Outdoor Brands Are Turning Their Attention Towards Urban Youth
“It’s the younger consumer with whom we can experiment.”
After decades of catering to their core demographic of middle-aged outdoor sports devotees, outdoor brands have recently turned their attention towards the young, urban consumers. A 2014 market research by WeConnect valued the urban apparel market at $75 billion USD — more than enough incentive for brands like The North Face, Columbia, Canada Goose and Penfield to work with streetwear labels, as Business of Fashion points out in their article “The Outdoor ‘Dad Brands’ Tapping Urban Youth.” The North Face first collaborated with Supreme for Fall/Winter 2007, which initiated 10 years of collaborations between the two brands. Since then, Canada Goose has worked with Drake’s streetwear label OVO, and Columbia launched a collaboration with Ronnie Fieg. For Gene Chui, head of marketing at Penfield, joining creative forces with streetwear brands is a requirement in terms of achieving growth.
“Collaborations come in handy because you’re talking to a whole other audience who you may not be speaking to before. It’s the younger consumer with whom we can experiment, whilst still being able to fall back on our classical sales, which generate the most revenue and are derived from our classic outdoorsy consumer who is looking for the heritage product.”
Read the full article over at BOF.
