The Rock Fight: Outdoor Industry & Adventure Sports Commentary

Today Colin and outdoor industry insider Eoin Comerford recap their time at last week's Outdoor Market Alliance Media Event. Here is the rundown!

• Ortovox has returned fire! After criticizing the brands new mountain biking line on last week's episode, it looks like a brand representative from Ortovox may be appearing on the show soon. Stay tuned! (06:48)
• Salomon's CEO wants to see the brand expand their products to provide more lifestyle options. A tricky proposition that others have also tried. (09:16)
• The OMA Media Event has quickly become one of the most important industry events on the calendar for PR Agencies and the writers, YouTubers, and podcasters who make up the outdoor media scene. Colin & Eoin talk about how there is still room for the event to grow especially among the brands who would greatly benefit from the coverage they could get if they attended. (16:12)
• Colin & Eoin's six favorite brands and products that they saw over the course of the two day event. (30:42)

Lastly for The Parting Shot Colin has some choice words for his least favorite airport. (52:19)

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Today's show was recorded in Colin's Denver hotel room during this week's Outdoor Market Alliance Media Event (don't worry, it's not as sexy as it sounds).

Colin is joined by the Editor-In-Chief of Gearjunkie, Adam Ruggiero, to offer their initial thoughts on the OMA Media Event and use it as a springboard into a conversation about the "new" phase of outdoor media and how legacy media entities are responding to the rise of Substack, podcasts, and YouTube.

They wrap up their conversation with the favorite thing they each saw at this weeks event.

Click here to help those in need after the flooding of Texas' hill country.

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

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's semi-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.

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Today we're dipping our toes back into the trade show world as Switchback and The Running Event show director Christina Henderson joins Colin to take analyze last month's inaugural Switchback Spring.

They talk about what worked, what didn't, how the standalone show will impact Switchback at TRE, and what the outdoor industry can expect next year in New Orleans.

Click here to help those in need after the flooding of Texas' hill country.

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

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's semi-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.

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Today on the show, the Monday crew (the Monday Boys?) of outdoor industry insider Eoin Comerford and brand/creative expert Producer Dave join Colin to talk through the following topics:

• Big 5 Sold! Did the new owners make a good deal? (06:09)
• To celebrate Ortovox entering the mountain bike market we count the amount of cliches in the press release and ponder the motivation behind the move itself. (15:23)
• Helen Of Troy had a rough Q1 thanks mostly to Hydro Flask's poor performance. Was it the Costco of it all? (21:50)
• Tariff Watch 2025 is back! After a flurry of updates to our ridiculous tariff situation during the first part of the month, the guys take a look at the moves that were made and analyze the fall out that is likely to come for the innovation engine of the outdoor industry. Spoiler Alert: it doesn't look great. (32:29)

For The Parting Shot, Producer Dave takes a look at Hoka's new brand video. Go Bob Dylan! (53:14)

Click here to help those in need after the flooding of Texas' hill country.

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

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's semi-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.

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Today Colin is joined by the host of Open Container, outdoor journalist Doug Schnitzspahn, to check in on where outdoor culture sits halfway through 2025.

Since the launch of Open Container in January Doug has had 26 conversations with artists, musicians, authors, brand founders and many others who operate in or around the outdoor community. Today he and Colin find out what he's learned so far and how it reflects on the broader outdoor world.

For The Parting Shot, Colin previews his trip to next week's Outdoor Market Alliance Media Event and makes a prediction about Superman.

Click here to help those in need after the flooding of Texas' hill country.

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

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's semi-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.

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Today on the show former Rock Fight guest Emily Holland ascends to the co-host chair to fill in for Shawnté who is out hiking the JMT!

Colin & Emily hit on the following topics:

• Get to know your co-host! Colin asks Emily some random questions so the audience can get to know her better (be sure to write down some of her food recommendations). (05:50)
• The Tour de France kicked off last weekend! Do we still care? It not, what would make us care? (17:05)
• From the files of No Sh!t Sherlock, recent running based study lets us know yet again that sleep is good for us and life is deadly without it. (25:40)
• Last week a six year old boy summited Mt. Elbrus. Is that cool? (31:30)

For The Parting Shot Colin has a request for anyone who covering or commenting on the Trump administration. Thank you. (39:59)

Click here to help those in need after the flooding of Texas' hill country.

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

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's semi-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 it's the last interview that we recorded at GOA Connect in Reno last month. This time Colin and Eoin are chatting with Jon Frederick of Rab.

Jon talks about why Rab has found more traction in the US when other EU based brands have struggled to enter the market. They also discuss Rab's current product initiatives and what Jon would like to see out of the national trade show scene.

Then Shawnté Salabert calls in with an update from her three week hike on the JMT to help Colin process his discovery that he no longer likes hiking.

Click here to help those in need after the flooding of Texas' hill country.

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

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's semi-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 it's a special Fourth of July episode of The Rock Fight as Colin is finally joined by outdoor journalist and sustainability legend Kristin Hostetter, to talk about her big 2024 hot take that it is time to ban fireworks.

Last year Kristin wrote this piece offering all the reasons why we should rethink fireworks despite them being a significant fixture in modern society. We covered her article here on The Rock Fight and now, to celebrate this year's Fourth of July, Colin finally gets to chat with Kristin.

In addition to fireworks we also get to hear what Kristin is currently working on to lead a more sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle.

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

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's semi-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.

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Today we're featuring the second interview we captured while attending GOA Connect last month. This time Colin and outdoor industry insider Eoin Comerford sit down with Eagle Creek president and CEO, Travis Campbell.

They talk about Travis's unique path to owning Eagle Creek and if that puts him in the same category as other founder led outdoor brands. They also touch how Eagle Creek tries to differentiate in an increasingly competitive travel market. Lastly they touch on outdoor events and what needs to happen on the national level.

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

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's semi-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 the Monday boys, Producer Dave and outdoor industry insider Eoin Comerford, join Colin to talk about the following topics:

• Back to school predictions! Reports are coming in that tariffs are impacting early back to school shopping. What does this mean for the second biggest shopping season of the year? (07:20)
• In a recent interview, Topo Athletic founder Tony Post reveals the secrets behind the trail running footwear brands big 2024 growth. Is Topo poised to take the trail running shoe championship belt? (12:40)
• Wolverine has launched a made in the USA work boot. Is this the beginning of a wave of loud domestically made product launches? (21:46)

After last weeks edition of TrailCon, an industry strategist posited that trail running is poised to go mainstream. For today's main topic the boys talk about what 'going mainstream' means to the outdoor industry in 2025 and what trail running being mainstream would actually look like. (27:33)

For The Parting Shot we saunter back over to pickleball corner as Colin takes umbrage with a recent survey. (52:47)

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

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's semi-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].