Paragon Sports, The East Coast Outdoor Barometer (post 1)

For the outdoor industry Paragon is always a good barometer of what's going on. I haven't been to New York in a couple years and a trip to Paragon is always a couple of hours of time for me. The thing I noticed first when I climbed the stairs to the outdoor floor, is that TNF now accounts for at least 1/3 of the entire assortment if not a little more. There was rack after rack of in my eyes, very generic looking styles, that are sold largely on the name brand (my assumption). I also noticed that the outdoor outerwear section has grown to be even larger than before so the increase in TNF product is even more significant.

I also noticed that Columbia Sportswear no longer has any outerwear on this floor where they once had an entire shop, a sign of the times?

There is a lot more Isis product everywhere this Fall, and Paragon was no exception, I found about three 4-ways of Isis product, not too far from the front of the floor amidst the sea of TNF product. It's great to see some of the smaller brands seeing growth too!

I talked with one of the key sales people on the floor who has been there for 10 years and the first thing that she mentioned was that they have had a lot of interest in Scapegoat this year. There was a nice area of the floor dedicated to Scapegoat probably 10-12 styles or so of urban meets outdoor. After hearing that, I had to try a few on because they were alluring to me, a nice mix of style and function, for more casual use, though I probably wouldn't have considered these styles for anything more than apres' use on the mountain.
I really liked "The Standard Jacket" for $275.00. It featured a YKK metal zipper at the front that they call out on their website as being special, I liked the look, but on the jackets that I tried, it was a little rickety especially for the lightweight fabric the zipper kept catching in the zipper guard. But even with that I liked the look of the jacket so much. It had Primaloft Eco insulation and a great use of a rib knit trim and some Bemis adhesive throughout the group that made them unique. I tried the Medium and it fit very nice almost tempting me into buying it.

I also really liked the look of the Flux, but the horizontal stitching with the lightweight fabric must have been hard for the factory to make because the front of the jackets were sort of "wonky" and uneven and this style did not fit as nicely when I tried it on. A, for the idea, but execution needs improvement to support that $275.00 price tag.


Overall, the Scapegoat line was refreshing because they have done a decent job of using some muted soft colors that are very street friendly but fresh feeling. And the subtle differences with the unique use of Bemis adhesive and their sumptuous rib trim make it stand out from the sea of sameness out there.  

Since this posting is already larger than I thought, I'll have to do another posting about the rest of what I saw and heard at Paragon.....soon!  Be sure to get out and vote today!