Switchback Spring, June 16-18, 2026 in New Orleans, LA
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Switchback at TRE, December 1-3, 2026 in San Antonio, TX
Step onto the floor of an outdoor specialty shop and the conversation is almost always about the gear: the grip of an outsole, the fit of a pack, or the breathability of a shell. The story of how that gear was made—and the environmental commitment behind it—is a conversation that can get lost behind the product specs.
The issue is rarely a lack of interest, but a lack of visibility. On a busy shop floor, sustainability often feels like a footnote rather than a feature. Even when a shopper walks in with a desire to support responsible brands, that intention can often remain in the background if the topic isn’t brought up during the sales pitch.
Some in the outdoor industry want to bring that responsibility to the foreground by raising the profile of sustainability right on the sales floor. The goal isn’t to lecture the customer, but to make a brand’s responsibility story a natural part of the conversation. To close this gap, sustainability consultants like Rick Crawford and Alex Lauver are working across the supply chain, consulting with brands, reps, and retailers to convert complex data into simple, honest shop-floor dialogue that ensures industry values are just as prominent as the gear on the shelves.
“What we’re really trying to do is create a shared language,” says Crawford, founder of Emerger Strategies. “It’s about making sure that the brand, the rep, and the retailer are all speaking the same tongue, so the customer doesn’t get a mixed message.”
This effort to bring environmental values to the floor comes at a moment when the conversation has begun to lose its “buzzy” momentum. Roughly three-quarters of all outdoor consumers care about sustainability, according to the Outdoor Industry Association’s 2026 Outdoor Retail Trends Report. However, there’s a big difference between a customer valuing a brand’s ethics and that same customer bringing it up while trying on shoes. On the sales floor, these deeper stories are often sidelined for several reasons, one of which is that shoppers are hyper-focused on price and function.
Data from McKinsey & Company show that when customers encounter a 20% to 30% price hike on technical apparel, they enter a “survivalist” mindset in which durability and immediate utility take precedence over long-term values.
“When a customer comes in, they’re looking for fit, they’re looking for function, and they’re looking for price. If you can’t hit those three things, it doesn’t matter how sustainable the product is,” says Bryan Wolf, co-owner of Roads, Rivers and Trails (RRT), an outdoor specialty store in Milford, OH.
As consumers focus on practical concerns, sustainability is also losing some of the prominence it enjoyed for years. As the topic moves from a novel headline to a standard (and often complex) business requirement, it has become harder to keep it at the center of the conversation.
“I think we’re seeing the veneer of sustainability start to rust a little,” says Lauver, owner of Douglas Strategies. He observes that the subject’s high-profile status is facing a reality check amid mounting industry pressures, adding, “It’s a harder political and economic climate.”
To deal with these challenges, Crawford and Lauver aim to shift sustainability from an abstract concept to a concrete sales pitch. They urge retailers to position sustainability as a performance feature rather than just an ethical consideration. When salespeople highlight product attributes, environmental impact can be presented alongside other technical characteristics. For instance, if a jacket’s waterproof rating is essential, its absence of “forever chemicals” should be framed as a safety and performance advantage.
Crawford and Lauver advise RRT, whose salespeople incorporate sustainable messaging into their customer interactions. “We try to talk about it just like any other technical spec of a piece of gear,” says Wolf. “We’re talking about the waterproofness and the breathability and the sustainability specs.” When integrated this way, a product’s responsibility story becomes just as easy for a customer to digest as its weight or durability.
However, knowing what to say is only half the battle; knowing when to say it is equally critical. The RRT staff treats sustainability as an ongoing conversation, not a script, and gauges each shopper’s interest before sharing the back story of a product or brand. “You have to feel them out and see how they react,” says Wolf. “You could easily overwhelm a customer with tech specs, and you could do the same with sustainability. So, we have to take it on a case-by-case basis.” This selective approach keeps information useful, engaging, and improves the customer’s experience when relevant.
Even with the right timing, the message itself can pose difficulties. Customers may disengage if salespeople delve too deeply into complicated topics such as carbon offsets or circularity metrics. Crawford advises retailers to create concise, 20-second sustainability pitches. “Complex scientific concepts need to be simplified—think fourth-grade reading level,” says Crawford. “Otherwise, you risk losing your audience.”
Translating intricate brand narratives into punchy, 20-second elevator pitches requires a messenger who sits right at the intersection of production and sales—a role the sales rep is naturally positioned to fill. For Crawford and Lauver, the rep is the essential conduit for this information, acting as a primary source of truth who carries simplified data from the brand directly to the retailer. However, they recognize that this bridge is currently under construction. “It’s a huge opportunity that’s not being utilized right now,” Crawford notes. “We’re just starting to have those dialogues about how the rep can take these complex brand stories and help the retailer turn them into a quick elevator pitch.”
Lauver agrees that while the industry is just starting to build this bridge, the rep’s role is shifting from traditional transactions to educational partnerships. “Brands are starting to realize that reps can coach floor staff to speak consistently,” he says.
This shift toward coaching is already a reality at RRT, where the relationship with brand reps goes far beyond basic product training. “We really lean on our reps to be that primary source of truth,” Wolf says. “When they come in for a clinic, we don’t just want to know about the zippers and the pockets; we want them to help us develop those 20-second soundbites for the customer.”
To guarantee the message is consistent even when a rep isn’t in the building, the store reinforces these dialogues through its own clinics. “We also do our own sustainability training,” Wolf explains. “If our staff doesn’t feel comfortable explaining why a product is better for the planet, they’re just going to stick to talking about how many liters the backpack holds.”
For RRT, improving the sales pitch is just one part of wider industry accountability. To ensure that the store’s brands and products align with its values, RRT conducts internal audits of suppliers to verify sustainability claims. By asking direct questions about supply chain transparency and materials, Wolf ensures staff can confidently support every soundbite shared with customers.
However, Wolf recognizes that a single shop’s efforts can only go so far in the outdoor industry. Wolf shares RRT’s internal auditing methods with other retailers to encourage them to adopt the same level of scrutiny. Through this outreach, he hopes to get more stores to engage with manufacturers consistently, sending a unified signal to brands that sustainability isn’t just a niche interest but a core business requirement. “As retailers, we have the collective power to signal to brands that these values are what our customers—and our businesses—require to thrive,” says Wolf.
When retailers use that collective power to align with brand partners, it creates a rare opportunity for the entire industry to pull in the same direction. As brands, reps, and retailers work together to simplify these environmental stories, they do more than highlight product features; they signal to consumers that protecting the outdoors isn’t just a marketing footnote but a core industry principle.
Don’t miss the Switchback Spring session, “Selling What Matters: Using Sustainability to Elevate the Customer Experience,” featuring Rick Crawford and Alex Lauver. They’ll discuss practical ways retailers can turn sustainability into a sales advantage.
To learn more about RRT’s supplier audit process, contact Bryan Wolf at [email protected].
Click here to register and attend Switchback Spring this June 16-18 in New Orleans, LA.
