February 23, 2010

Eleanor Sachs, our executive vice president, and I attended the first 5 days of the Olympics on behalf of our client 180s to execute a guerrilla marketing initiative that involved handing out over 500 ear warmers, working the crew from the Today Show and connecting with the Mayor of Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver. Here are the trends that we saw (keeping in mind that it was not cold, but rained every day we were there).

  • People were dressing for wet, not to stay warm (except at the venues, which were slightly colder).
  • The North Face was everywhere, followed by Arc’teryx, and Patagonia once in a while.
  • Black, black, black. Everything was black.
  • Puffy jackets are in. Even though it was not cold, puffy and especially black puffy was in.

With regard to footwear, in order of popularity:

  • Sneakers (Nike, Adidas and Puma a distant third) were top choice in and around Vancouver. Fashion boots with jeans tucked in (they had to be black or brown).
  • Converse. Even the Heineken house had Converse sneakers in their logo.
  • Hunter or Hunter”ish” boots were huge. (Even up at the Cypress Mountain, which was freezing. We did hear complaints from people wearing rain boots because of the lack of insulation.)
  • Uggs were there, but not big.
  • DC and Vans style of sneakers were definitely the uniform for young guys.

And speaking of uniforms, have to continue spreading the love on the US snowboard team’s throwback Americana look, designed by Burton and enhanced with GORE-TEX. The are-they-or-aren’t-they jeans, whether loved or hated, have been a hot topic.