By Mark Seavy

Outdoor brands have had the inside track on licensing the past two years as consumers yearned to leave the confines of their homes.

But as global markets slowly shift to a post-pandemic world, the lingering question is whether outdoor brands—stretching from Winnebago and Airstream to North Face, Columbia, and Traeger—will continue carrying the same cache for licensing.

For the most part, it appears they will. The outdoor specialty market generated $7.6 billion in U.S. retail sales in the 12 months ending November 2021, an increase of 13 percent over the prior year, according to The NPD Group. The snow specialty segment brought in an additional $1.6 billion last year between August and November, NPD said.

In seeking to capitalize on the growing outdoor business, Iconix Global Brands signed outerwear licensing agreements for Ed Hardy (Gruner) and Ocean Pacific (Castlewood Apparel) and is developing a sub-brand for London Fog (London Fog & Co.) that will further expand the outdoor label into backpacks and other accessories, said Andie Lipton, senior vice president for marketing at Iconix.

“There is an opportunity now [in outdoor products] to expand beyond the t-shirts and hoodies and into more classical categories,” Lipton said. She adds that companies want to check every box and the outdoor category, which was once more workwear-based, has since taken a fashionable bent that includes the licensing of brands like Carhartt.

This trend expands beyond outdoor apparel, however. Thor Industries’ Airstream recreational vehicle (RV) launched a limited edition 28-foot Airstream travel trailer last year with Pottery Barn that combined outdoor adventure with the comforts of home.  Pottery Barn designers developed the hardware, soft goods, fixtures, and other touches while Thor provided the trailer along with custom furniture and storage space.

Grill supplier Traeger, meanwhile, went public last year and launched its internally developed Traeger Provisions meal kits in November. The kits are designed to serve 4-16 people with meals like Wagyu beef brisket and Berkshire St. Louis ribs along with rubs and sauces, the latter of which are being sold through Ace Hardware stores, which also carry Traeger grills. The meal kits were introduced more broadly following a six-month test in four markets, during which 92% of those surveyed said they would buy the product again,  Traeger CEO Jeremy Andrus said.

“We’ve seen that once you become a Traeger owner you care more about the cooking experience, you will invest more in ingredients and you care more about the source and quality,” Andrus said. “We wanted to create something that made that experience better.”

To cleanse consumers’ palates, outdoor fashion brand Patagonia recently introduced wine to go along with its previously launched beer. Licensee Hopworks Urban Brewery produces the beer with Kernza, a perennial grain that’s more climate-friendly than those that need to be re-planted every year, earning the beer its outdoor credentials.

Creating that link to the outdoors was also behind Dick’s Sporting Goods opening Public Lands stores in Pittsburgh, PA and Columbus, OH, last fall. Both locations feature a 30-foot climbing wall along with in-store gear repair and rental departments as well as in-store shops dedicated to biking, camping, climbing, fishing, and hiking.

“We are very enthusiastic about this concept and the goal of getting people outside,” said Dick’s CEO Lauren Hobart.