Outdoor brands: the unassuming leaders in retail design

This year, the retail industry has been turned upside down in a turn of events no crystal ball could foresee.

However, for one segment of apparel brands, they appear to have weathered the storm of 2020 and have made humble steps towards being the retail success story of the last decade. 

Brand experience agency, Swarm, explores what makes outdoor brands in-store experiences so remarkable in the competitive retail world.

Outdoor apparel; functionality over fashion, favoured by the niche fanatics, not the trend-following masses. Until… about 2015. In the US, since 2016, two million people per year have been adding to the 48% of citizens who have taken up a regular outdoor activity requiring equipment.

This increasing trend, combined with the trend of athleisure wear, led by retailers such as Lululemon, Nike and Outdoor Voices, which normalises the wearing of leisurewear for every day, has created a global desire for functional, performance wear that can be worn on the trails of the Peak District or at Oxford Street tube station.

What does this success story look like for the retail design and environments where these garments are marketed and sold? 

Immersive spaces

In today’s increasingly digital world, now featuring regular periods of ‘lockdown’ staring at screens and the four surrounding walls - creating spaces that can transport customers to another world, and allow then to reconnect with nature and adventure is essential.

For those looking for outdoor performance wear, recreating the environment that it will be used in will help to orientate the customer, enabling them to make better purchasing decisions.

Customers can visualise the outdoors with beautiful interior design and smart visual merchandising but also with the use of technology to transport them there; with either immersive environments or virtual reality.

Igloo Vision created an immersive ‘Ice Gym’ for Under Armour, recreating training in cold environments for the launch of their new product range, ColdGear.

Innovation agency, Somewhere Else created an interactive, real-time 3D VR experience for adidas Terrex allowing customers to experience mountain climbing in Corsica, ideal for capturing the imagination for adrenaline junkies, wherever they are. 

Social experiences

Sport is rarely a solo experience, and even for more solitary activities, there is always a community of like-minded people to connect with. Brands have incorporated this social aspect into their design for many flagship stores.

For example, Lululemon’s Regent Street store provides a space for people to meet and take part in classes. This social aspect of a store space helps to truly integrate the customer with the brand, providing value and experience above and beyond the commercial transaction.

This concept also helps create a sense of community where customers build connections and loyalty between like-minded people and the brand. adidas have become masters of creating blended environments that showcase the brand and immerse the customer.

adidas opened 152 Brick Lane, a women’s studio designed to offer more than just a retail experience, inviting customers to be part of a community for fitness, nutrition, mindfulness - all whilst looking fabulous in adidas’s range of performance and leisure apparel.

adidas’s London flagship store provides the ‘wow factor’ for customers with a tech-driven experience - their "most digital store to date". With over 100 digital touchpoints including interactive changing room mirrors and a digital running lab.

Unlike 152 Brick Lane, which appeals to a niche community, the flagship store encourages digital interaction for a wide audience - building their online social community.

Trend led

The chasm between functional outdoor apparel and high-end fashion is narrowing. Urban fashion has been increasingly infused by outdoors influences with fashion designers utilising performance fabrics and creating outdoor-style products like hardshell jackets and trekking boots.

The needs of this new customer demographic who aspire to the outdoor aesthetic must be incorporated into the instore experience for these outdoor apparel brands, including seamless digital interactions and sophisticated, high-fashion design elements.

Brands such as North Face, Patagonia and Napapijri have embraced the ‘conscious consumer’ who connect with their values of authenticity and their commitment to sustainability.

Vicki Bohlbro, Napapijri Senior Marketing Director, says: “Now more than ever, we are aware of the pressing issues we are collectively asked to address.”

“We have chosen to do so by pioneering the future of fashion through design, sustainability and innovation.” These values can be woven into the instore experience with mindful design considering materials, technology and renewable energy. 

Outdoor apparel brands are the unsung heroes of retail; driving sustainability, using their spaces to create real brand-led communities, and using technology in impactful and meaningful ways to connect with their customers.

As fashion and outdoor consumers continue to merge, the opportunity to optimise their retail experience is exponential. Smart uses of technology and design combined within retail environments can become the enabler for customers to connect to the wilderness when they’re living their urban lifestyles.

Swarm produces extraordinary projects for brands, engaging customers across physical/digital installations. Discover more here.