Patter - 06 - Trail running's many many adjacencies
The flywheel of trail running
An overview of how trail running is a gateway to the outdoors for consumers and for brands
Trail running has been basking in the sun for a little while now: the long tail upside of running’s COVID explosion, the outdoor’s growing popularity and of course, the GORPcore cycle we’re in the latter stages of.
While race participation/result data shows that trail running isn’t back to its pre-2020 level just yet, data from Strava’s annual report for last year (2022) noted that 52% of athletes uploaded trail activities. This, I feel is an intriguing leading measure for what’s coming. Some context:
Strava data also suggests that trail activities are 55% more likely to happen in groups; a leading measure for more group trips to the countryside
Trail runners are averaging almost 40 in age; the age at which costly hobbies become more affordable with higher disposable incomes
The blending of trail running / hiking gear and style has placed those pursuits in the zeitgeist
Adjacent outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing and camping are all becoming more alluring and accessible than ever
See Fitt Insider’s breakdown of a report from Outdoor Industry, here for context on just how many American consumers are dipping their toes into outdoor activities. The same also applies across Europe with consistent growth in the outdoor sector.
In addition to the above context, the much-needed rise in more diverse and inclusive outdoor communities is a big signal that there is a new and different cohort getting outdoors. For example - regarding the growing popularity and importance of women-first hike clubs, Atmos best explain it here.
My hypothesis is that trail running is somewhat the gateway into slowly building a life that’s more frequently spent outdoors. And for relevant brands, it’s the time to explore the growing pursuits of their customers and fans.
Here are a few things I think we’ll see relevant brands doing more of:
Creating new product lines
One of the simplest ways to tap into these trail running adjacencies is to spin up a line of products that serves them. For brands with rich crossover in community and sub-cultures, this is a safe bet.
An example — Satisfy has already started moving horizontally with the launch of their climbing line - including the brushes pictured below. Trail running and climbing have something of the same ethos and founding principles. So it’s no surprise that communities of both often cross paths and as such, so do the independent brands that serve them.
It’s easy to see how this approach creates something of a flywheel that ultimately serves to meet customers with product they need as they spend more time outdoors.
Luring urbanites and brands out of the city
More & more urban run crews are partnering with trail brands to host runs out of the city and into the countryside. Slowpokes Run Crew in Toronto just paired up with Norda as part of their collaboration with Reigning Champ and London’s Your Friendly Runners have been doing a similar thing with Merrell, taking their members up into the Heath to get muddy.
With the growth of organised climbing crews as well, I expect to see some partnerships between them and run communities - pairing a run with a climbing session for those who do both. This would also be a fun way to explore connections between cities and rural areas’ communities and crews - for brands just as much for runners and climbers.
From a product, merchandising, and styling perspective, I think we’ll see even more multi-purpose serving and looking things; not so much GORP-leaning but more focused on the actual utility of products and outfits being core to their wear. Think: tactically placed pockets, heavier materials and styling that denotes the many environments in which products can be worn.
Encouraging more group travel and trips
With Strava data signaling that trail activities are most popular in groups, Whatsapp conversations are shifting from meeting for dinner to planning a few days of hiking.
I’d love to see travel platforms lean into this - Airbnb and the like are really well placed to create a vertical within their Experiences offering that drives outdoor pursuits and positions their experience ‘hosts’ as enablers and educators of the outdoors. As well as creating editorial specific to running, hiking and climbing spots.
Creatively speaking — the road trip as a storytelling vehicle is ever-present. ACG and Snow Peak spring to mind as tellers of good stories about trips taken with friends in the countryside. I would love to see even more of this.
A few other thoughts & things:
Snow Peak, just last week, announced their loyalty scheme which as well as their gear, also rewards stays in their camp sites. They’re due to open their first camp site outside of Japan late this year, in Long Beach Washington and they operate 8 in Japan already. A full outdoors lifestyle business now with a airline level loyalty scheme.
Nicole McLaughlin and Hoka’s collaborative shoe is of course, for running on the trails but also heavily references her love of climbing and the climbing wall in her studio; its gaiters could seemingly be used to store some carabiners and a chalk pouch while traveling to the climbing spot.
For brands, partnerships could be a really fun way to explore adjacent pursuits and their fans. USAL & ACG’s string of events this year spring to mind but I’d love to see some wider-reaching partnerships that encourage people to get outdoors in new ways. AllTrails and other map apps are ripe for exploring that type of brand partnership.
To conclude, I see this sweet little Venn diagram of opportunity as one of the most exciting things within the outdoors sector - with trail running as a big gateway to more time being spent outside.
I think we’ll see more legacy brands leaning into these outdoor pursuits in all the ways mentioned above: new product lines, telling stories of the outdoors, and tapping up new, non-urban crews for help in reaching the grassroots.
For nimbler, earlier-stage brands, I think there are bountiful opportunities across all consumer touch-points - especially in instances where the brand’s fanbase and sub-cultures crossover organically with other outdoor pursuits. It’s likely partnerships make the most sense: with retailers and outdoors communities.
All in all, a sound opportunity for brands of all scales to treat trail running as a segue into new categories or consumer cohorts by proxy of serving people wanting to build a more outdoors lifestyle.
Some links:
Dan of New Consumer has some thoughts and questions on Nike’s digital channels - here
Endure is a sports nutrition brand raising money on kickstarter - here
On continue to be cool, with this collab with Packer. Which sold out in Japan but are still kicking about in the US - here