The new face of the outfitting industry

What does it look like when an entire industry experiences a generational shift? The 2019 America Outdoors Conference was a fantastic example of how this generational shift looks. I attended this conference in approximate 10 years ago and largely it was filled with outfitters in their mid-50s to mid-60s. The feel of the conference would best be described as a meeting of old friends and rivals. Many of the topics at the conference were focused on reducing liability and introducing new technology (largely online reservation platforms and social media marketing). The industry was largely comfortable and stable despite the economic issues of a decade ago. It’s safe to say that the industry was largely composed of original outfitters from the 1960s and 1970s.

Fast forward 10 years to Salt Lake City, where we see a starkly different picture of the industry today. The average picture of outfitters in 2019 is a young vibrant community of people in their mid-30s and 40s with close to 60/40 split of male to female attendees. Many have families and children both at home and at the event. These young people have an innate mastery and understanding of the outdoor industry. Today’s outfitter is a master of the outdoor industry before they could even vote.

“In the last 5 years the face of the industry has completely changed” - Hillary Wickes, America Outdoors

Conference programming has changed to reflect this transition as well. Programs and workshops are less about how to embrace new technology like social media, but how to get the most out of social and digital media. Improving access to media and developing resources for women in the industry. Meetups to promote networking and camaraderie among the industry were more popular than ever as well.

What changed in the river industry?

The biggest change in the industry has come from the aging out of original outfitters. With the passing of rafting icons like George Wendt from OARS, long standing outfitters have become multi-generational family outfitters. Others still have sold their business to a whole new crop of guides who grew up in these river towns and rafting camps.

This change is a natural progression for most businesses, but the difference in our industry has been the speed of the transition coupled with how pervasive the change has been across the industry. This change makes sense given the timing of when early outfitters built their companies.

Founding of the rafting Industry

The river industry seemingly popped up overnight, but the economic factors were critical to understanding how our industry came to be. Between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s, with the exception of about 6 years, the US economy experienced a nearly unbroken streak of positive GDP. The economic booms of this era gave US consumers aces to massive amounts of disposable income, income that they spent on leisure activities. The economy was primed to buy, consumers wanted new and exciting ways to spend their leisure time, and the first generation answered the call en masse.

There were a few early adopters who proved that rafting was a viable business, but the economic prosperity combined with the craving for adventure sports made perfect conditions for outfitters everywhere to thrive. People who were bored of the structured life of the ideal America flocked to rivers throughout the 80s and 90s with the 80s being the prime time to start an outfitting business.

Considering that most folks in their mid-30s-40s flocked to the industry it’s no wonder we are experiencing this transition now. Fast forward 30 years and most original outfitters are now in their 60s and 70s with children in their mid-30s. The transition is natural to want to retire from the unpredictable and often rough life of outfitting to something more stable, while the children of outfitters seek to make a name for themselves in the industry. Are these new outfitters ready for the challenge of taking the helm of the family business?

Mastery from an early age

Modern outfitters have lived from an early age with the understanding that an outfitter is a critical link in facilitating getting people into the outdoors. In the book outliers Malcom Gladwell talked about the concept of achieving mastery by attaining 10,000 hours of practice in a topic. For the average 9-5 job this would take 5 years to achieve mastery over the topic.

Those young people raised by outfitters already have 30+ years of experience under their belt, and many young people who were attracted to the industry in high school or college have 10-15 years of experience by now. By Gladwell’s standards even those who started in college have achieved mastery at least once over not to mention the children of outfitters who lived and breathed this from an early age and who have mastered the skills of rafting before they could even drive a car.

How have the concerns of outfitters changed

With the transition to new younger management the concerns of outfitters have changed drastically and in often conflicting ways. In the early days of river outfitting there was little competition for the hearts, minds, and dollars of consumers. Now outfitters contend with a whole slew of problems that their parents never had to deal with. Some of the top concerns for outfitters of this generation are:

• Relevance

• Inclusivity

• Sustainability

• Barriers to entry

Modern outfitters have the deal with all kinds of issues that their predecessors only faced in the very end of their careers. One of these unique challenges is the prevalence of social media can create a viral sensation and a boom for business or a wild PR nightmare. Rafting also is not the only adventure sport and American’s comfort with high risk sports it pits rafting against climbing, mountain biking, hiking, skydiving, surfing, and a slew of other activities. In fact even theme parks compete against rafting. Why take your kids on a potentially dangerous river trip when the log ride at a certain theme park I won’t mention is a similar albeit remarkably safer experience?

Looking to the future of outfitting

One of the most common sentiments outfitters relayed to me was that of cautious optimism. Outdoor sports have become more popular than ever with the valuation of the outdoor industry moving ahead of pharmaceuticals. Social media popularity has been driving public land managers crazy since all it takes is a popular influencer experiencing a poppy bloom near LA and the park is inundated. Shot of fire falls in Yosemite? Traffic Jams for days.

“What do you mean you don’t really ‘do social media’? You may as well crawl under a rock…this is the reality of the world we live in.” Zach Collier, Northwest Rafting

In light of these challenges, the question that burns on our industry’s mind is: Where do we go from here? This question is a rightly debated and often hotly discussed. As an industry it is so important for us to take on these concerns head on. So, how do we as an industry move forward?

“There simply aren’t enough of us talking about rivers to make it feel relevant to most people”. Dave Steindorf, American Whitewater

One of the big themes of this year’s conference was: How do we, as a community, forge ahead into the future? AO did a great job of addressing these concerns head on with their programming, addressing not if these are concerns, but how we develop the industry in light of the concerns of young outfitters today?

In the coming months we will be digging into the state of the rafting industry. In our next feature on how outfitters stay relevant to today’s outdoor consumer.