From sport to fashion: how outdoor brands are conquering the fashion world

What does outdoor have that fashion doesn't? High-performance gear and sustainable innovation! High-tech textiles, functional cuts and environmentally friendly clothing are setting the trends of the moment and are more in demand than ever. No one satisfies this better than the outdoor and sports sector, because this is where the most exciting innovations are created, and they do so on their own initiative. On Running from Switzerland is the best example of this. In an interview for the ISPO series "Challenges of a CEO" last year, Caspar Coppetti talked about the shock when the management team realized that their cloud shoes were being worn by "architects on the streets of Zurich". At the time, the start-up was determined to avoid being perceived as a fashion brand. "We develop high-performance products for athletes and people who want to stay fit and healthy. Our success is based on our unique cloud technology, which we have spent years developing - at our core, we are an innovation company."

With this strategy, On has not only made it to the stock market, but has ultimately been able to make its way into architecture firms around the world. The high-performance shoes are among the most sought-after brands of the gorpcore movement and On now competes with industry giants such as Adidas and Nike thanks to the slogan "form follows function".

In addition to Gorpcore, the ongoing fashion trend Mountaincore is growing and a traditional Bavarian brand is one of the big winners in the new fashion game. Hanwag CEO Thomas Gröger ventured into the high-fashion segment with a colorful new edition of a classic shoe and reports on the surprisingly positive response from the scene in this ISPO article. "I've been in the outdoor business for more than 30 years now. In our industry, we have talked up and down about our history; 100 years of shoe craftsmanship and sustainable production in Europe. In the end, it was mostly all about the price. But that hardly plays a role in the high fashion segment. People are really interested in our story!"

Showing who you are, what you do and why: this message is becoming the be-all and end-all for all outdoor brands that want to position themselves in the fashion market. The industry is huge and waiting to be discovered is not very promising.

Of course, good social media marketing is a must for this endeavor - right where the target groups are: on TikTok and Instagram. If you want to get people talking, you have to deliver good content: your own brand story packaged in high-quality images and videos, told together with (fashion) influencers and distributed by sporty brand ambassadors with a wide reach.

If you are not at all familiar with the fashion world, you should look for good cooperation partners. Many fashion agencies are actively looking for outdoor brands to complement their range. They know what is important and where the trends are particularly in demand. And they have contacts with the big luxury brands, which are desperately looking for cooperation partners from the outdoor segment. In recent years, for example, New Balance x Ganni, Moncler x Adidas, On x Loewe, The North Face x Gucci, Jil Sander x Arc'teryx and Maison Margiela x Salomon have demonstrated this - at first glance perhaps unusual collaborations, which nevertheless mark some of the greatest successes of recent years - for both sides.

Gen Z loves micro-trends. They want to be special and stand out from the mainstream. Sneaker brands such as Veja or New Balance have been benefiting from this for years: Almost all of their limited-edition models have experienced unprecedented hype and are sold online for many times over.

This also explains the growing popularity of athletes and sporting events: Both mark snapshots, successes that are limited, take place in the now and can then no longer be repeated. The success factors are uniqueness and diversity. What does this mean for the outdoor industry, which aims to be the opposite of entertaining and is already successful in this respect? That the focus on genuine sustainability is the right way to go, because the fashionable concept of luxury is also defined by craftsmanship, unique items, high-tech innovation and - let's be honest - rarity. So anyone who makes themselves a little rare with limited edition collections is certainly well advised.