If colour-happy Scandinavians Norrona can do the acid-coloured thing, then why can't our own home-brewed brands?
Posted:
17 August 2011
by
Jon
I'm just back from seeing the guys at Rab for a preview of this autumn/winter 2011's range of kit and it's good stuff, really good stuff in fact. I've been using two of the main technologies from the range for around six months now and they've become semi-default choices.
But somewhere in the run-up to the visit over, while I was obsessing over what diplomatically-branded jacket to wear on Twitter, like you do - @OutdoorsMagic if you were wondering - Alistair Turnham popped up to say that UK brands were way behind the trend on colours and stuff like this from notoriously aceed Scandanavians, Norrona, was what we need.
Which made me think a bit about colour. Funnily enough, the way the industry works, it's the retailers who filter out the wilder excesses of the designer palate. Check out the big trade show at Friedrichshafen and you'll see big international brands with the wildest colours imaginable. But six months later, scan the shelves and they're nowhere to be seen. It's all dependable blacks, reds, blues and the odd bright green to brighten things up.
Why? Like it or not, British outdoor retailers don't buy into retina-burning bright colours because, and here's why it's your fault, they don't sell. Or they don't think they will. Or, understandably, they won't risk it. So those made purples, yellows, acid greens and searing oranges simply never get to the shops in the first place.
And here's another thing. Except for the women's stuff. Because girls are fashion literate and like more interesting colours. Hello bubblegum pink, micro-baffled down jackets from supposedly conservative and dull Rab...
Mind you, if you lived somewhere which was dark for 50% of the year, you'd probably want bright coloured clothes too.
