Impressions - August/September 2022 - 22

L
et's face it, the cabin-fever isolation of the Covid pandemic
has had us all going stir crazy. So as regulations have
slowly lifted, people are tiptoeing back outside to get fresh
air and pursue healthy activities.
7.1 million more people have recently participated in outdoor activities
than in 2019, according to outdoorindustry.org. Th e outdoor
participation rate - the percent of the population that reported participating
- rose to 52.9% in 2019, the largest one-year jump on record.
In a report by Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, U.S. and States
2020, Americans spend $646 billion on outdoor recreation each year.
And according to wilderness.org, the top 10 outdoor activities are:
running or trail running; biking; camping; fi shing; hunting; hiking;
rafting; birding and photography. Th ere are literally thousands of sub
niches within the outdoor market that lend themselves to decorators
to get a piece of the action.
It's obvious that the outdoor market is a great opportunity for apparel
decorators to capitalize on consumers getting back outside participating
activities involving specifi c apparel. Marj Easterling, owner, Big
Lick Screen Printing, Roanoke, Virginia, for example, has had great
success with an account servicing the staff
and some retail accounts of the Appalachian
Trail. Based in a resort town in the
Blue Ridge Mountains, the shop does
work not only for those aspects of the account but also for volunteers.
" Th e Appalachian Trail organization has an offi ce here in Roanoke, "
Easterling says. " And obviously they try to support local businesses
and that's kind of what our shop is known for - helping out other
local businesses and promoting small business in general. An executive
contacted me, and we worked with him and his staff and just did our
best to take care of them. "
As far as design themes, the Trail folks supply a basic idea with the
logo and Easterling comes up with the shirt design. " We primarily do
screen printing, " she says. " Th ey have a diff erent design every year and
some of them have been really interesting. Th eir shirts have artwork
on the back and left chest that indicates what division it is as far as the
volunteers taking care of the trails. Th ere are diff erent trail crews that go
out and maintain the Appalachian Trail. Most people have an idea that
they'll bring me and I'll clean it up or add whatever they want to it. "
We also are known for other work, " she adds. " Roanoke has the
largest manmade star at the top of the mountain, and it attracts people
from all over the country. We have shirts in some of the boutiques
on the town square, and our most popular shirt is the Roanoke Starry
Night. Th e Roanoke star is in the skyline on the mountain view part
of the design. "
Big Lick also has accounts with several area camps and outdoor
festivals as well. " We're up in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Appalachians
right off the parkway so our area is known for outdoor
tourism, " Easterling says. " We do tons and tons of mountain view
designs. We also have a lot of biking, walking, backpacking, and
hiking here as well. "
Right
The Mega Run at Barnwell Mountain in
Gilmer, Texas, is a competition that features
rock crawling, time trials, an obstacle course,
flat rock crawling and more. The event has
several apparel designs available each year.
Photo courtesy of Emily Suhadolnik.
Build new revenue streams
by servicing the great outdoors.
By Marcia Derryberry,
Contributing Writer
P.22
IMPRESSIONSMAG.COM AUG./SEPT. 2022
http://www.outdoorindustry.org http://www.wilderness.org http://www.IMPRESSIONSMAG.COM
Impressions - August/September 2022

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