Hi {{first_name}} ,
Welcome to the first edition of Sports + Outdoor Uncovered, a new monthly publication from Sports + Outdoor Search and the Sports + Outdoor Mentors podcast.
It brings together two sides of what we do: helping sports and outdoor businesses find the leaders they need, while sharing the experiences, ideas and perspectives of the people already shaping our industry.
Think of it as a monthly deep dive into the stories, people and ideas shaping sports and outdoor, combining industry intelligence, leadership moves, talent observations and conversations with senior leaders from across the sector.
We're also delighted to be collaborating with Barbara Smit, Editor of Sporting Goods Report. Each month, we'll select one of Barbara's latest stories to bring you the key takeaways, along with our perspective on what it could mean for the industry.
This month, we're looking at the remarkable growth of trail running, talking entrepreneurial leadership with KitKing's Dips Patel, tracking some big industry moves, and sharing a few observations from across the talent market.
Plenty to get into. Let's get started.
–Dan
In this edition:
Brands are racing into trail running
It's difficult to ignore what's happening in trail running right now. Participation is growing, the audience is getting younger and, unsurprisingly, more brands want a piece of it.
French retail sales of trail-running footwear jumped 19% in the first half of 2026, while around 5,900 events attracted more than one million finishers last year. 35% are now under 35.
UTMB offered a glimpse of what that growth means commercially. Hoka and Salomon were among the most visible names, but 30+ other footwear brands were identified, with Chamonix awash with launches, community runs and brand activations.
There were signs of disruption too. Blandine L'Hirondel won the women's race in Decathlon's sub-€200 Kiprun Kipsummit Race, while Hoka, Asics, Scarpa, ACG and Rossignol showcased new products and technologies.
But can there be too much of a good thing? With around 100,000 visitors during UTMB week, Chamonix's new mayor has already signalled that traffic and brand activations may need scaling back.
The opportunity is clear. How many brands it can sustain is another question.
There’s plenty more to this story. Click the Sporting Goods Report logo below to read Barbara Smit’s full article.
Source: Sporting Goods Report, Issue 186, September 2026.
In Conversation: Dips Patel, KitKing
For our latest Sports + Outdoor Mentors episode, Dan sits down with Dips Patel, CEO and owner of KitKing, whose career has taken him from roles at Canterbury and Speedo to running one of the UK's leading teamwear businesses.
It's a fascinating journey into entrepreneurship, made even more remarkable by the fact that Dips completed his acquisition of KitKing just 100 days before Covid brought sport to a standstill.
Today, KitKing works with professional clubs, governing bodies and some of the world's biggest sports brands. So, how did he get from there to here?
In the episode:
Why Dips believes aspiring entrepreneurs should "buy, don't build"
What buying KitKing 100 days before Covid taught him about resilience
Why culture, not strategy or technology, was his biggest lesson from the crisis
The leadership advice that convinced him to choose learning over earning
Why your first hires can make or break a growing business
Want to hear the full story? Watch the full conversation above or listen on your favourite platform below.
Who’s on the move?
New roles, new brands and some notable industry moves. Here's who's been changing seats this month.
What we're noticing: These aren't like-for-like appointments, but there's a common thread: execution.
From commercial and sales to operations and general management, brands are strengthening the leadership functions closest to turning strategy into growth.
Leaner teams, higher-stakes hires
There's a strange dynamic in the talent market right now. Headcounts are coming down, but that doesn't mean hiring has stopped.
Across sports and outdoor, we're seeing businesses restructure while continuing to invest selectively in roles they believe can materially move the needle.
Puma, for example, expects headcount to finish around 20% below the start of 2025, yet has continued adding senior commercial and e-commerce leadership. Nike has also reduced roles within Global Operations while investing heavily in technology, automation and efficiency.
We're seeing it first-hand too. One of our clients, a Top 5 Global Sporting Goods brand, is currently strengthening its digital commercial leadership team.
The takeaway? Fewer hires don’t necessarily mean less demand for talent. They mean every hiring decision carries more weight.
Businesses aren't simply looking for experience. They're prioritising leaders who can point to measurable impact across growth, digital and AI, transformation, operations and international expansion.
For candidates and companies alike, the bar has moved.
Building the next outdoor giant?
With trail running attracting more brands than ever, our conversation with NNormal CEO Sito Luis Salas feels particularly timely.
Co-founded by Kilian Jornet and Camper, NNormal has ambitions to become a top-five outdoor brand. But Sito is clear that getting there won't happen overnight.
Three lessons worth revisiting:
Focus before you scale. Win with a core consumer before chasing new categories.
Big-company experience doesn't always translate. Great leaders learn to achieve more with fewer resources.
Think long term. Building the right brand can mean resisting the pressure to grow quickly.
And perhaps the biggest lesson? Ambition and patience aren't opposites. NNormal wants to become a top-five outdoor brand, but Sito is prepared for that journey to take decades.
Who’ll be the next billion-dollar outdoor brand?
How many genuinely billion-dollar outdoor brands can you name?
I recently found myself thinking about this after a conversation with the CEO of a fast-growing outdoor brand with ambitions to eventually break the $1 billion annual revenue barrier.
The North Face, Patagonia, Columbia, Salomon and Arc’teryx are among those already operating at that sort of scale, alongside outdoor businesses or divisions from some much larger groups.
But I'm more interested in who comes next.
There are plenty of ambitious challengers emerging across footwear, apparel and equipment, and the next decade could reshape the pecking order considerably.
So, which outdoor brand do you think will be the next to break $1 billion in annual revenue?
I regularly share thoughts like this on the industry, brands and people shaping it. Follow me on LinkedIn →
That’s a wrap!
That's it for the first issue of Sports + Outdoor Uncovered. Thanks for reading.
This is a new format for us, and we'd genuinely love to know what you think. What did you enjoy? What would you like to see more of? And is there anything we're missing?
We're all ears. See you next month,
–Dan