Outdoor Retailer got underway Monday in Denver and the show was crazy busy.
In addition to the hundreds of traditional outdoor brands, there were several from our space including Volcom, Reef, Sanuk, Olukai, Roark, Vissla, Slowtide, Rusty, Mizu, Quiksilver, Roxy, O’Neill and more.
The show was very busy – so much so, that all the hotels in Denver and nearby suburbs are sold out.
Many brands were attending for the first time, including Volcom, which is showcasing what it is calling its New Future Alliance – essentially all of its environmental efforts under one umbrella. These efforts include an Environmental Profit & Loss statement, accreditation from the Fair Labor Association and recognition for using more than 10 million recycled plastic bottles in its products, among other things.
We had some great interviews at the show, which we will post in coming days. In the meantime, we have photos of who we saw during the day below in our slide show.
Joe Kudla, Co-Founder of the rapidly growing Vuori brand
The busy Vuori booth
Volcom showcased all of its environmental efforts at the show, which are substantial
Reef debuted a new, two-story booth modeled after a lifeguard tower - Roger Spatz, Mike Matey and Tom Cooke
The retail display wall at Reef
The Roark booth
Roark's popular Layover pant and short keep selling out
Roark's Drew Dolkas and Ryan Hitzel
Dave Nash of Sun Diego, Paul Naude of Vissla, Patrick Whinnery of Sun Diego
Vissla's Eric Mehlberg and Rich Sanders
Pura Vida's Joan Kessler, John Gothard and DJ Hernandez
John Gothard working the Pura Vida booth
We were excited to meet Carve Designs partners Thayer Sylvester and Jennifer Hinton - Look for our great interview with them to come
The Carve Designs booth
Stephanie and Tim Pogue of Mizu, which has been expanding its growing European business
Mizu's impressive new water filtration system
Benji Thrasher and Jeremy Collins, Owner of the new Meridian Line apparel brand, which got a lot of attention at the show
Art and details are a big part of the Meridian Line
Laura Kinman, Patagonia Product Director for Women's Sportwear and Surf Apparel - the swim line is small but growing like crazy
A new Patagonia one piece
Josh Sweeney of Hippy Tree and Rod Tomlinson of Surf Expo
The North Face made a statement
Tim Bantle, GM of Lifestyle for The North Face
The North Face is expanding its lifestyle apparel
More North Face lifestyle product
Slowtide showed at OR for the first time - partners Kyle Spencer and Dario Phillips
Shelby Stanger of the Wild Ideas Worth Living podcast
Zack Helminiak, Chace Petersen and Rob Fabregas of Nomadix
The Nomadix Festival Blanket, which works on wet grass
The Roxy booth
Hydro Flask has expanded into soft-sided coolers
Cory Higgins of Jetty was checking out the show. Jetty will attend in November because it has a strong fall business.
Sam Arellano, formerly of Globe, now at Takeya
Seth Pulford of Sanuk
