Photos by Matty Hannon
A couple of weeks ago, in Salt Lake City, some of the most important influencers of our free-time activities gathered in a giant convention center. It was a frenzy of fast-talking marketing directors, ski bums-turned pros, and predictors of fashion and fun. It was the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market. Almost everything we wear when we head out to the mountains, the ultra-light stoves we cook dehydrated meals on before laying down in an ultra-light 4-season tent, and the sunscreen we slather before attempting the summit the next morning, has somehow found its way through this convention. It’s a chance for brands to show retailers the best of the season, and a place for minds to converge and tackle challenges we’ll surely face in the upcoming year.
Highlights for me included seeing Chris Burkard in the flesh, and checking out an innovative wax that can be ironed onto clothing to keep it waterproof, and there was that outdoor apparel fashion show. But the overwhelming undercurrent seemed to be the curiosity of women in the outdoor industry. In May, Outside Magazine will publish its “Women’s Issue,” boasting “more women’s gear than ever,” and making us ask how, if at all, women are defining themselves in an industry often defined by male categorizations?
Among the barrage of shreddable women’s gear and unisex colours and designs finally becoming available in women’s specific fits, there was a panel discussion under the theme of “The Modern Outdoors Woman,” led by Jeanine Pesce of Range, with gals from Wylder Goods, Duckworth, Wild Women’s Project, and Coalition Snow. All leading rather ground-breaking initiatives, platforms, and companies worth investigating.
But what does it mean to be a Modern Outdoors Woman? Is it, or should it be, different from a Modern Outdoors Man? The consensus amongst the various badass women on the panel was the importance of support, freedom of choice, inquisitiveness, and community that tends to exist in the feminine outdoor-world. The emphasis was not necessarily on girl-power, but rather on the all-powerful feeling created within oneself when the freedom to be whomever you want to be allows you to go and be it.
Another point that was discussed (rather passionately) was the intentional usage of words to change how we view, and express, femininity in the outdoors. Interestingly, most of the panelists have chosen names for their respective endeavors that express this trend. Simply with the word “wild,” and others implying expansion and cooperation, they evoke an untaming of the woman we’ve kept hidden away for whatever reasons. It’s an encouragement to embrace the feminine/masculine/whatever it is you most connect with, to just go.
My first thought was that maybe, just maybe, the surf industry could do with a little bit more of these “power” words. There is a growing movement in surfing now for women to embrace their “natural” grace, flow, and beauty, which is a step in the right direction for an industry that, even more so than the traditional outdoor industry, has been dominated by an overwhelmingly masculine culture, at least in the media. The grasp at feminine flow seems positive, but can also be charged with an undercurrent of expectation. Perhaps we need more space for Power, Strength and Wildness, than we do the traditional roles of Beauty and Grace. These are all good things, but their goodness comes from their inherent availability to everyone, rather than their perfect execution in a video clip showcasing longboarding in classy swimsuits.
For years, marketers have been trying to break into the elusive “women’s market.” We’re just so complicated! How do you make something that women will like? By making men’s gear smaller and pinker of course! This gathering of the most influential minds of the industry, however, showed glimmers of brilliant breakthroughs for those with broad shoulders and an affinity for olive green. It appears that ill-fitting design and color palette is a thing of the past, and with them, the idea that we can and should look perky and fresh while navigating that muddy section in the far reaches of the eleventh mile of a trail run.
Women all over, especially in light of the new political order in the United States, are letting each other (and everyone else) know that we are a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps the Modern Outdoors Woman is, above all things, a new voice. Or is she a megaphone? For things to change, we appreciate knowing that others are out there wanting the same thing. Outdoor Retailer is using its heft and economic impact in Utah to sway leaders over controversial public lands rulings (which would undermine almost all of Utah’s public lands). Women make up half the population. As far as my friends go, we are half the outdoors industry. Why then, don’t we use our own heft to make things happen?
There are more people than ever, female, male, gender binary, non-gender, LGBTQ, making an effort to get up to the mountains and into the ocean, and will someone please try to make us better-fitting pants while we’re at it? The biggest hurdle, it seems, is knowing we have the support, and heft, to make things happen. As we navigate the path ahead, may we all consider the impacts, human and ecological, that our actions have, and have the courage to bring out those megaphones deep within to make what we want, happen.
