Recapping our week at the Summer Outdoor Retailer Show
The Ethnotek team converged on Salt Lake City for the Summer Outdoor Retailer trade show from all directions, Josh, Jake, and Aaron moved slowly in Van Morrison, Team Marketing Megan and Steph flew in from Minneapolis, and CFO Brad jetted down from Seattle. After the (mis)adventures of the drive down, setting up the booth, and scheduling sales and press meetings, we were all set to rock this show. While the days started with early mornings (including the daily trip to Starbucks and CFO Brad singing Al Green in the minivan) and ended late into the night working on logging all of the connections we had made throughout the day, we managed to find lots of ways to play hard as well.
Here is the story (in pictures) of our week in Salt Lake City
Team Ethnotek in our stylin' hand printed T Shirts and much coveted handmade lanyards (Thanks again Penny!!)
Getting down to business.
The Ethnotek booth was abuzz with folks coming and going to check out our bags and hear our story. We spent the days connecting with media, buyers, other exhibitors, and outdoor enthusiasts from all over the world, pretty fun stuff.
Josh working his magic.
Megan and Josh taking the time to connect.
There's always time to sneak in a little fun.
There was no shortage of laughter coming from our booth. Between the push up contests, instant photo shoots, "My Humps" dance parties, and hella high fives, we found a way to make the best of our work days.
CFO Brad in a very serious business meeting.
Megan and Aaron having a push up competition. Sorry Aaron, you definitely got schooled.
The monster was making friends left and right.
Megan tests out some new gear. Looks like these chairs are a winner.
Steph and Megan slacking off.
Steph found something to climb. Her pack came with.
As for this one, it's really hard to say what is going on...
Per usual, we made lots of new friends along the way.
We had the good fortune to meet amazing people from all over the world. These meetings went way beyond business, we spent hours laughing, telling stories, and forming connections. We all hope to stay in touch with the wonderful people we met in Salt Lake City.
Jake and Josh, were all business with Lisa.
Brad meets a mustache twin.
Those rascally Kammok boys sure know how to pose for the camera.
Sami from backpacker Magazine was beyond excited to get her first Rolltop pack.
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And when the show was all wrapped up, so was the booth. Literally.
We'll leave our beautiful booth in Salt Lake City until January when we are back for the Winter market. While all of the other booths packed neatly into cubes, Jake and Josh decided to transform the Ethnotek booth into Chimney Rock.
What a team!
And its a wrap.
It would have been a shame to leave Park City without getting a little fresh, mountain air.
At the end of it all, we had to leave Van Morrison in Wyoming and hop a plane back to Minneapolis. Our Ethnotek packs got to take their first ride on a luggage carousel.
What a trip!
We can't wait to head back to Salt Lake City in January for the Winter Outdoor Retailer show. Huge thanks to everyone who we met and to everyone who supported us through this experience!