All articles by Charles Ross – Page 4
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OpinionProduct design in the outdoor industry – where to start
Charles Ross’ resume of more than 25 years blends work with outdoor brands, teaching roles on fashion and sportswear design courses at various universities, and his own love of all-things performance fabric related. He is therefore the ideal person to answer the question: How can we improve the future of ...
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OpinionTrade shows: “Sometimes the value cannot be beaten”
After OTS in the UK, Charles Ross still sees value in trade shows. The best bring leadership, collaboration and are moving with the Industry.
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OpinionWhat makes the perfect industry award jury?
A long-standing member of many award committees in the outdoor industry world, Charles Ross explains what makes a good industry award jury
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ArticleStepping up to the plate: How the outdoor industry is taking responsibility seriously
Our functional fabric expert Charles Ross is convinced that even though incoming legislation like the EU Green Deal and Prop 65 and the forthcoming New York Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act in the U.S. are forcing many changes in how the Outdoor Industry conducts business, there is also a ...
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OpinionEarth Day: For hippies, greenwashing, or a real opportunity for brands?
With many brands marking the occasion, will Earth Day become just another gimmick? Our expert shares how brands can meaningfully take part.
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ArticleThe British gather at two outdoor events ahead of sales season
The Outdoor Industries Association (OIA) had its annual meet-up in Tamworth, U.K., last week, following its AGM in Sheffield last October. Andrew Denton, the CEO of OIA, brought the event back to its spring timing, meaning it took place just days before the National Outdoor Expo opened at the nearby ...
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ArticlePerformance Days enjoys big league status
The major European ingredient sourcing show for the sports industry, Performance Days, has been constantly growing since it started 15 years ago. Just before the Covid-related lockdowns, it transferred to its new venue, Messe Munich, to meet the demand for an even larger exhibition area. This season’s Functional Fabric Fair ...
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ArticleWhat can we expect at the next Performance Days?
Our fabric expert Charles Ross discusses the main trends and issues likely to affect the content of the next Performance Days in Munich.
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OpinionSustainability Reports: Greenwashing, job creating, or doing good?
For those who want to find them, outdoor brands are now producing reports about their impacts. Just like a business has to produce its company accounts on a regular basis to demonstrate that they are operating legitimately, there is now a push for more than just profit-and-loss financial figures. Fortunately, ...
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ArticleReview: Slide/OTS Winter 2023
With the flip of ISPO to before Christmas and much nearer the opening of the Fall/Winter 23/24 buying window, the British show acted more as a way to wrap up order-taking for retailers. ISPO also was reorganized to have Hall B2 as the center of conversations and thinking. Munich saw ...
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OpinionOpinion: A Rab solution for the non-perfect world of CSR impact ratings?
Rab (the U.K. outdoor brand owned by Equip Outdoor Technologies) has announced it is introducing an agnostic rating system on its product in the hope that it will persuade others to use something similar so that the public image of the industry is more consistent with what the public wants ...
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ArticleDaring to think de-growth in the textile industry
Over-consumption can’t go on, but does de-growth have to equal financial losses in the textile industry? Charles Ross explores alternatives.
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ArticleThe place to be for fabric geeks: Performance Days (and the Functional Fabric Fair)
With ISPO moving forward to the slot in the calendar that the ingredient-sourcing exhibitions of the outdoor and sports industries had, those shows have come forward too. Last week was the Functional Fabric Fair (FFF; the U.S. version), and at the end of this week will be the original show: ...
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OpinionOpinion: DeGrowth is not about the companies – it is the user
A report inspired by both the European Outdoor Summit in Annecy and the Blue Earth Summit in Bristol.
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ArticleOur future post COP 26
Strong in the memory is Cop 26, the gathering of the great and the good in taking on the Climate Crisis emergency. The event in Glasgow in November 2021 built on the previous work. It especially concentrated on creating better finance (specifically getting investments out of fossil fuel-associated industries in favor of renewables). November sees COP 27, hosted in Egypt, and then there is COP 15 a month later.
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ArticleOpening up the Outdoors: A report from the Outdoor Industries Association’s annual gathering
The British trade body’s Annual General Meeting has been a great indicator of its national waymarks: it marked the speech from the Prime Minister about putting the country into lockdown, it was the first gathering I attended post lockdown, while this week, it marked the death of the monarch – ...
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OpinionSponsorship: Perhaps this is how it can be most effective?
Sponsorship can take place in a wide variety of forms, but should usually pay off in terms of marketing targets. Charles Ross shares what he sees as missed sponsorship opportunities in the Outdoor industry, and which have had unexpected success. He also illustrates that doing the right thing can be all that matters.
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OpinionOpinion: Is it all just Greenwashing? Criticism of sustainability data threatens industry improvement
Last month the Norwegian Consumer Authority (NCA) challenged Norrøna regarding “misleading environmental claims” as a result of the brand’s use of outfacing information from one of the modules included in the Higg Index. The challenge was based on the fact that the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) had included older data ...
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OpinionOpinion: What place do trade shows have in the future of the Outdoor community?
As the debrief from the re-connection of the industry at OutDoor by ISPO continues, those responsible for the marketing budgets are debating whether the gatherings are still the best investment of resources. For those who did not make it to the Munich Order Center – you missed the energy and ...
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OpinionThe Journey to Carbon Neutrality: The detail of the future for outdoor industry ingredients
Exhibitions need something to get people to turn up in person now that we have all lived in the virtual world of Zoom and Teams; fortunately, the Outdoor Industry is focused on apparel, and there is nothing stronger than getting to handle the garment / see the finish / try ...
