Field Notes: Outdoor Trends, Executive Changes and B-t-s
In business leadership news, omnichannel commerce fulfillment company Blue Yonder has named Duncan Angove as chief executive officer — effective immediately. Angove succeeds Mark Morgan, who served as interim CEO since February 2022.
Blue Yonder described Angove as “a strategic business leader with decades of technology and leadership experience.” He held previously held executive positions at Infor, Oracle and Retek. In a statement, Yasu Higuchi, CEO of Panasonic Connect and chairperson of Blue Yonder’s board of directors, said the company recognizes the opportunity that Blue Yonder brings to Panasonic Connect’s growth “as evidenced by our preparations for a stock exchange listing. After careful consideration, we’re confident that Duncan’s proven track record growing companies such as Infor, Oracle and Retek, as well as his supply chain experience and working with customers, makes him the right leader to take Blue Yonder’s growth and innovation to the next level.”
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At Infor, Angrove served as president. Blue Yonder said during his tenure there, Angrove helped lead the transformation of Infor “into the first industry cloud company with over 60 million subscribers. This ultimately led to Infor’s successful sale to Koch Industries. He has also held senior executive roles at Oracle and Retek, and currently serves on Honeywell’s board of directors.”
More recently, Angove served as a managing partner of Arcspring, which is a technology-focused private equity firm created by technology operators. Angove said he’s looking forward to serving as CEO at Blue Yonder and said the supply chain “is at the forefront of every organization’s C-level conversation and has never been more important.”
With the back-to-school shopping season in full swing, school uniform brand French Toast said it is “delivering on its mission to help all kids shine with the launch of its new French Toast Adaptive collection.”
“French Toast worked closely with the community of people with disabilities [or PWDs] to create a collection that authentically meets the needs of students with disabilities and those seeking sensory-friendly options,” the company said.
Stephen Ashear, president of French Toast, said every child “deserves to feel comfortable and confident when they go to school and have as much independence as possible to get dressed on their own.”
“The process by which our design team developed the collection demonstrates our dedication to taking an authentic approach,” Ashear said. “We are proud to be supporting PWDs and helping to raise visibility for this underserved community. It was important for French Toast to keep the product at our everyday great value — which is why we kept our prices the same across the board. The most important thing for us is to be inclusive and do the right thing.”
French Toast said it designed the collection based on direct feedback from kids with disabilities and their caregivers during a four-year process that lead to the launch this month. “The journey began in 2019 with brand messaging evolution toward inclusion and shaping of ‘Schoolwear for All,'” the brand said. “In 2020, research and development began, and by 2021, the French Toast design team was working with focus groups and testing. This included 3D design fittings and designs on real kids. Ongoing focus groups and testing continued to be fine-tuned through 2022, with the collection available in time for back-to-school 2022.”
French Toast said it partnered with Gamut Management “to authentically understand kids with disabilities and their caregivers’ needs,” which started with education and training for the French Toast team. “The team at Gamut Management, led by founder and CEO Mindy Scheier, worked with French Toast to hold panel discussions, focus groups and fit testing with kids with disabilities and caregivers to fine-tune each piece and get their honest feedback,” the company said.
“The collection is empowering for students with disabilities,” Scheier said. “It’s important for brands to work closely with people with disabilities in creating new collections from conception to completion, including the designs of the product, messaging and marketing. French Toast has really put in the work and resources necessary for the new adaptive line, and we’re proud to have played an integral role.”
While the b-t-s shopping season is off to a strong start, consumers are engaged in summer vacation and related activities — especially camping and the outdoors. REI Co-op said as campsite reservations continue to fill quickly due to more people going camping for the first time, it has noted “shifts in camp product purchases with more customers incorporating their mid-sized vehicles to extend adventures beyond the campsite.”
The retailer said since 2019, “the co-op’s sales of vehicle-supported camp items, including car shelters, refrigerators and rooftop tents, have increased by 45 percent.”
“The co-op and the outdoor industry at large both saw a significant increase in the number of people who started camping due to the pandemic,” REI said in a statement while also citing a recently published Kampgrounds of America (KOA) Report showing the diversity of first-time campers “was also up significantly (54 percent non-white), comprised of a majority of Millennial campers (54 percent), as was the number of people taking an over-landing or off-road vehicle camping trip (27 percent).”
“Over the past few years, REI has seen more people turn to their mid-sized vehicles as a preferred way to go a bit further, camp using their car, visit new places and try multisport adventures in new outdoor destinations — and REI is ready for them,” said Melissa Paul, REI senior merchandising manager for camp. “This camper is a bit more spontaneous, is interested in being more self-sustained and goes out a bit further off the grid to camp.”
REI said this year, the co-op’s summer assortment includes several products to “help people extend their multisport adventures beyond the campsite.” The retailer noted that some of the season’s best sellers from the REI Co-op Brands collection “include the REI Co-op Trailgate Vehicle Shelter and the REI Co-op Trailgate Vehicle Sleeping Platform that turn the vehicle into a comfortable home for the night.”
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