The North Face Turnaround, Lululemon’s Feud, & Shein Buys Everlane
5/25/202622 min
In this episode of Outdoor Unfiltered, host Eoin Comerford pulls back the curtain on major shifts hitting the outdoor and apparel markets. We analyze the 4-year financial trajectory of The North Face, look past the personality drama at Lululemon, and deliver a sobering wake-up call to outdoor brands relying too heavily on sustainability as their primary differentiator.
Timestamps:
- 00:00 – Podcast Intro and Host Overview
- 00:36 – The Unfiltered Upside: Inside The North Face's Q4 and Fiscal 2026 Turnaround Metrics
- 01:50 – Product Assortment and "Me-Too" Traps: How TNF Hit a Wall in 2023
- 02:30 – Analyzing VF Investor Day: Category Consolidation and Brand Centering
- 03:15 – Premiumization, Luxury Collaborations, and Rising Price Points
- 04:00 – Performance vs. Performance-Inspired: Navigating Cultural Relevancy
- 04:45 – Product Franchise Management: The Proliferation of Denali and Nuptse Variations
- 05:40 – Modernizing Marketing: Reviewing the "Never Just a Hike" Campaign
- 06:54 – Commercial Break: ENDVR
- 07:42 – The Lululemon Spat: Is Chip Wilson Actually Right?
- 08:35 – Stock Peaks and Product Execution: What the Street is Saying About Lululemon
- 09:12 – The Rise of Alo and Vuori: Has Lululemon Abandoned Its Playbook?
- 09:50 – Commercial Break: Crux Retail
- 10:44 – The Anti-Shein No More: Shein Acquires Everlane
- 11:34 – The History of Everlane and the Trap of the "Middle Ground"
- 12:20 – The Sincerity Crisis: Is Sustainability a Primary Driver or Just Table Stakes?
- 12:45 – The Cautionary Tale of Allbirds
- 13:30 – The 4 Critical Takeaways for Outdoor Brands in a Trend-Driven Market
Connect With Us:
We would love to hear your thoughts on the show, inside intel, guest ideas, sponsorship inquiries, or whatever's on your mind.
- Email Us: outdoorunfilteredpodcast@gmail.com
- Connect with Eoin Comerford on LinkedIn: Eoin's Profile
Our Sponsors:
- ENDVR – The network that connects brands, retailers, and frontline associates to power sell-through across your wholesale channel. Visit www.endvr.io to claim your free starter credits.
- Crux Retail – Creating bold retail fixtures and custom displays for bold outdoor brands. Book your discovery call today at www.crux-retail.com.
Outdoor Unfiltered is a production of Rock Fight LLC.
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsEoin Comerford· Host0:00
Welcome to Outdoor Unfiltered. Today, we'll be covering what's driving the turnaround at The North Face, whether Chip Wilson may have a point about Lululemon, and what Everlane's sale to Shein means for the outdoor industry. This is Outdoor Unfiltered, where we dig beyond the PR speak to see what's really going on in the outdoor industry. Not just what happened, but why it happened and why it matters. I'm Owen Comerford, a former CEO, advisor to outdoor brands, and consigliere to The Rock Light. Okay, let's get into it. So for the first time, our lead story is also our unfiltered upside, and that is The North Face is back, baby. Yeah. So for the quarter that just ended on March thirty-first, they posted a constant currency comp of a seven percent overall and sixteen percent in the Americas, which is really pretty impressive for a brand their size. By the way, all these comps are always gonna be constant currency. It just makes everything easier from a comparative perspective. So for the VF fiscal year, which runs April through March, they're actually up five percent and, and that's actually their, their fiscal twenty-twenty six just ended. I know it's a little confusing, but stick with me. So given those results, I wanted to take a deep dive into The North Face. How did we get here? What was the turnaround plan that they announced last year, and how are they doing? Okay, so