what in the WORLD is happening in the outdoor industry!????

the outdoor industry seems to be spiraling. let's talk about it.

There is A LOT happening in the outdoor industry right now. Layoffs on layoffs, drastic restructuring within the parks systems, threats to public lands, changes in outdoor media and the REI controversy— it’s hard to know where to look.

This update is going to focus mostly on the media side, and providing good links to learn more about some of other, pressing concerns.¹

Outside Magazine lays off large percentage of editors

Outside Magazine, one of the best known and largest outdoor publications, has laid off 20 of its editorial² and business staffs and purchased Inntopia, a travel booking software according to Adventure Journal.

Adventure Journal also reported that a member of Outside’s external PR firm emailed a statement saying that Outside will be focusing in on it’s categories (ie, snow, cycling, hiking/camping) to allow it’s “content creators to contribute their expertise across our portfolio and grow critical areas of audience engagement like video, mapping, and our activity feed platform”.

Which I think is pretty telling. It seems like Outside wants to lean more into making money from recommendations and marketing and less into journalism and storytelling. Additionally, in early January Outside columnists Blair Braverman and Brenden Leonard both announced their long-time Outside columns had been terminated. Which is a bummer— I liked both of those columns.

I’m quite curious: had outdoor storytelling and traditional magazines simply become unprofitable for Outside, or did they just see a way to make more money doing something else?³

The blurring line between content and art

What stands out to me from the Outside PR statement is the phrase “content creator”— a catch all used by writers, videographers, photographers, marketers, influencers that in a lot of senses just means jack-of-all trades when it comes to, quite literally, creating content.

Shifting the phrasing from editorial staff/writers to content creators is interesting to me. I’ve worked as a freelance content creator for a while now, and have often been told it’s not a real job; I’ve worked really hard to make a name for myself as a writer, separate from the phrase “content creator”.

But put very simply, a content creator⁴ even on a small scale does what Outside seems to be pivoting towards: monetizing recommendations. Through affiliate links on my blog, through sponsored projects on my Instagram, through subscribers right here on Substack, and most importantly creating content throughout multiple mediums beyond the written word, I more or less work as a content creator. Now I would argue that content creation done right tells a story first and makes money second (if at all), but I do think there is a bit of a formula to successful content across platforms that doesn’t always have it’s heart in the best storytelling.

Which is why the thread above and the reply are very interesting. There’s this discourse of “content creation” is a dirty, low brow version of art; like the ability to effectively monetize a creative pursuit inherently cheapens it⁵.

And I’m not totally sure what I think:

On one hand, I do not think that the only way to tell a good story is pen and paper ,or that changes toward different mediums betray the soul of good storytelling. On the other hand, I do think it’s a shame to see so many of those old storytelling methods like print shrivel up into digital marketing.

One thing I do think is certain: outdoor media is changing and it’s changing right now.

A slew of other outdoor industry news + what it means (as i see it)

Beyond Outside Magazine there is a lot happening in the outdoor industry right now. Let’s just rattle through some headlines, and I’ll give you a quick analysis at the end.

• REI closed it’s entire experiences program, laying off over 400 employees

• Plus-sized apparel company Alpine Parrot closes

• Alder Apparel, another plus-sized friendly apparel company announced they’ll be closing

• The US Forest Service fires 3,400 people

• MUST READ: The Best People I Know Are Losing Their Jobs

• Outdoor Recreation Roundtable signed a letter of support for Doug Burgum for nomination for Secretary of the Department of the Interior, despite Burgum’s history of being largely pro-mining. REI was one of the retailers who signed the letter (and so did many, many organizations btw). REI later (suffered the consequences) issued a statement.

• If you want a good dive into the REI controversy, check out the Outdoor Minimalist podcast.

Now again, this is my interpretation and I am not an expert: that’s a lot of layoffs.

The outdoors got a huge boost during covid, and that boost hasn’t fully died out— the outdoorsy are trendy again. But the industry grew at an unprecedented rate during covid, and even if a lot of the individual people interested in the outdoors stay interested, the growth rate is slowing down. From the industry, gear, and gear marketing side when there is a lot of growth in the industry demand for gear goes up, but people usually aren’t buying a new backpacking bag or kayak every year (I’ve had my kayak seven or so years and I bought it used). Everyone bought all their outdoor toys at the beginning of the pandemic; money is tight right now for a lot of people and demand was already low for a lot of outdoor gear. Hardest hit here is companies with niche markets— like, for example, plus-sized. Marketing budgets get cut and with people reading less and less (unfortunately true) and spending more time on social media and influencer advertising often being cheaper than most traditional avenues those slimmer budgets will likely end up with smaller content creators.

On the government side, it’s too soon to say for sure what the effects of the new administration will be on public lands, but I am not optimistic long term and damage has already been done. I’ll for sure have more to say about this in the near future.

Is it a good or bad time to be in the outdoor industry?

That really depends.

I think it’s a really good time to invest in additional job security— never in my life did I think my freelancing and my blog, which started as a fun project, would offer me more security than my friend’s government jobs.

Working as a freelance content creator takes a lot of ground work to get to the point that you make money— I shutter to think of the hours I put into my blog over the past few years or my Instagram before it started becoming profitable BUT now I’m extremely grateful for it, and it feels like there’s a lot of opportunities right now for people in the outdoor space with their own, niche smaller brand.

Overall I just think the industry is changing really fast right now, and there’s some good in things shaking up, but definitely some downsides.

1. As for what’s happening in the parks system read here for what’s happening. More updates on this to come for sure in the near future, but overall there’s a lot of uncertainty.

2. Magazine editors/editorial staff are not just copy editors. They often assign articles, come up with the creative direction and ideas for digital and print publications and write a portion of the articles themselves.

3. not that I necessarily fault them for either

4. I also think there’s a subtext here of content creator is sometimes another word for influencer; blogging, social media, and that particular brand of content in the outdoors has a distinctly feminine shade and history too it, and the entire concept of the content creator comes with a lot of ridicule. I remember when I was first starting out in freelance photography and writing watching the men around me doing the exact same thing as I was get called adventure photographers and journalists, while no matter who I wrote for or what projects I did, I was called an influencer. I worked for National Geographic as a second photographer and still was called an influencer first— always lacking in artistic skill or actual storytelling, always just popular on social media because I’m a girl.

5. I spelled every. word. wrong in this sentence the first time i wrote it. It’s late on a friday night. this is what i do on friday nights.