Design innovation taking center stage at OR Summer

Doing deals, meeting friends and colleagues, developing key relationships among the hundreds of brands you do (and will do) business with, and sharpening your business acumen are some of the reasons you come to OR.  But tapping into the future of Design?  That is a relatively new development at the show, and one that will prove to drive the business into the future.... both by understanding the design sentiment of today's young designers, and by inspiring each other across categories and market segments.  All this is, of course, targeted at attracting the gen Y, millenial and next generation customers to pack their closets and garages with all of the good stuff the industry will produce as we round the corner on the first decade of the millenium. 

The design component of OR has been quietly building for decades, really, which is why over 90 brands at the show are displaying and selling not to retail, but to sourcing and design pros working in the industry for products that will hit retail in 2011-12.  No other show has this combination working, where finished goods meet suppliers in the same venue, at the same time.  This glimpse into the future can inform your business as you constantly evolve your selection to match the customer needs, which are changing as fast as technology can feed them.  Which is very fast, these days.

Paddlesports is a place where innovation in the past decade has spurred development on many fronts, from rudder systems to hull designs to paddle materials and even entire category development, like SUP (Stand-Up Paddle).  Wave Sport is using the design contest platform to unveil winning designs at the show, offering a sweet package to the creator of the top graphic treatment on one of their newest play boat designs.  Check it out Here.

KH

Comments

[chi flat irons]

Thank you! I would now go on this blog every day!

[twitter.com/cascadewebdev]

I know this post is rather old but a friend sent it to me so I thought I would comment.

I really like this infusion of product development into the entire value chain and deliver of outdoor product. Material sourcing, and product design will create better products for sure. I am also a big fan of using web 2.0 to bring the consumer back into the product development process. Social media trends are heading in this direction and some smart people out there are even predicating that the web will play a MAJOR role in what gets produced and what does not. We might be a few years from that but not too far. Think about posting product concepts on the web, then when enough people have said, "i'll buy that if is just did X" then the production kicks in. Interesting stuff.