I’m an avid outdoorswoman, I’m hooked and I admit it. I have been all of my life, so when the opportunity to create a marketing department for an outdoor clothing company presented itself, I must say – it was a dream come true.
Of course, there’s a catch. This particular company never had any sort of marketing communications, no budget for this type of program and absolutely no brand presence.
What they did have though was a product, and a solid one at that. They had been sewing outdoor clothing for big name companies such as LLBean, Eddie Bauer and REI for many years. It was simple, they made durable and practical outdoor clothing with high tech fabrics and then the big names labels were sewn right in.
The management, a family, decided they were ready to take this product into the market under their own name – build their own brand.
We were a young group of professionals, passionate and extremely hard working. Over the course of three years we went from being a 98% private label business to generating 95% of our revenue from our own label.
It was incredible to watch the transformation, and I was exceptionally proud to be a part of the process. Our trade show booth quadrupled in size (it became a double decked to accommodate demand), specialty and big box retailers were almost instant fans of our brand and the media loved us.
The family was featured in major trade publications (even gracing covers), while our product was given favorable reviews in favorites such as Backpacker, Men’s Journal and Outside Magazine – to name a few.
We hosted Forest Service, BLM and Student Conservation efforts, while learning and supporting projects such as invasive weed management, trail refurbishments and Leave No Trace.
I can still smell the early morning fall air in Yosemite Valley, or the sound of a snowboard carving through fresh powder while managing a photo shoot. Thanks to a good friend in the industry, I even had the opportunity to learn to fly fish (with an all too patient guide).
What an opportunity! This particular position unilaterally changed the path of my career forever. Not only did I have the chance to build a successful multi-million dollar marketing campaign, I found out I could enjoy and support the outdoors at the same time.
