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FIELD NOTES FROM A FRACTIONAL CMO
At one end is the commercial fisherman wearing gear that smells faintly of diesel fuel, saltwater, and poor decisions made at 3:00am.
At the other end is the man in a beautifully tailored shell jacket that has technically seen weather, but mostly from the parking lot to the restaurant.
Both claim to be outdoorsmen. And somehow, neither is technically wrong.
That is what makes outdoor brands so interesting. Most people insist these purchases are about product quality.
Durability. Waterproofing. Breathability. Weight. Warmth. Fit. Packability. Abrasion resistance. The sacred geometry of layering.
And yes, all of that matters. But it is rarely the whole story.
Patagonia may signal environmental conviction, outdoor credibility, and enough technical seriousness to survive weather that has its own personality.
SITKA signals something different: highly technical hunting systems, specialized performance, and the suspicion that the person wearing it has studied wind direction more carefully than most people study retirement accounts.
REI carries another meaning entirely. It feels broad, accessible, and inviting. Less “elite wilderness operator,” more “you, too, could become the kind of person who owns trekking poles and knows how to use them.”
And then there is Carhartt.
There was a time when Carhartt mostly meant work. Real work. Tractor Supply work. Fence-post work. Cold-morning, truck-starts-on-the-third-try work. If someone wore Carhartt, there was a decent chance they knew how to fix something, haul something, or build something.
Then somehow, the marketers at Carhartt got half of Turtle Creek dressed like they might need to mend a gate before lunch.
That is not a criticism.
That is a masterclass in brand meaning.
The same category can carry very different signals depending on the logo.
Rugged. Technical. Authentic. Premium. Accessible. Hardworking. Fashionable. Serious. Aspirational.
Customers do not encounter brands as blank slates. They place them into mental categories long before they ever test the product.
Those categories shape expectation.
Expectation shapes perceived value.
Perceived value shapes growth.
That is why two jackets with similar technical features can live in completely different places in the customer’s mind.
The best outdoor companies understand both.
They do not simply sell insulation, waterproof membranes, or reinforced seams. They sell preparedness. Competence. Adventure. Taste. Tribe. Escape. Sometimes they sell the quiet hope that owning the right jacket will make the owner slightly more likely to go outside.
And it is not unique to outdoor brands. Every company has some version of this challenge. Businesses describe themselves by what they make. Customers decide based on what the choice means.
That gap is where positioning either creates value or loses it.
Because in most markets, the biggest positioning mistakes do not happen in the product.
They happen in perception.
And perception and reality, as usual, remain committed to living separate lives.
CEO & Founder, Fractional CMO Section
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