Outdoor: Did you hear?…

>> In The News:Sally Jewell, the incoming CEO at REI once told her boss at a bank, who had instructed her to lose her computer (that’s what secretaries were for) and start driving an American car (she drove a Honda to save the company money), that there was no way she’d drive a “marshmallow car for any company.” Adding an exclamation point, she ensured that in short order all executives at the bank were toting laptops. Read more about Jewell by clicking on the Puget Sound Business Journal story.

>> In The News: Berniece Thayer lost her husband of eight months to a fall on Mount McKinley in 1954. Mountaineering history buffs will recognize the last name as that of Elton Thayer, the park ranger who led an expedition that became the first to ascend and descend McKinley by different routes. Unfortunately, Thayer was killed in a fall on the descent. Berniece, who sewed the tents and baked special bread for the expedition, returned to the mountain on the fiftieth anniversary. The Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal offers wonderful insight into a truly remarkable woman. Click here to read.

>> Can you think of something you would rather do than spend 16 hours with an attorney who specializes in the laws that affect your business? We knew you couldn’t! Jim Moss, our new editor of the Law Review — launching August 1 at snewsnet.com/lawreview — will be presenting a two-day seminar October 26 and 27, 2004, on Outdoor Recreation and Adventure Travel law. Seminar attendees will have the opportunity to learn from an expert and have your questions answered on topics such as: defenses to lawsuits, releases, assumption of risk, risk management planning, retail and rental operations, dealing with emergencies, and a host of other topics essential to keeping your business free from legal entanglements. The conference will present the opportunity to review your operation and answer your questions as well as gather new ideas. In addition, participants will receive a copy of Moss’s new textbook, Outdoor Recreation, Risk Management, Insurance and Law, a copy of his book Outdoor Recreation Forms on disk as well as a one-year subscription to the Law Review, formerly the Law Quarterly. The seminar will be held in conjunction with the International Conference on Outdoor Recreation and Education. The ICORE conference will be held at the Montgomery Bell State Park, Tennessee, (Less than 1 hr. West of Nashville). For more information on the seminar, fire an email to Outdoorlaw@earthlink.net or phone 303-807-2275. For more information on the Law Review, contact Moss at LawReview@snewsnet.com.

>> The Anchor Replacement Initiative (ARI), a program coordinated by Climbing and sponsored by The North Face and Petzl to replace worn and inappropriate fixed hardware at climbing areas nationwide, has added Kurt Smith, Eric Horst and Rusty Baillie to the ARI volunteer ranks. The three will be upgrading routes in their respective backyards. The ARI, launched in 2003, continues to expand into new areas and will supply hardware to qualified volunteers interested in making the fixed hardware in their area safer for the climbing community.

>> Don’t even think of trying to modify your company’s established privacy policy without first notifying your customers that you plan to make a change. That’s the message from the Federal Trade Commission this month as it agreed to a settlement with Gateway Learning Company. The FTC brought federal charges against Gateway for renting names and contact information to target marketers, despite the fact the company’s privacy policy states explicitly that contact information is kept strictly protected and private. The FTC charged that, after collecting consumers’ information, Gateway Learning changed its privacy policy to allow it to share the information with third parties without notifying consumers or getting their consent. This is the first FTC case to challenge deceptive and unfair practices in connection with a company’s material change to its privacy policy. The proposed settlement bars Gateway Learning from making deceptive claims about how it will use consumers’ information and from applying material changes in its privacy policy retroactively, without consumers’ consent. It also requires that the company give up $4,600 it earned from renting the data.

>> Deuter has been awarded the Parenting Seal of Approval by Parenting Magazine for the company’s Kid Comfort I child carrier. Another carrier, The Kanga Kid convertible backpack, recently received a glowing full-page review in Parenting as well as mentions in Sierra Magazine, Business Week and American Park Network Journals.

>> High Sierra Sport sent us a news release touting the fact the company had garnered a recognition as the “Best of the Best” for consumer picks on eBags.com, an online retailer of bags and accessories. High Sierra has eight products that are listed with superb consumer satisfaction on the e-commerce site. The Best of the Best award is chosen by eBags.com customers who have provided unbiased ratings of the products that they have purchased — and eBags has a lot of customers and a lot of product. According to eBags.com the etailer has sold more than three million bags that include 200 brands and 10,000 products. For a product to receive the eBags.com designation, the overall rating for the model must be 9 or above out of 10, indicating that 90 percent or more of the product’s customers have stated they would buy the product again. A quick check by the SNEWS® team of the eBags.com site revealed that The North Face, Mountainsmith, JanSport and Timberland have all garnered multiple “Best of the Best” recognition.

>> The Professional Paddlesports Association (PPA) presented the first annual Paddlesports Industry Safety Awards on April 17. Awards went to Extrasport (a division of Johnson Outdoors) for Outstanding Contributions to Paddling Equipment Safety and retailer Rutabaga Paddlesports for Outstanding Contributions to Safety Promotion and Education. The awards were presented during a special reception at the 2004 Paddlesports Industry Safety Summit in Panama City Beach, Fla. For more information on PPA and the Safety Summit click on www.propaddle.com.

>> Indigo Equipment has named John Juraschek as the company’s new southeastern sales rep for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida. He brings 15 years of for-profit and nonprofit outdoor industry experience to his new post, including previous jobs as National Sales Manager of Sterling Rope and Executive Director of both the Colorado Mountain Club and the Access Fund.

>> UNITED KINGDOM — Montrail has established an agreement with Beta Climbing Designs to become the company’s new sales representative for the United Kingdom and Ireland, beginning on August 15, 2004. Beta Climbing Designs will take over all Montrail sales and service from Lyon Equipment Ltd. The team of Simon Berry and Ian Barnes of Beta Climbing Designs will assume the role of official sales agents for Montrail UK. Neil Bentley will also join the team this summer to head up marketing and promotions for climbing, running and endurance racing. Beta Climbing Designs — www.betaclimbingdesigns.com — distributes a wide variety of climbing products, including Italian apparel line E9, Canadian apparel line Flashed Climbing, as well as accessories of their own brand and design.

>> SWITZERLAND — Switzerland’s Schoeller Textil AG has opened a new sales office in the International Textile Center near Istanbul. Schoeller Turkey Ltd. now gives the Swiss company the ability to act quickly in Turkey, known to be one of the largest textile suppliers in the world. The new office will primarily represent Schoeller Switzerland’s premium fabric collection and develop finishing capabilities for Schoeller technologies, such as 3XDRY®. According to Schoeller, Turkey has exports of just under $15.4 billion and, as a country, is occupying an increasingly significant role as a producer in the textile and apparel industry. Sixty-two percent of the exports — an estimated $9.6 billion — go to Europe in sportswear, casual wear, ladies outerwear, menswear, domestic textiles and socks. Almost 12 percent or $1.8 billion of the goods are exported to the U. S., with the remaining percentage, valued at $4 billion, exported to other countries around the world.

>> Mark Pate has left the Watermark building. Just over a year after moving into the role of vice president of marketing for all of Watermark’s brands, following the March 2003 layoff of Dean Hart, Pate has decided in favor of family and resigned his position effective July 9. Pate told SNEWS® his decision was very difficult as he loved his job, but it came down to the fact he loved is family much, much more. “Everyone has been very gracious here. It was very tough, but leaving is the right decision. Putting family first is so important because you can’t go back and grab your family life down the road,” Pate told us. “You never hear a person on the death bed say ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.'” Mike Steck, director of marketing for Watermark, will be filling Pate’s shoes temporarily as the company looks for a suitable replacement. Those wishing to stay in touch with Pate can contact him at his personal email: markpate55@aol.com.