This Week in The B.O.S.S. Report

... I spoke with Alan Yiu, the co-founder of Westcomb. Like most of the company founders, CEO's and presidents I speak with in the outdoor industry, he's a bright, and very driven individual. He's also doing something very different with his brand. Here are some excerpts:

When we started, we really noticed that a lot of the top brands were, I don’t want to say compromising, but they weren’t using the fabric technology that was available to them. So, I guess there’s no way around it, they were compromising their technology. So, we made a point of partnering with the top materials innovators to make sure our fabrics really perform...

...being different and taking risks, we have to do that all of the time, because right now there are a lot of people asking, ‘what are you all about?’ If we can’t answer that then we can’t win them over....

People ask me, “Why would you forgo sales over image?” Well, once your image
is gone, that’s it...

Also this week,

o Backcountry Base Camp shows promise in 2007.
o Urban Climber parent company acquires Climbing magazine.
o Conservation Alliance ad auction sees early success.
o OIA challenges industry to travel green.
o NJ Rock Gym wins amusement lawsuit.
o Garmin has a busy first week in 2007.
o West Marine Q4 comps slip.
o Zumiez December comps increase 11.5%.

LINK