors.