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The Outdoor Biz Podcast


May 24, 2018

Chris tells us how they’ve built a great brand up in Portland, OR. We talk about the inspiration for TREW, launching a brand with one item and some of the challenges and successes along the way.

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Show Notes

First Exposure to the Outdoors

I think like a lot of people I just grew up doing this stuff and the happiest memories I have are being outdoors. I was lucky to have parents that love to go outdoors. My Dad particularly loves to ski and so we just skied a lot. I think I skied when I was two and a half with one of those leashes or whatever. There's pictures of us just kind of harnessed in. And I remember the first memories of skiing or just following Dad around. He's got like a backpack full of candy and that's like, all it took.

And since then we've done a lot of backpacking. I think anyone in outdoor industry it's why we do this. It's just the place where you can really relax, so yeah, that's the first connection. It's the place where we're all at peace.

Things we talked about

TREW gear

Bonfire

Burton

Arcteryx

Vietnam Factories

Bangladesh Factories

The Northwest Avalanche Center

Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center

Advice, tips

I think about the best employees we've ever had, which are everyone that we have now and these people are just so hungry to learn. They're humble and I think that attitude, you know, when you start working, especially at a small company. I think it's got to translate to a big company too. If you approach your job as I'm just always wanting to do more and learn new things. I never have the conversation with our employees, no one ever comes to me and says, Hey uh, this doesn't fit my job description so I don't, I'm not gonna do this. Everyone just wants to bring more onto their plate because they can learn more. I think that's the most valuable thing for employees. And I would hire anybody even if they didn't have any experience, if I could tell that they had that real drive to improve themselves and learn more.

Other Outdoor Activities

Backpacking

Cycling

Favorite Books

Peter Drucker books

Search Inside Yourself by Chade Meng Tan

Best Gear Purchase under $100

Outdoor Research Meteor Mitts

Connect with Chris 

chris@trewgear.com