285 – Adventure Expo 2024 Industry Interviews pt2
Show notes
Every year Australian Hiker touches base with suppliers, importers and manufacturers of hiking equipment to find out what new and exciting products are on the market and well as to see how the industry is trending.
This year the Expo was held in Melbourne over two days and provided a chance to catch up with suppliers face to face and to talk about the new gear and get up close and hands on. In addition we also caught up with a number of suppliers remotely as well as attending a travelling road show the week after.
In this our second episode of this series we finish up with our supplier interviews, talk about some great new product that’s coming onto the market and then go onto some notable trends in the hiking and outdoor industry.
To get the best from this episode go to the Australian Hiker website on our episode page and go to the show notes to see images of what we are talking about in this podcast.
Podcast overview
Podcast introduction
- Episode Introduction (time index 0:01:32)
- Smartwool (time index 0:02:31)
- Interview with Adrian from Outdoor Agencies
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- Who/What is Smartwool
- A sock for every occasion
- Not just a sock manufacturer
- Base layers
- Mid layers
- Running apparel
- Why is Smartwool so good?
- Thin or thick socks?
- Long or short sock?
- Recycling program
- Environmentally friendly farming practice for the wool
- ‘Second Cut’
- US based, customers can drop off any socks for recycling
- ‘Second cut’ socks will be on sale in Australia later in 2024
- The second cut program will come to Australia in the second half of 2024
- US based, customers can drop off any socks for recycling
- Where to next for Smartwool
- New Compression socks
- www.smartwool.com.au to launch sometime in 2024
- Who/What is Smartwool
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- Interview with Adrian from Outdoor Agencies
- Kuhl (time index 0:20:46)
- A brief overview of the brand
- Tim’s overview of Smartwool and Kohl
- Nemo (time index 0:29:43)
- Interview with Zenon from Outdoor Agencies
- New Product
- Nemo Moonlite Elite Camping Chair
- Nemo Mayfly Osmo Tent
- Nemo Sleeping bags
- Disco
- Riff
- Nemo Tensor sleeping mats (time index 0:44:05)
- Tensor Extreme
- Tensor All Season
- Tensor Trail
- Nemo’s commitment to sustainability
- New Product
- Tim overview
- Interview with Zenon from Outdoor Agencies
- Off Grid (time index 1:00:44)
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- Interview with James from Offgrid
- What is OffGrid?
- Australian company
- Makes a range of outdoor provisions
- Fresh food NOT freeze-dried or dehydrated
- Natural ingredients
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Supports local provider over 70% ingredients wholly Australian
- Tensor All Season
- Fire Sticks
- Spicy/Non spicy versions
- “Adventure feed should be food you want to eat”
- What is OffGrid?
- Interview with James from Offgrid
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-
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- Tim interview summary
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- Things to keep an eye out for (time index 1:06:24)
- Sea to Summit updated sleeping bag range
- Spark Pro New Bag!
- Sea to Summit One pot Cook set
- Black Diamond packs
- Beta Light Packs
- Gruezi Sleeping bags
- Rainbird Rain Gear new colours and pattern
- Klymit sleeping mats
- Flextail Ultralight Electric Gear for outdoors
- Sea to Summit updated sleeping bag range
- Future of the Hiking industry (Gear) (time index 1:17:26)
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- Things that we have noted over the past year
- Smaller companies being consumed by large conglomerates
- Many companies moving to a 2 year upgrade cycle rather than annually
- Most companies are increasing their environmental sustainability in a number of different ways
- Outdoor meals!
- Wool, wool and more wool
- Things that we have noted over the past year
-
Close (time index 1:28:36)
Smartwool Images
Smartwool Run Compression Over The Calf Socks. I’ve always been keen to try out compression socks on hikes to see if they make a difference to leg soreness after a long day
Smartwool second cut program, bringing life to old socks by recycling the material
Smartwool Run Targeted Cushion Mid Crew Mens Socks my current sock of choice
Kuhl
Kuhl Radikl Mens Pants. My pant of choice for the last 5 years
Nemo images
Nemo Moonlite Elite in Goodnight Gray colour
Nemo Moonlite Elite in Citron colour showing reclining ability
Nemo Mayfly Osmo Tent
Nemo Disco Sleeping Bags
Nemo Riff Sleeping Bags
Nemo Tensor Extreme
Nemo Tensor All Season
Nemo Tensor Trail
Offgrid
Offgrid Goat Curry
Offgrid Not Butter Chicken without the butter, hence the name
Offgrid Salami Original Blend
Offgrid Salami Chilli Blend for those who love a bit of spice
Offgrid Salami in open packet
Offgrid Seasoning Range
Offgrid Chocolate Range
Things to keep an eye out for!
New range of Sea to Summit Sleeping bags. Apart from cosmetic and feature changes they are simplifying the names based on comfort ratings to make it easier to compare the bag range. In this case this is the Spark 7 degree Celsius bag
The Spark Pro, a new high end bag that uses 950+ Fill power down that makes for a toasty warm, compact and lightweight bag
Sea to Summit Collapsable One Pot Cook Set for hikers and campers alike
Black Diamond
Black Diamond Betalight 45 Litre pack. Black Diamonds ultralight pack that comes in a 45 litre and a 30 litre size
Gruezi Sleeping bags
Gruezi Sleeping bags that use a combination of wool and down
Rainbird
Rainbird Stowaway Men’s jacket in Fluoro Yellow, you won’t be missed
Rainbird is bring out new patterns in their women’s rain gear. Who says that you can’t be stylish!
Klymit sleeping Mats
Just some of the large range of Klymit Sleeping Mats
Flextail
Flextail produce a range of very tiny electronics suitable for both hiking and camping. The above ‘Zero Pump’ is sold as the worlds smallest sleeping pad pump and weights in at 1.2 ounces (34 grams and will inflate at 180 litres/minute. they also produce a range of miniature lighting and insect repellant products. expect to see this range more commonly on the Australian market in the coming year
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