Eagle Creek: A 50 Year Old Emerging Brand?
- colin7931
- Jul 2
- 22 min read
Today we're featuring the second interview we captured while attending GOA Connect last month. This time Colin and outdoor industry insider Eoin Comerford sit down with Eagle Creek president and CEO, Travis Campbell.
They talk about Travis's unique path to owning Eagle Creek and if that puts him in the same category as other founder led outdoor brands. They also touch how Eagle Creek tries to differentiate in an increasingly competitive travel market. Lastly they touch on outdoor events and what needs to happen on the national level.
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Episode Transcript:
Colin True
00:00:00.320 - 00:00:51.740
Welcome to the Rock Fight, where we speak our truth, slay sacred cows, and sometimes agree to disagree. This is an outdoor podcast that aims for the head.
I'm Colin True and today we're bringing you the second conversation that we had at Goa Connect last month. Today we're taking a look at the unique story of Eagle Creek.
But before we get to that, on Monday, I told you we were going to be running an episode short this week. Well, I guess I was lying to you because this Friday we're going to have a very special conversation for the fourth of July.
Legendary outdoor journalist Kristen Hostetter will be here on the Rock Fight to talk about fireworks and the environment. And lastly, please make sure you're following the Rock Fight in open container on your favorite podcast app.
If you're an Apple podcast listener and you leave us a written review, then you send a screenshot of that review to myrockfightmail.com we'll send you a whole bunch of stickers. A whole bunch of Rock Fight stickers. Okay, stick around. We'll be right back.
Chris DeMakes
00:00:51.740 - 00:00:55.580
Welcome to the Rock Fight. Rock Fight. Rock Fight.
Colin True
00:00:57.750 - 00:02:18.550
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Colin True
00:02:31.810 - 00:05:01.250
Don't let our big time production value and celebrity names fool you. Looking at you, producer Dave but Rock Fight LLC is a small business and growing brand.
And even though we have our own consigliere, he advises on other matters. We've got to consult a lawyer every now and then on the legal structures that every business needs.
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Founder led brands and the founders themselves are something we talk about a bunch here on the Rock Fight.
Small up and comers are usually the brands that are true to the mission of why they exist in the first place and also are the brands most likely to be driving innovation in the outdoor industry.
But what if you purchased a brand that had already existed for 50 years from a corporate entity that owned several of the biggest names not just in the outdoors, but in fashion and apparel in general?
Putting yourself in the scenario of having the same role and purpose as other founder led brands, but under an entirely different set of circumstances. Well, that's the spot that Travis Campbell found himself in after he purchased Eagle Creek from vf.
So when Owen Cumberford and I were looking at people we could sit down with while attending last month's Goa Connect show in Reno, we made some time to hang out with Travis and learn a little more about what it was like to go through that acquisition process, where Eagle Creek sits now, and how the brand is poised to respond to the current challenges in the outdoor marketplace. So welcome back to the Rock Flight.
Here is our second conversation that we recorded at G Away Connect and today Owen Comerford and I sit down with Travis Campbell from Eagle Creek. All right, well, joining Owen and I today at GOA Connect is Travis Campbell, the owner and CEO of Eagle Creek. Welcome to the show Travis, thank you.
Travis Campbell
00:05:01.250 - 00:05:02.050
Appreciate being here.
Colin True
00:05:02.050 - 00:05:09.810
Yeah, we told you know, your it's still honorable, but you're the second ever in person interview now in the room.
Travis Campbell
00:05:09.890 - 00:05:10.570
Holy cow.
Colin True
00:05:10.570 - 00:05:15.090
Missed it by one. He was here a minute ago, so always second place.
Travis Campbell
00:05:15.170 - 00:05:16.050
Yeah, yeah.
Colin True
00:05:16.050 - 00:05:21.890
This in person thing is kind of cool, but it's also kind of freaking me out. I kind of need. I'd like to see you in a screen right now. It'd be more normal to me.
Travis Campbell
00:05:22.290 - 00:05:24.690
I'm a different size in a screen. Ultimately.
Colin True
00:05:25.170 - 00:05:29.570
Have you had a lot of like, after five years of zoom calls, like, holy shit, you're really tall for sure.
Travis Campbell
00:05:29.730 - 00:05:32.770
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, I had no idea you were that tall.
Colin True
00:05:32.950 - 00:05:42.390
To the listeners, Travis is a starting center for the. What are you guys based out of Steamboat Springs? Oh, there you go. The Nuggets. You know you're going to buy. Jokic is out. Travis is in.
Travis Campbell
00:05:42.390 - 00:05:43.150
Next man in.
Colin True
00:05:43.150 - 00:06:24.600
There you go. There you go.
So look, you're obviously known most for buying Eagle Creek from VF During COVID I think other people were watching Tiger King and stuff. During COVID you bought a brand from a behemoth company. So you do you.
But as we record this as Goa Connect, a trade show where last night we had a marketplace full of founder led brands. And in the room today there are plenty of independently owned brands. All of them probably started as an idea that became a product and a brand.
And now, you know, here we are at a trade show, right? You bought a brand that was originally founded 50 years ago and you bought it from one of the biggest companies in our industry.
So I just want to start with, you know, do you view yourself as a founder, as any other founder? I mean, is that even possible given what you do?
Travis Campbell
00:06:24.680 - 00:06:34.570
Yeah, it's a great question. I would say no. I never, in a lot of ways, I never intended to be a founder. I never intended to start my own brand.
Colin True
00:06:35.210 - 00:06:36.490
That sounds very founderish.
Travis Campbell
00:06:36.570 - 00:07:12.260
Yeah, true. You got me. No, I built my career around running businesses for other people in a lot of ways. And so I have a very entrepreneurial family.
And I always said my siblings always start businesses and they want to get out of them as soon as they need an HR department or something like that. And I've always felt the exact opposite of like, I like trying to take businesses and making them better, not necessarily starting from scratch.
And so, you know, I think at the end of the day, I'm a pseudo founder at this point. I guess maybe a reluctant founder I'll call it.
Eoin Comerford
00:07:12.500 - 00:07:40.020
Can you take us through that decision making process because it was interesting, you know, VF had announced that they had planned to basically wind down the brand. And I'm not sure if they tried to sell it or not or where they were in that process. But then, you know, you step up and say, no, no, I'll take it.
So can you take us through that decision process? You know, was there a lot of conversations around the kitchen table at home and how did it all ultimately come together?
Travis Campbell
00:07:40.180 - 00:08:38.490
Yeah, I mean, it is at some level an interesting story.
I was at VF at the time and I had made the decision actually before the Eagle Creek announcement was made that I was gonna leave VF and like I had evolved into a role where I was kind of, I call it a senior bureaucrat and didn't intend to ever end up in that spot as a profession. And so I made the decision to leave. I really wanted to get back to running a brand. That's what I'm most passionate about.
And then right in that window came the decision to get rid of Eagle Creek. And it was not though, like a one plus one equals two. I'm gonna go try and peel. This certainly took a lot of feedback from the industry.
When that announcement came out, a lot of people were pretty unhappy that Eagle Creek was going to potentially go away. Yeah, took a fair number of unhappy phone calls. And because you were.
Eoin Comerford
00:08:38.490 - 00:08:39.850
You were running the brand at the time.
Travis Campbell
00:08:39.850 - 00:08:48.170
Well, I wasn't. I was. I was running a portfolio of brands and Eagle Creek was one of those where the head of Eagle Creek reported up into me.
Eoin Comerford
00:08:48.170 - 00:08:48.570
Gotcha.
Travis Campbell
00:08:48.570 - 00:10:49.800
I guess just for clarity and. And so I was starting to explore what kind of jobs I could find in industry. You know, as I said, I wanted to be a president still or CEO and.
But I also wanted to stay in Steamboat Springs, which is where I lived with my family. And so you start to come to the realization pretty quickly that there's not that many CEOs of outdoor industry jobs in Steamboat.
I was sort of understanding I was going to have to travel. My kids were seniors and are late in high school and that wasn't sounding awesome.
So honestly, one night I think I was both complaining about the fact that we were going to shut Eagle Creek down. And I was complaining to my wife at that I was gonna have to travel for work, most likely.
And she looked at me and she's like, we should make a play for Eagle Creek. And you know, like any good husband, my first reaction was like, that's the worst idea ever.
Like, you know, like that won't work this and that and all these reasons. Right. And like any good husband, I woke up the next morning, I'm like, holy cow, she's right.
And so pretty quickly, like, put together an offer to the team at vf. And I would say, to their credit, they very quickly recognized that my offer was better than their alternative of trying to wind it down.
Winding down, I call it. An OG outdoor brand that has a lifetime warranty associated with it is not as easy as it may seem.
And so our offer to carve it out and take it private again, I think was a good, clean exit for vf. And they pretty quickly realized that they should be supportive of that and ultimately then were great about helping us peel it out.
I think one of the things that's really cool about VF broadly are the individuals within VF is they really do care about the brands. Like, people loved Eagle Creek. They weren't thrilled that it was going to potentially go away, and we presented a solution to that.
And so the team at VF was great about trying to help us get it out and get it on its feet and get it standalone.
Colin True
00:10:49.800 - 00:10:54.520
Well, ultimately, you did them a favor because now you get to wind it down and deal with all those headaches if you decide to do that.
Travis Campbell
00:10:54.520 - 00:10:56.400
Totally. Right. If I screw it up, then I.
Colin True
00:10:56.400 - 00:10:58.860
Just have delayed out of jail free card.
Travis Campbell
00:10:58.860 - 00:10:59.300
Yes.
Colin True
00:10:59.860 - 00:11:02.420
Yeah, sure, Travis. Yeah, man. Good idea. We'll help you get going.
Travis Campbell
00:11:02.500 - 00:11:14.260
Exactly. They're not dumb people. Yeah. So, yeah, that's how it went down. When times are challenging, I look at my wife and I'm like, you did this to us.
Colin True
00:11:15.940 - 00:11:18.060
You got your own get out of jail free card, right?
Travis Campbell
00:11:18.060 - 00:11:22.940
Totally. And when things are great, I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm really smart. I know exactly what I was doing all the way along.
Colin True
00:11:22.940 - 00:11:24.160
I just had to sleep on it.
Travis Campbell
00:11:24.160 - 00:11:24.560
Yeah.
Colin True
00:11:25.120 - 00:11:49.920
Well, let's ignore our current tariff situation for a second because so 2021, you buy the brand and let's go back a few months and we're heading into 2025. You're going into your fourth year. What at that time were you anticipating for Regal Creek for this year?
Because, I mean, that's, you know, all things you just mentioned that took time. Even after post acquisition, you had a lot of work to do, I'm sure, to kind of, what's the vision for it? What's the product range, all that stuff.
Yeah, I imagine 2025 feels like that was going to be. All right, here we go, guys.
Travis Campbell
00:11:49.920 - 00:13:09.090
Yeah, we're fine. We're going to hit Our stride. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, part of carving it out of VF was the belief that travel was going to come back and we'd get through Covid, people would get confident again. And for sure we saw that. So 2022, 2023, to a degree, 2024 were great growth years for us. Like, travel was booming.
We were booming right along with it. Actually thought maybe we knew what we were doing.
Then comes 2025, and we had, we expected travel to moderate just because, like, the great times can't go on forever. And a lot of that revenge travel people had done. And so 2025, we had, if I remember correctly, high single digit global growth plan.
And, you know, it felt attainable, like all growth plans do, like maybe a little crazy, but also attainable.
And then we hit tariffs, and frankly, even a little bit before tariffs, I would say, you know, we were doing things from an immigration standpoint as a country, we were doing things to, I'll say, scare the globally traveling consumer. And so we started to already see some shakiness. And then tariffs came and for sure sent shockwaves.
Eoin Comerford
00:13:09.970 - 00:13:28.080
So, you know, I think within the outdoor industry, there's a lot of conversation about sort of the ups and downs of demand. Right. Over the last whatever, really.
But the travel industry can kind of say, hey, outdoor industry, hold my beer, because it's been up, down and sideways, Right?
Travis Campbell
00:13:28.240 - 00:13:28.720
Yeah.
Eoin Comerford
00:13:30.000 - 00:13:42.320
How do you see the travel segment shaping up over the next few years? So let's say we get past a little bit of the travel or the tariff issue right now.
How do you see it maybe playing out over the next four or five years?
Travis Campbell
00:13:42.400 - 00:15:12.200
Yeah, I am still very much long travel. And what I mean is, you know, you look at Covid or the pandemic, however you want to call it.
And I think what that proved to us is that consumers, not just American consumers, but global consumers, want to go out and experience the world. People want to travel. It's in our DNA. We fundamentally believe it's important for us as a species, frankly, on a whole bunch of levels.
Like, you know, you travel and you realize we're way more common than we are different, and we need that more than ever in the world. So I think it comes back, right. Like, travel has had a bunch of these, like, pseudo existential moments where pandemic, right.
Is anybody ever going to get on a plane again? Turns out people are going to get back on a plane and go crazy. They're going to travel like crazy.
And so I continue to believe that people will prioritize that over time, it does go up and down. You know, Steve Barker, Steven Nona founded Eagle Creek 50 years ago.
One of the things Steve told me when we were taking over the business, he's like, travel is boom and bust. Right. Like, there are really scary moments in the travel industry because it can go to zero. You know, after 9, 11, it went to zero. 2008, 2009.
You know, big financial shocks, people deprioritize travel at some level. So it is a. It's a roller coaster ride.
And our roller coaster has just been particularly steep in both directions between the pandemic and now these kind of tariff and travel shocks that we're feeling.
Eoin Comerford
00:15:12.440 - 00:15:16.600
And for Eagle Creek, how much of your business is North America versus Europe or international?
Travis Campbell
00:15:16.920 - 00:15:27.640
Yeah, it's about 65% North America, 30% Europe, kind of traditional Europe, and. And then whatever's left, 5, 10%, rest of world.
Colin True
00:15:27.640 - 00:15:47.220
We're recording this on June 9th. So the, the latest travel ban went into effect this morning. Is that.
Do you. I mean, are you able to pay attention to those sort of weird, like, political developments? I mean, you know, or is that like a.
Look, that stuff's going to happen, especially with the administration. We. And we'll react to how we react when we have to react to it.
Travis Campbell
00:15:47.300 - 00:16:08.900
No, I mean, regrettably, we do pay attention to it, and we're in a mode of being very reactive, unfortunately. Right. We don't get a lot of signals on what's coming with this administration. The travel ban is a tough one.
Just for full disclosure internally, we were talking about this last week when I think it first got announced, or losing track of days, to be honest.
Colin True
00:16:09.540 - 00:16:14.420
Well, they're busy taking over Los Angeles today, so it's easy to kind of forget what's going on.
Travis Campbell
00:16:14.880 - 00:16:17.600
True. I don't even know that I can laugh about that. Yeah.
Colin True
00:16:17.680 - 00:16:18.080
Right.
Travis Campbell
00:16:19.280 - 00:16:53.350
So, you know, one of our core values is that travel is a force for good. Back to my little speech about we're better as a species when we're traveling.
And so that idea of banning travel wholesale rather than banning the bad people, just assuming that everybody from each of these countries is a bad person and thus should not visit the US Sort of antithetical to what we believe is a brand. And so our question was, like, do we need to be public on this as well? Right. Like, we've been public on tariffs, we've been public on public lands.
Like, is this now the third leg of the stool that we've got to go fight?
Colin True
00:16:53.430 - 00:16:54.790
And this is in your wheelhouse. Right?
Travis Campbell
00:16:54.790 - 00:17:24.190
And this is in our wheelhouse. Right. You know, I wish tariffs weren't in my wheelhouse. And this is ultimately, you know, one of those that's more in my wheelhouse.
And so we actually don't have a plan in all candor. Right. And. But it feels like something we need to be talking about. You know, we're trying to. We don't want to be divisive.
We don't want to be poking the bear. We want to be talking about what's good and why it's good and why people should be supporting it.
And we just haven't found that voice quite yet for how to do that publicly.
Colin True
00:17:24.190 - 00:18:01.550
Let's talk about product for a second. Right. So.
Because. Thank you for that. I mean, I appreciate you being honest about that. I mean, that's a. It is. It's. What are you going to do every day?
It's something different. So appreciate that. When you do look at the line now, right.
When you look at how things have changed probably since even when Eagle Creek has entered the marketplace and your competitors like the North Face and Patagonia and folks like that who have luggage and they're kind of become almost known for their luggage in addition to everything else that they're known for. You know, how do you approach that? You know, is there.
Is there brand loyalty that you have or that they have, you know, because of the different things that you offer or they offer? Like, the competitive landscape, I guess, is just is crazy when you kind of step back and look at it now versus where it used to be, totally.
Travis Campbell
00:18:01.630 - 00:19:32.620
Way more competitive today. You know, one of the things I think I've seen in the time that we've been involved with Eagle Creek is, you know, the outdoor industry is challenged.
So, right. The boom of COVID and then the bust post Covid, and there was a window of time where the bright spot was travel. And brands are smart.
They see opportunity. And a lot of brands had little aspects of their assortment that had some travel in it.
And a lot of those brands in that window where travel was booming and outside or outdoors was a little bit down, emphasize travel assortments and built a lot of those. And so those showed up in fall 24 and spring 25.
And if you walk the show right now, you're going to see a lot of rolling bags that didn't exist two years ago from a variety of brands. And so we're kind of in a moment where travel's slowing down for the reasons we just talked about.
And you have the competitive landscape with people bringing a lot of new product from brands that aren't necessarily known for travel. So what does that mean? At some level we rely on our heritage.
The advantage of being 50 years old is we're pretty well known globally and so we know how to build product. We know how to build product that lasts. We have loyalty with our existing consumers.
One of the blessing and curses of Eagle Creek is we build products that last a really long time though. So our rebuy cycle is really long.
So we have to find new reasons for people to buy from us or new consumers to expose to the brand at end the the end of the day.
Colin True
00:19:37.660 - 00:21:07.010
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Oh, this is DJCT and welcome back to Rock Fight Radio where today we're excited to share with you. You guessed it, the latest from Fitz. Here's a little taste of Fitz like you exclusively independent out in a town.
Rock Fight Radio!
00:21:07.010 - 00:21:28.260
With a name you don't know Past the highway signs in the mountain snow There's a little shop with a wooden door Been keeping locals geared since 84 they sell grit the sailor gear that lasts in a socket don't quit when you're moving fast Fits on the shelf Fits for the bold not some big box store you've been sold we're exclusively.
Travis Campbell
00:21:28.420 - 00:21:31.780
Independent yeah we ride for the few.
Rock Fight Radio!
00:21:32.180 - 00:21:43.140
Not the cheapest just the realest knit type for what you do for the towns that keep the trails that thrive and the rebels keeping dreams alive it.
Chris DeMakes
00:21:43.140 - 00:21:44.850
Stand tall in the shops.
Colin True
00:21:53.080 - 00:21:57.560
Check out all of the hits from Fitz on their Spotify playlist. And now back to the show.
Eoin Comerford
00:21:58.360 - 00:22:28.560
So we're here at GEOA Connect, which is an outdoor independent outdoor specialty show. If you look at some of the trends within outdoor specialty, we have seen those shops leaning more towards lifestyle. Right.
And more towards what I would call crossover products. And in some ways, travel falls in there.
And I'm seeing that in some outdoor specialty stores where maybe the pack wall is changing and it's a little bit less expedition pack, a little bit more travel travel pack. Is that an opportunity for Eagle Creek in the future?
Travis Campbell
00:22:28.560 - 00:23:42.130
It is for sure. You know, and I try and I guess I would say post pandemic.
Well, during the pandemic, most retail, both small and large, really shrunk their travel assortments for obvious reasons. Right. Just people were not buying roll, rolling luggage during the height of the pandemic. Post pandemic, we've had a few retailers really re.
Embrace travel, but. But, you know, in aggregate, not at the level before the pandemic.
And so I feel like one of my main roles in the world is to be sort of the pied piper of the opportunity associated with travel. Back to this idea of people are going to prioritize travel.
You know, we're in a world right now where it's actually really hard to find wheeled luggage at retail at any level of scale or any level of depth of an assortment. And so everybody that walks in our booth, I'm like, you know, how many wheel bags do you have on your floor? Like, you need to have more.
Because consumers want to touch and feel this stuff. And it's not always wheeled luggage. It might be wheeled duffels. It could be travel packs, could be, you know, people, the evolving consumer. Every.
Every consumer that's in the active outdoor space or the active lifestyle space travels at some level. And so serving that market at some way at some level of depth, I think is just an opportunity for people.
Colin True
00:23:42.930 - 00:24:04.050
So last thing related to touch on, like we've said multiple times, we're at the show. How do you view the current industry event scene? Right. This is a really, like Owen mentioned, this is a very specialty focused show. Everyone's here.
It's really interesting, unique show. But, you know, what's important to Eagle Creek? You know, we've got some big shows coming up. We just had a bunch of regional shows.
Like, what do you guys value?
Travis Campbell
00:24:04.400 - 00:26:36.210
Yeah, I mean, the show world is really fragmented right now, you know, and the shows that I think are thriving are generally very Sales oriented shows. So certainly go a. I mean you look out at the show floor booths are full, a lot of vibrancy. Specialty markets I think doing reasonably well.
It's not, not boom time but, but the actual show aspect of serving the specialty outdoor market I think is doing quite well. GOA does a great job with their show.
I think those regional rep shows are all generally thriving because they're very efficient for retailers to write orders at the end of the day.
For me, having come up in a world where there used to be an incredibly vibrant national show called Outdoor Retailer, I think we all know where that sits today. Regrettably, I'll say.
And I feel very acutely the lack of that national show and not because, you know, I need that national show to write a bunch more business like in the moment. We don't need another writing show in my opinion. We've got lots of those at this point.
What we need are brand building shows and industry building shows and like that invites a larger audience at the end of the day than what these more sales oriented shows create. And so I've talked to people and I try to articulate this like industry flywheel that comes from the energy of a big national show.
And it's, you know, letting people see small and medium sized brands on the same platform as the big brands and in a more welcoming environment that allows people to sort of casually explore them in a way.
And I think that's super important for creating this platform that helps small and medium businesses become medium and large businesses at the end of the day and helps retailers find new brands that they wouldn't see in a pipe and drape show as an example. And so, and I think there's other aspects of that. Whether that's like industry cohesion, that's really important. Right.
Our industry is fragmented, lots of smallish brands that when we come together are, we're quite powerful. Right. Like we've proven that over time.
But post pandemic, post large healthy national show, we're just not as organized as we should be or could be when we talk about sustainability or public lands or tariffs or those things. And so I guess long way of saying apologize for the length of that. It's one of my soapboxes, as if you can't tell.
We need a healthy national trade show again. And I'm a big believer in that.
Colin True
00:26:36.450 - 00:26:38.570
Right on, man. Well, we'll see by the time this.
Travis Campbell
00:26:38.570 - 00:26:39.890
Comes out, we'll know.
Colin True
00:26:40.530 - 00:26:44.370
Man, Travis was right. Or like that guy Travis, man, he blew that one.
Travis Campbell
00:26:45.730 - 00:26:47.330
Which would not be the first time.
Colin True
00:26:48.210 - 00:26:51.370
Well, you just blame it on your wife, I think. Totally established earlier in the conversation.
Travis Campbell
00:26:51.370 - 00:26:51.730
Right.
Colin True
00:26:52.890 - 00:26:59.050
Well, we'll see. We appreciate you spending some time with us at this show. And, you know, good luck to everything and let's make sure we chat again in the future.
Travis Campbell
00:26:59.050 - 00:27:00.570
Thank you. Yeah. Happy to do it.
Colin True
00:27:01.210 - 00:27:25.530
All right, that's the show for today. Come back to the Rock Fight this Friday for my conversation about fireworks with Kristen Hostetter.
The Rock fight's a production of Rock Fight llc for Owen Comerford and Travis Campbell. I'm Colin True. Thanks for listening. And here to take us out. He's on tour right now. He's gonna be in my town pretty soon. Soon.
I hope I get a chance to see him. It's Chris D. Makes with the rock fight fight song. We'll see you next time. Rock Fighters.
Chris DeMakes
00:27:44.170 - 00:28:21.180
Outdoor adventures activities and pick bites about topics that we find interesting, like pop culture, music, the latest movie reviews, ideas that aim for the head. This is where we speak our truth. This is where we speak our truth. Rock flight, Rock flight, rock fight. Welcome to the rock flight.
Rock fight, Rock fight. Welcome to the rock fly. Rock flight, rap fight. Rock fight. Rock fight, rock fight. Welcome to the rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight.
Travis Campbell
00:28:23.980 - 00:28:26.620
Rock fight.
