Outdoor Industry

Buckle Up, Bro: A Dispatch From the Outdoor Retailer Show

By Alex Strickland, 8-04-10

	"Strong, sexy, cheap." Photo by Alex Strickland.

Yesterday kicked off the bi-annual gathering of Gore-Tex and three-day beards at the Outdoor Retailer Show, Summer edition, in Salt Lake City. Every conceivable outdoor gear manufacturer – and accompanying sandal-clad sales rep – has filled the downtown Salt Palace for four days of showing off the latest and greatest gear, facilitating a sort of speed dating between suppliers and designers.

Despite the still sputtering national economy, the fluorescent colors of acres of recreational clothing and equipment here show none of the struggles that most sectors continue to report. The Outdoor Industry Association says that the combined economic impact of hemp shoes, climbing rope, backpacking tents and the rest add up to $730 million annually.

It’s not all shiny kayaks and nylon – though it is a lot of that.  Tucked away in the corners of the hall, away from the two-story (!) Arc’Teryx booth and the Powerbar samples, are the people who really make the gear tick.

John Pontaoe works for ITW Nexus Global, a company name that could easily front for a global finance consortium or a hot dog supplier. The product design engineer works in ITW’s plastic buckles division, ensuring that the hip belt on your day pack not only closes with a satisfying click, but looks like Angelina Jolie’s cheek bones while doing it.

“We try to make buckles that fit into this triangle,” he tells me as his hands form a perfect rectangle. “Strong, sexy, cheap.”

Pontaoe says he migrated from the automobile industry because outdoor product designers were limited by the boring square buckles that festooned their packs, bags and straps. Now, the dozens of fasteners on display have rounded enclosures or chiseled angles that look more at home on a BMW than a knapsack. 

It’s hard to get all “yeah, brah”-y about buckles, which is why I presume the company’s booth was next to United Knitting and Lycra. But if you peeked around the corner, there was waterproof, synthetic, double-strength gnar stretching out practically to the horizon line. It only makes sense that a buckle in the shape of a manta ray holds it all together.

Alex Strickland is a freelance writer in Utah. He’ll be sending reports from Outdoor Retailer all week.

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