The Rock Fight: Outdoor Industry & Adventure Sports Commentary

The light hiker is coming back. At least that's Colin's prediction.
On this week's Parting Shot, Colin welcomes Gear Abby host Shawnté Salabert to debate his latest outdoor industry prediction: 2027 will be the year of the light hiker.
He makes his case by looking at footwear's fashion cycles, an increasingly saturated running category, emerging retail trends, and why shoes like the Merrell Moab might be poised for a comeback.
Will running shoes finally lose their grip on casual footwear or is Colin just trying to make dad shoes cool again? Send your feedback to myrockfight@gmail.com.
The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

The outdoor industry depends on public lands. So why does it sometimes seem reluctant to fight for them?
Chris Keyes, founder and executive director of public lands newsroom RE:PUBLIC, returns to The Rock Fight to talk with Colin about the industry's response to the growing number of threats facing America's public lands.
Chris and Colin discuss what brands can do beyond posting another carefully workshopped statement on social media, why encouraging people to vote might be the industry's most effective move, and how RE:PUBLIC's first year is demonstrating that good old-fashioned outdoor journalism can still make a difference.
Topics / Chapters
02:08 – Why the Outdoor Industry Needs to Get Loud
06:32 – Chris Keyes Joins The Rock Fight
07:50 – One Year of RE:PUBLIC
09:27 – Is the Outdoor Industry Doing Enough?
10:59 – Why Brands Have Been Reluctant to Speak Up
13:44 – How Corporate Ownership Changed Outdoor Activism
14:42 – The Business Case for Defending Public Lands
16:50 – One Thing Every Outdoor Brand Can Do
17:57 – Why Today's Public Lands Fights Are Harder to Communicate
19:09 – Stop Posting Links and Start Driving Action
20:33 – Why You Can't Compare Every Brand to Patagonia
22:12 – If You're Going to Speak Up, Say Something
23:24 – How Journalism Can Actually Create Change
Read RE:PUBLIC's job performance review for Doug Burgum here.
Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your comments or questions to myrockfight@gmail.com.
The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Big box retailers drive a massive amount of outdoor industry revenue. So which ones matter most and which are best positioned for the future?
Today Colin is joined by Outdoor Unfiltered host and Rock Fight consigliere Eoin Comerford to power rank the biggest players in outdoor retail.
And, as you might expect, Colin and Eoin don't exactly agree on the rankings.
Plus, Colin answers a listener question about whether outdoor brands can differentiate on vibes alone, nominates another once iconic outdoor company for zombie-brand status, and explains what the Outdoor Media Summit gets right about industry gatherings.
Timestamps:
03:40 – Mailbag: Is Brand Vibe More Important Than Innovation?
06:55 – Has Outdoor Gear Become Commoditized?
08:20 – Is Lowe Alpine a Zombie Brand?
10:50 – What Outdoor Media Summit Gets Right About Industry Events
12:40 – Why Big Box Retail Matters to the Outdoor Industry
15:26 – Eoin Comerford Joins the Show
20:13 – Colin & Eoin Have Their First Major Disagreement
26:20 – The Specialty Experience at Big Box Scale
30:22 – The Middle of the Outdoor Market
37:07 – Honorable Mentions & Eoin's Rankings
Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your questions and feedback to myrockfight@gmail.com
The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Friday is for The Parting Shot!
To close out The Rock Fight's big return week, Colin welcomes back two Rock Fight Hall of Famers, Producer Dave and Shawnté Salabert, to chuck four rocks aimed squarely at the outdoor world.
First, Colin defends the Satisfy x Adidas Circle Pit and wonders why runners get so worked up whenever a brand tries something different. Producer Dave then weighs in on Mammut's latest streetwear-heavy campaign and the strange pivot from the brand that spent the past two years reminding everyone that it definitely wasn't a streetwear brand.
Then Shawnté joins Colin to talk outdoor media, why everyone needs to stop saying "print ain't dead," and how print journalism has actually evolved.
Finally, Shawnté takes aim at the outdoor brands staying quiet about the potential rollback of the Roadless Rule and what it could mean for public lands.
Four parting shots. Two returning Rock Fight favorites. One final batch of rocks to take into the weekend.
Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your emails to myrockfight@gmail.com.
The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

What happens when you can DoorDash a pair of trail runners as easily as an order of pad thai?
Locally founder and CEO Mike Massey joins Colin to talk about the company's new partnership with DoorDash and why getting outdoor gear delivered in an hour could be about much more than convenience.
They also dig into the health of specialty outdoor retail, the shift toward at-once buying, how real-time local data could change inventory decisions, and whether the coming battle over last-mile delivery could create a major opportunity for independent retailers.
Topics / Chapters
02:29 – DoorDash is coming to your local gear shop
06:58 – Locally CEO Mike Massey joins the show
07:21 – How the Locally/DoorDash partnership happened
11:31 – Are delivery apps becoming the new everything store?
15:09 – Could this be a game changer for specialty retail?
16:01 – The current health of outdoor specialty retail
21:32 – At-once buying, inventory risk & real-time demand
23:58 – Can local retailers compete with Amazon?
27:05 – Why specialty shops shouldn't try to become Amazon
Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Email us! myrockfight@gmail.com
The Rock Fight is (an awesome) production of Rock Fight, LLC.