The Rock Fight: Outdoor Industry & Adventure Sports Commentary

Today on show Colin is joined by the regular Monday crew (Producer Dave, Outdoor Industry Insider Eoin Comerford) to talk about the recent movement that is encouraging outdoor enthusiasts in Europe to look locally for their outdoor products in protest of recent "political" developments in the US. (06:46)

They also talk about Academy forging ahead with plans to open 25 new doors in 2025 and Lululemon's recent earnings report showing double digit growth. (21:10)

Then they crack open listener feedback that came in after last week's episode regarding the evolution of innovation in the outdoor industry. (30:38)

They of course wrap things up with The Parting Shot where this week we have a look back on a busy first quarter of 2025 in the Outdoor Industry. (44:34)

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

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Today Rock Fight's resident brand, culture, and media experts, Shawnté Salabert and Producer Dave, join Colin to review some recently released outdoor brand videos by On, Puma, & Outdoor Research.

First the hosts rely on their experience working in the outdoor industry and media to breakdown what makes a great brand video including the best way to deploy these types of brand assets and what we should expect from the finished product. (02:26)

Then they take a detailed look at the following videos:

• On: Dream Together, with Zendaya (22:43)
• Outdoor Research: Rooted (35:51)
• Puma: Go Wild (44:15)

After offering a detailed description of each video Colin, Shawnté, and Producer Dave give their thoughts and then rate each video with a thumbs up or thumbs down. Which will be their favorite? You'll have to listen to find out!

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

Register For Obōz Trails For Tree Challenge at trailsfortrees.com.

Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.

Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to [email protected].

The Rock Fight is once again breaking news to the outdoor industry!

On Wednesday an alert listener of The Rock Fight sent us this article on PE Hub which reports outdoor brand Stio is being shopped for acquisition.

Players in the mix to take over the venerable Jackson brand being Columbia, YETI, or potentially several PE firms.

On this emergency reaction podcast, Colin and outdoor industry insider Eoin Comerford take a few minutes to offer some context and run through what they know.

On this emergency reaction podcast, Colin and outdoor industry insider Eoin Comerford take a few minutes to offer some context and run through what they know.

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.

Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to [email protected].

On this episode of The Rock Fight Justin Housman opens up about his own mental health struggles and how that has impacted his relationship with outdoor activities.

A few weeks back in Rock Fight's weekly newsletter, News From The Front, Justin wrote about how he mistook the slow erosion of his participation in his favorite outdoor sports as part of getting older when in actuality there were some bigger issues that he needed to address. If you missed it you can read that column by clicking here.

Colin & Justin talk about the impact of the outdoors on one's mental health as well as what Justin has learned along the way.

Then they hit Q&A corner and discuss the overwhelming response we received from our listeners about your favorite outdoor socks.

They of course wrap up with The Parting Shot. Justin is looking for a shorter hockey season and Colin has a TV recommendation.

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.

Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to [email protected].

Today on the show Colin, Producer Dave, and Outdoor Industry Insider Eoin Comerford have some innovative suggestions for the outdoor industry.

Innovation in the outdoors is a misunderstood word. It's often only applied to the performance of the apparel, gear, and footwear that the industry produces. And while there will surely be advances that will improve the stuff we make the opportunity for the industry to innovate lies more within our approach to making and marketing that stuff.

On this episode we take a look at what can be learned from (gasp!) fast fashion as well as the opportunities that lie within experiential marketing. We of course wrap things up with The Parting Shot by lobbing a rock at the latest news to come out of Authentic Brands.

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.

Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to [email protected].

Today on the show Colin is rolling solo as he talks about the recent ThredUp report about the growth of secondhand as well as reflecting fondly on the recently concluded Barkley Marathons.

Then Colin offers a take on why you may not want going outside to be your sole existence for being.

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.

Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to [email protected].

Today on the show Justin Housman has the week off so Colin welcomes Shawnté Salabert as to the co-host chair! Together they run through some of the topics that have come out of the outdoor community over the past week.

• First up, The North Face has yet another collaboration with a fashion brand that has (almost) sold out! There has probably been too much TNF chatter around here the past few weeks, but this collection is super cool. (05:05)
• Jetboil has a new version of it's iconic stove out so Colin asks accomplished backpacker Shawnté to power rank the top 5 camp stoves ever! (13:25)
• The Everest pregame is on! News has started to come out of Everest basecamp including this story about how the famed Everest Ice Doctors will use drones to help map this year's route through the Khumbu icefall. (24:00)
• It's time for The Parting Shot! Colin is over the moon with his new pair of Norda's while Shawnté finds similarities between her recent experience at SXSW and the old days of Outdoor Retailer (33:46)

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.

Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to [email protected].

Today on the show Colin is joined by Producer Dave and Outdoor Industry Insider Eoin Comerford to take a look a bigger look at the outdoor industry.

Optimism was high at the end of 2024 that the outdoor industry was due for a come back year. Inventory issues had improved and open to buy was increasing. But with the end of the first quarter just a couple of weeks away things have fallen off of a cliff. We take a look at what happened and what to expect. (07:25)

Then the crew turns their attention to a new backpack by Yeti (that looks an awful lot like something made by Mystery Ranch) and the recent news that two outdoor parent companies Solo Brands & Pelican International are experiencing financial distress. Is this related to the other issues the industry is experiencing? We take a deeper look. (24:59)

Lastly for The Parting Shot Colin looks at the new footwear collection launched by Stio. Will Stio's Mahomes like luck continue? (43:08)

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.

Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to [email protected].

Today Colin opens the show by giving his thoughts on the big outdoor story of the week: The letter that was sent to Outside, Inc CEO Robin Thurston from more than 30 notable journalists making the request to have their names removed from Outside's masthead.

Then outdoor industry insider and consigliere to The Rock Fight, Eoin Comerford joins Colin to run through what he learned from The North Face's presentation at VF's recent Investor Day.

Lastly for The Parting Shot, Eoin highlights two brands from his Founder's Friday series on LinkedIn.

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.

Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to [email protected].

Today Colin & Justin hit the following topics to come out of the outdoor adventure community!

• Several brands put out new product press releases over the past week including Mountain Hardwear, Tifosi, and NEMO. Colin & Justin give their thoughts on each of these but save most of their commentary for the NEMO Dagger OSMO that is bluesign certified and PFAS free.
• They read responses they received to last weeks question they posed to The Rock Fight listeners about the value athletes offer to outdoor brands in 2025. This week's question? What is your favorite outdoor sock brand and why?
• For The Parting Shot, a recent crazy outdoor story prompts Colin to wonder why we don't get action movies featuring action sports anymore. And Justin would like you to know what you're ordering before you get to the counter.

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.

Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to [email protected].