Sign-On Letter: PFAS Reporting Requirement Extension for Outdoor Brands Selling Goods in Maine

Does your company operate or sell goods in Maine? Sign our letter to request an extension on PFAS compliance laws.​​​

Hello from Washington, D.C.,Across the country, we have seen increased activity concerning the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) in consumer products. Traditionally, PFAS have been used throughout the outdoor industry as the compounds are resistant to extreme elements like heat and water. Recent science has allowed us to better understand the negative human and environmental impacts that PFAS have, leading to the increased attention on PFAS phaseout across all sectors, including outdoor, juvenile products, food packaging, and more.A law passed in Maine in 2021, An Act To Stop Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Pollution, is considered to be one of the most sweeping in the country. Although the State of Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is still moving through rulemaking and guidance for the public to better understand the law and its requirements, there are hard trigger dates for compliance that OIA manufacturers should know about.The most important date to note is January 1, 2023, when businesses throughout the state AND businesses that sell goods into the state will be expected to notify the DEP of any products for sale in the state that contain intentionally added PFAS. If a business is not in compliance with this deadline, it may face financial costs. DEP is allowing manufacturers in Maine and businesses that sell goods into the state to request an extension on this trigger date, pushing the reporting requirement back six months. OIA and our on-the-ground partner, Maine Outdoor Brands, have drafted an extension letter for our members.If you would like an extension for your company, please fill out this short form by this Friday at 5 p.m. (ET). Even if you are unsure if anything you sell contains PFAS, we encourage you to join the extension request to ensure you are in compliance, have products tested if necessary, and give DEP more time to provide guidance.This law may have measurable impacts on your business, and we want to work together to ensure that you are as prepared as possible to comply and eventually phase out intentionally added PFAS. For over a decade, our industry has been investing time and resources to develop safe, durable, innovative, and economical alternatives to PFAS, and we plan to all work together to ensure that the transition is economical, equitable, and safe.

Together we are a force.Rebecca GillisGovernment Affairs ManagerOUTDOOR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION (OIA)

Research Roundup: Fall 2022

Here at OIA, our research team focuses on providing you with insights into the outdoor consumer: what drives their choices, what gear they choose, and what they value about their outdoor experiences. With our newsletter — Research Roundup — we aim to deliver the best data from our partner, CivicScience, who can reach hundreds of thousands of consumers in real-time to ask questions and gather insights that give you clear insights. You’ll also gain easy access to the full catalog of research reports we offer as well as trends we are tracking.

Happy reading!

 

Kelly Davis

Director of Research

 

Who are the Outdoor Recreators Most Likely to Visit State or National Parks?

OIA has excellent data on outdoor recreation participation by category; I can tell you how many Americans hiked, ran trails, went fishing, etc. However, I couldn’t tell how many or who were visiting state and national parks until now. Data captured by CivicScience helped us build a view of who is visiting state and national parks and how often they visit. This information can help us segment outdoor recreators who are likely to visit a state or national park and target the most likely groups. The data indicate that – among American adults – younger persons, persons who are parents and grandparents, and persons who live in suburban and rural areas are more likely than others to be frequent park visitors.

Of the very small group of participants who visit state parks between a few times a month and a few times a week, younger adults edged out older participants. But – of the relatively larger group of total participants who visit state parks a few times a year – those aged 55 to 64 were more frequent visitors than younger visitors.

Source: CivicScience, October 2022 – Canonical – Adults Filter

Parents and grandparents are more likely to visit state and national parks more frequently. Parents were most likely to visit parks, grandparents came in second, and adults with no children were least likely to visit. Note that our sample did not include children ages 17 and under.

Source: CivicScience, October 2022 – Canonical – Adults Filter

The type of area (urban, suburban, rural) matters when predicting who is most likely to visit a state or national park. Persons who live in urban environments are least likely to visit a state or national park. Persons who live in the suburbs are most likely to visit state and national parks, and rural residents are most likely to be frequent park visitors, but about the same percentage of urban and rural dwellers say they almost never or never visit state or national parks.

Source: CivicScience, October 2022 – Canonical – Adults Filter

Do Outdoor Recreators Use Cannabis?

On October 6 of this year, President Biden signed an executive order that pardoned all federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, and ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law where it is currently classified as a “Schedule I” substance along with far more dangerous substances including methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. Whenever cannabis is in the news, the OIA research team gets questions about outdoor recreation and cannabis use. In the past, we have speculated about the intersection of outdoor and cannabis; this time we used empirical data from CivicScience to show how cannabis use varies between outdoor recreation participants and non-participants.

Overall, outdoor recreation participants are more likely to use cannabis than the average American, except for runners who are less likely to use cannabis than the average American. The chart below shows that 26% of hiking, camping, and fishing participants; 1 in 4 bicycle riders; and 1 in 4 hunting and fishing participants say they are cannabis users. Note that this is not a measure of cannabis use during outdoor recreation; it is simply a measurement of general use among those who participate in those activities.

Source: CivicScience, October 2022 – Canonical – Adults Filter

What Types of Cars Do Outdoor Recreation Participants Choose?

One of the psychographics we commonly use to correlate activities across market research is the type of car a respondent drives. This is an area of keen interest, not only to the automotive industry but to outdoor accessories manufacturers (think racks), gear manufacturers, and even apparel brands. Knowing what kind of car someone prefers can provide a deeper look into their consumer type and choices. Purchasing a car is one of the biggest purchases many consumers make. If we know what type of vehicle someone drives, it can help us predict other purchases and behaviors across a wide variety of categories.

Consider that persons who hunt or fish are most likely, by a significant margin, to prefer a truck. That’s not a huge surprise, but it helps us better understand how to market products and services to that group. Note that runners are more likely than others to prefer sports cars and sedans. Bicyclists are most likely to prefer an SUV. The majority (68%) of outdoor enthusiasts who camp, hike, or paddle prefer either an SUV or a truck. The following chart indicates that outdoor recreation participants tend to prefer vehicles that facilitate their love of the outdoors by buying vehicles that can transport both them and their gear.

Source: CivicScience, October 2022

Trend Spotter: Trekking Poles!

Maybe it’s the spread of hiking content on social media, but whether it’s a TikTok or Instagram-driven trend or not, trekking poles seem to be everywhere right now, from the fists of casual hikers on local trails to thru-hikers on the PCT and the AT. I had received questions about this, so I turned to a source that I knew had his finger on the trekking pole pulse: Reese Brown, executive director of the Cross Country Ski Areas Association. Cross-country ski poles are a requisite part of a cross-country ski kit – you aren’t going far without them if you’re skiing on XC trails, so the makers of those poles are very familiar to those in the cross-country ski category. Additionally, Reese has been trying to convince me to try trekking poles for longer, more technical hikes for many years.

“Trekking poles make walking and hiking a more balanced physical experience by fully incorporating the upper body. In addition to better efficiency overall, you will take the stress off critical joints like knees and ankles reducing the chance of injury from an accident or from overuse.”  (Reese Brown, Executive Director, CCSAA)

 

Webinar: GHG Reduction Target Setting 101

woman pours hot coffee in mountains near campfire

Register Now

Click Here
Monday, October 24, 2022, 11 am MT Climate Action Corps members, join us for another edition of the Coffee and Climate series! In this live discussion, we will discuss setting an SBTi-aligned emissions reduction target. We will dive into strategy, tools used, gaining CEO/stakeholder buy-in, challenges, and solutions, and answer common questions brought up by Corps members. As opposed to more formal Corps training webinars, Coffee and Climate sessions are a candid but guided conversation on a chosen topic. They include facilitated group discussion to share tips, tricks, and strategies, as well as an opportunity for Q&A. Be ready to bring your questions (and coffee) to the table! Speakers Kari Shafer, Climate Action Corps Manager, Outdoor Industry Association Kaytlin Moeller, Sustainability Manager, Royal Robbins (parent organization – Fenix Outdoor) Mara Ley, Sustainability Manager, Vuori Michael Sadowski, Sustainability Strategy Consultant This Coffee and Climate session is for Climate Action Corps members only. If you’re a Corps member, you can register here. Not a member? Contact our team to learn more and join today. 

Research Roundup: August 2022

Here at OIA, our research team focuses on providing you with insights into the outdoor consumer: what drives their choices, what gear they choose, and what they value about their outdoor experiences. With our new monthly newsletter — Research Roundup — we aim to deliver the best data from our partner, CivicScience, who can reach hundreds of thousands of consumers in real-time to ask questions and gather insights that give you clear insights. You’ll also gain easy access to the full catalog of research reports we offer as well as trends we are tracking.

Happy reading!

 

Kelly Davis

Director of Research

 

Outdoor Participants are Worried About Inflation

Overall, outdoor recreation consumers are significantly concerned about inflation, but their concern appears to have reached a plateau.  Outdoor participants are less concerned about inflation than the average U.S. consumer.

Source: CivicScience. 78,305 responses MoE= +/- 1%

Outdoor recreation consumers say they do not plan to spend more next month on groceries, at bars, or toys and hobbies (including outdoor gear).

Keep in mind, outdoor recreation participants tend to spend more than the average American adult across most categories with the notable exception of groceries. When budgets need to be tightened, outdoor participants literally tighten their belts by cutting spending on groceries.


Source: CivicScience. 62.363 responses MoE= +/- 1%

This data indicates that outdoor consumers will continue to spend on outdoor gear, but they do not plan to increase their spending on the category. We should expect flat to slightly declining sales in the outdoor market in August and September.

 

Who is Willing to Adjust Their Lifestyle to Help the Environment?

I just finished reading “Is Outdoor Recreation Associated with Greater Climate Change Concern in the United States?” by Kyle Knight and Feng Hao. The authors start with the hypothesis that is often repeated in discussions about climate and outdoor that persons who participate in “nature-based leisure activities” have more pro-environmental attitudes than those who don’t. The data and analysis presented in that study is robust and showed a positive significant effect between the frequency of outings and climate change concern. If you have another excellent data source, it never hurts to see if your data jibes with an interesting finding. I decided to take a look at our CivicScience data to see if it told the same story. Spoiler alert, it did.

Overall, outdoor recreation participants are more likely to adjust their lifestyle to help the environment. This is particularly remarkable because we found relatively even distributions of political affiliation across major outdoor recreation categories including hiking, bicycling, camping, running, fishing, and hunting. Political affiliation, overall, had the most significant impact on responses to the question “Do you try to adjust your lifestyle to help the environment?”  Even while controlling for political affiliation, people that participate in outdoor recreation are more likely than non-participants to adjust their lifestyles at least occasionally to help the environment.

One of the major advantages of CivicScience data is the size of response. In this case, we are looking at more than 200,000 responses and margins or error under +/-1%. This data gives us a more granular look at outdoor activity and attitudes about the environment. In fact, the question “Do you try to adjust your lifestyle to help the environment?” is even more powerful because we can examine it by outdoor category. Additionally, we can compare it to segments of the general population.

 

Overall, cyclists are most willing to adjust their lifestyles to help the environment. Bicyclists are being chased by the camp/hike/fish category in second place and runners in a close third. Hunters report that they are less likely to make any lifestyle changes to help the environment than other outdoor recreators, but hunters were no more likely than Democrats (generally) to say they would never adjust their lifestyle to help the environment. Additionally, hunters contribute more than $1.6 billion each year for conservation programs through license fees and contributions to conservation groups. Republicans (generally) are least likely to say they would make any adjustments in their lifestyle to help the environment. In fact, in this survey alone, out of 160,662 Republicans surveyed, more than 88,000 indicated they would never adjust their lifestyle to help the environment.

The hypothesis that people who participate in outdoor recreation are more likely to make changes in their lifestyle to help the environment is correct. The data indicate that this holds true across political affiliations. Maybe outdoor recreation offers a platform for civil discourse across political lines about environmental issues that will help us conserve and protect public lands and mitigate impacts of climate change for future generations.

Trend Spotter: Meet the Upcycler

No, this is not about riding bikes uphill! Upcycled clothing may recall visions of DIY fashion projects gone awry, but today luxe apparel designers are presenting upcycled fashion in their collections. This trend is a nod to sustainable manufacturing and awareness of the environmental impact of apparel manufacturing. Sustainability is key to this trend and consumers of all ages are integrating concerns about the environment into their fashion statements and their decisions about what they will purchase. Read more about outdoor brands with repair, resell & upcycled gear programs.

Research Grab Bag

You can now download the Outdoor Industry Workforce Assessment which looks to identify major trends in workforce hiring and retention, help further educational and up-skilling initiatives, and provide a snapshot of where the industry stands in its efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion. Key findings from the survey include the following:

  • New hires: The industry expects to hire for a high volume of entry and skilled professional positions over the next year.
  • Work/life balance: Outdoor companies are prioritizing flexible work arrangements and work-life balance as attraction and retention strategies ahead of employee benefits and financial rewards.
  • Qualified applicants: 66% of survey respondents report having difficulty finding qualified applicants. The largest barriers to recruiting hard-to-fill jobs are finding qualified applicants, and lack of affordable housing options proximal to the job location.
  • Increasing DEI: Companies who have a diversity plan in place are utilizing a wide variety of methods and tactics to achieve their goals. However, companies that do not currently have a diversity plan in place largely do not plan to implement one or do not know where to start.

If you don’t want to read about it, you can watch our panel discussion about it here.

You can also download the new State of the Outdoor Market report, which shares exclusive insights on participation, consumer trends, and economic and social forces impacting our industry. Key findings from the report include:

  • Outdoor economy: Outdoor recreation accounted for 1.8% of the U.S. GDP in 2021 with $689B in gross output and 4.3M jobs.
  • Increasing diversity: Diversity in age and ethnicity is accelerating in the U.S., but the outdoor participant base is less diverse than the population.
  • Outdoor growth: New participant entries into outdoor recreation are 26% since January 2020. Skateboarding, hiking, kayaking, and surfing had the highest growth rates across outdoor categories.
  • Post-COVID effects: Patterns in how we return to work will affect outdoor participation. Remote work allows many to participate outdoors for the first time, during hours when they would have been in an office or commuting, and across more outdoor activities.
  • Rising inflation: High inflation, 9.1% in June and 8.5% in July, is likely to reduce spending in the outdoor market.
  • Fashion trends: Several fashion trends are currently red hot including “Cottage Core” and “Coastal Grandmother.” Read about and see images related to these and more hot trends that are likely to impact outdoor apparel.