Listen to the article
Dive Brief:
Dive Insight:
The next chapter of Outdoor Voices has its founder back at the helm.
“We’re back, baby,” Haney says in a voiceover video detailing the history of Outdoor Voices. “I’m so excited to be reactivating this Doing Things mission.”
Haney famously resigned from the DTC darling in 2020 amid financial challenges and reports of conflict between herself and retail magnate Mickey Drexler, who was then chairman of the board at Outdoor Voices. One New York Times article detailing the downfall of the brand cited an anonymous letter sent to the board that blamed Haney for seasoned executive departures and called her “spoiled” and mercurial, among other things. Haney at the time called out the stories that were circulating as one-sided.
But it hasn’t been smooth sailing since 2020, either. Lunya founder Ashley Merrill took over as chairwoman of the brand that year with a mission to make it more profitable through an operations overhaul. But in 2022, reporting circulated that the company was looking to sell itself, and two years after that, the retailer was sparking bankruptcy speculation and shuttering its 15 stores.
That’s when Consortium Brand Partners scooped up the brand, placing it in a portfolio alongside Draper James and, as of this year, Jonathan Adler. Cory Baker, co-founder and managing partner of Consortium, told Retail Dive at the time that though stores would remain shuttered for now, it planned to open locations in the future, possibly in 2025. The executive also said that Outdoor Voices’ problems were fixable, and that the brand intended to expand into new categories, and enter wholesale and specialty stores.
Consortium Brand Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Haney’s return to the brand and the new collection launch.
In relaunching Outdoor Voices, Haney notes that she was “a lot younger” when she founded the company, calling herself “a baby girl” straight out of college. According to Haney, the retailer reassembled the original creative team and brought in some additional staff as well to help shape the first collection. She describes the new product as “fashion-y” and says it has a perspective, but it does take its cues from the original brand she founded.
“Over the last nine or so months, we’ve been working on the product — the uniform for doing things — and it has a lot of the same sensibility as original OV in terms of material meant to move, technically credible, functional,” Haney says in the video. “I think you’re really going to like it.”