Outdoor brands are purposefully repelling the gorpcore fashion consumer and are instead going back to their pragmatic roots by moving away from lifestyle and fashion-first strategies and towards authentic outdoor performance. Brands with tech heritage are finding value in gatekeeping, and in-the-know consumers are in full support of these reinstated barriers to entry.

For the first time in the category’s history, performance might be going backwards to go forwards. PFAS regulations are stripping out the industry’s foundations, and brands are having to recover lost performance through construction, disassembly and material behaviour. When chemistry is lost, engineering steps up, and smart brands are perfectly primed to see the opportunity.

Eyewear is an emerging and relatively low-cost category segue for brands to explore, making it a lucrative commercial bolster to any outdoor offering. Industry leaders are using eyewear as an exciting innovation canvas, while others mine nostalgia for sartorial street cred. There’s versatile appeal here across a variety of performance categories, as well as for lifestyle consumers.

Rest and restoration are becoming technical categories in themselves as consumers continue to prioritise wellbeing and longevity via intentional recovery. New product releases and technical developments centre meditation, mindfulness and stillness as key components of this trend, while others incorporate versatile and modular elements, tactile textures, and wellness-imbued materials for added benefit.

The outdoor category was built on keeping cold and water out. That’s being inverted. Following a period of record-setting global heatwaves, brands and consumers alike are now experiencing the tangible impact of climate change. Lightweight, cooling, sweat-wicking and UV-protective products have gone from nice-to-have to necessity, and brands are re-interrogating their core offerings to keep up.

Women and girls should be taken seriously as outdoor consumers, but that doesn’t mean they need to look serious. Outdoor enthusiasts are refusing to compromise on playful femininity for pragmatism’s sake, and exciting new market updates indicate a move away from aesthetic-first design and drop-driven hype to a focus on practical performance product that is cute but competent.

From bold, retro colour blocks to sweet print and pattern stories, there’s a new, vibrant sense of play in the market. Additionally, brands are taking dirt into account as a design consideration, embracing it as a badge of honour, while worn and weathered patterns, purposeful discolouration and nature-led camos also appeal. The message is clear: the outdoors are fun, and consumers want to get dirty.

Off-grid lifestyles are not on the outskirts of society anymore, and these cohorts are not necessarily driven by paranoia. Instead, soft survivalism and positive preparedness have become aspirational, with self-sufficient hobbies like gardening, foraging and fishing coming to the fore. Fashion has begun to take notice, but there’s ample opportunity here for brands looking for the next big thing in outdoor.