Fall 2019 - Inside Outdoor Magazine

Inside Outdoor | FALL 2019 45 On September 26, Superfeet, a 100-percent employee-owned company, hosted its second annual Giving Fair putting a portion of the organization’s giving decision in the hands of its employee-owners. Last year employee-owners collectively donated $65,000 to causes near and dear to their hearts. This year Superfeet is doubling each person’s giving power, with every one of their 140 employee-owners receiving $1,000 cash to direct to causes im- portant to them. “The Superfeet team is comprised of individuals who believe a healthy, happy community is more important than a number on a balance sheet, and they’re proud to make decisions that will impact the direction of the business, including how and where our philanthropic efforts are used,” said Annie Quammen, director of hu- man resources. The Giving Fair is funded by Su- perfeet’s 1% giving program, with 1 percent of consumer purchases earmarked for organizations that help shape a healthy future for themselves and their communities. Outdoor legacy brands Merrell and Stormy Kromer have partnered on a co-branded capsule collection. The Merrell X Stormy Kromer capsule col- lection features waxed canvas and a custom plaid, showcased on men’s, women’s and kid’s footwear, as well as a men’s and women’s jacket and a classic Stormy Kromer cap. “Our partnership with our friends up north at Stormy Kromer is a special one,” said Chris Hufnagel, president of Merrell. “Together, we’re celebrating our home here in Michi- gan, as well as our shared love of the outdoors. We’re excited to bring this capsule collection to life just in time for the fall and winter seasons.” Superfeet Doubles-Down on Employee-Owner Giving Black Diamond Equipment re- cently announced new testing pro- tocols for its lighting category. In collaboration with other headlamp manufacturers and retailers, the working committee established an additional metric for “end of battery life.” This metric, called “Reserve,” provides an opportunity to re-define the threshold cutoff and coincides with the Moonlight Standard from 2002, said the company. “Specifically, we added to our ‘Moonlight Standard,’ used as a refer- ence for testing lighting by the Ameri- can National Standard Institute (ANSI),” said Joe Skrivan, technical director for Black Diamond’s lighting category. “We updated it to include a supplemental battery life testing protocol.” Under the guidance of the Portable Lights American Trade Organization (PLATO), the FL-1 Standard uses a cutoff of 10 percent of original output rather than a “threshold” or “minimum light output.” The Reserve will be the battery runtime from the end of the FL-1 cutoff to an output level of 0.25 lux at 4 meters. As a result, the 4-me- ter cutoff will be much more useful to the end consumer engaged in ac- tivities that require more light output. The Reserve is the additional time after the FL-1 cutoff is reached. This new testing protocol is in addition to the testing procedures detailed in the ANSI/PLATO FL 1-2016 Standard. “There is a great deal of misinfor- mation in the portable lighting industry around performance metrics,” states Andy Skoogman, executive director of PLATO. “Consumers can be confident that Black Diamond’s product claims are presented clearly with technical expertise and organizational integrity.” To help consumers make more informed buying decisions, Black Dia- mond’s website, instruction manuals, packaging and relevant marketing materials now include both the FL-1 runtime and Reserve time. m Black Diamond Updates Testing Protocols for Lighting Merrell, Stormy Kromer Debut Co-Brand Collection BrandWatch