Industry

Crazy Creek makes sitting anywhere fun!

Steven Masters — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 12:13:26 +0000

Crazy Creek makes sitting anywhere fun!

Posted in

Industry

Product Feature

Post date

Wed, 10/27/2021

Author

Steven Masters

Interview by Steven Masters

When Alta Group was approached in 2020 with the opportunity to work with Crazy Creek , my brain said “Sweet, Crazy Creek makes legendary chairs!” But my body chimed in “you know you’re not in your 20s anymore, do you really want to sit on the ground?” Mind over matter though, right?

The past year was a blast sharing the fun and excitement that is Crazy Creek, and hearing stories from both dealers and customers about their favorite Crazy Creek memories. There is truly nothing better than working for family run companies. This month I sat down with Forrest Rogers, President of Crazy Creek, to provide a glimpse into what makes Crazy Creek the best way to sit anywhere!

Q: Tell us a little about yourself, and what brought you to Crazy Creek?

A: Born and raised in Arkansas and North Carolina I was lucky enough to meet and marry a Montana girl whose family were avid lovers of a little town called Red Lodge. After getting married here 18 years ago, we set a goal in our lives to live in Red Lodge, raise our kiddos here and be a part of a small community. The owners of Crazy Creek were friends of my father in law and for 8 years we begged them to sell Crazy Creek to us…nothing like a world pandemic to make people want to retire! So in June 2020 our dreams came true and myself and my brother in law Karson were able to buy the brand.

Q: Crazy Creek started making chairs in Red Lodge, Montana in 1987. Take us on the time warp from then until your arrival.

A: From 1987 to 2000 all Crazy Creek’s were made by hand here in Red Lodge. What started with two sewing machines in the basement downtown to at one point 40 sewing machines cranking out 120,000 chairs a year in our current warehouse. But as the world economy changed, along with the inability to find labor to sew chairs in a resort town in Montana….Crazy Creek went overseas. All Crazy Creek Products are made in Nike Spec facilities in China and Indonesia, but are shipped to Red Lodge and distributed to North America from here. Even though we are 35 years old, we are just now setting up distribution and sales in Europe and other parts of the world, of which that product will never make it to Red Lodge, as we’ll ship direct. A fun story starting with Rob Hart and 1 employee to at one point employing over 50 people to today, we run Crazy Creek pretty lean with just 5 employees.

Q: What makes Crazy Creek a great brand?

A: We invented an entire category of outdoor products- the legless chair! Over the years there were at least a dozen other brands knocking off the Original Crazy Creek, all but one have faded away! Why? Our brand is strong ands the warranty and construction are stronger. We were invented by a prolific mountain and ice climber, the original sewing/build process was built to withstand countless trips to the top of Everest, K2, McKinley, the North & South Pole…you name it a Crazy Creek has been there all over the world. We build them to the same specs and design today as we did 35 years ago. We’ve got millions of chairs out there, yet we spend more on plow truck gas than we do on our lifetime warranty annually.

Q: What are you most excited about in the next few years?

A: Growing the brand to its peak, all over the world. There are over 6 billion butts in this world, they all gotta sit somewhere! We’ve cleaned up and gotten rid of all slow moving items we had, focusing truly on just the chairs. We have several new products coming in 2022 (hopefully) that compliment the line perfectly, really can’t wait to share those new products with the world! But ultimately we want to build a brand strong enough that our kids can take the company over and have it thrive for at least another 35 years.

Alta Group, Inc. – Sustainability

Dave Haavik — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 19:29:17 +0000

Alta Group, Inc. – Sustainability

Posted in

Industry

News

Post date

Tue, 10/05/2021

Author

Dave Haavik

For the first time in almost two years everybody in the Alta Group, Inc. got together for what is normally our annual sales/planning meeting. Oh, how we missed being in person together. Two years of meeting as a group via Zoom has been rough, as you all know…

During these meetings we discussed many topics including our budget, brand planning, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats), travel planning, goals, Mission Statement, Strategic Plan, and a whole lot more.

There was one topic of discussion that we all got passionate about, sustainability. This discussion morphed out of the discussion we were having around our Mission Statement. Our Mission Statement has a fair bit of language around holding the brands we represent accountable for environmental sustainability and JDEI (Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). How can we try to hold others accountable when we can’t even hold ourselves accountable?

We, as a group have decided to use “sustainability” in a way to also include JDEI. Sustainability for us is, People, Planet, Product and Profit, in that order.

Shortly after our meeting we were able to engage with a consultant (happens to be Dave Allan’s brother-in-law) to help us learn more about JDEI. This is a learning/education process, not training. Our first meeting with him is in November with quarterly meetings going forward. We have pressed him to make sure there is ongoing work in between each meeting.

Matt Lewis has been taking an online course on Sustainable Business Practices (SBP) over the past few months. There are 4 Pillars of SBP.

Social and Culture
Safety and Security, Wellness, Equity, Diversity and Cultural Inclusion
Economic
Measuring the financial impact of sustainability, communication, performance, stakeholder, corporate education, and training.
Planet
Impact of CO2 and other pollutants by mode of transportation and accommodation, methodologies, creating a carbon footprint.
Management
Manage the business of Sustainability and maintain a healthy balance between the 3 main Pillars

I know we have all been cognizant of sustainability (all encompassing) over the years, but we have never had a plan to hold ourselves accountable. Accountability starts with setting a baseline and growing from there. Clearly there is a lot more depth to this than what is outlined in a short blog post.

This will be a never-ending journey. We are committed in perpetuity.

Alta Group, Inc. – Sustainability

Dave Haavik — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 19:22:39 +0000

Alta Group, Inc. – Sustainability

Posted in

Industry

News

Post date

Tue, 10/05/2021

Author

Dave Haavik

We, as a group have decided to use “sustainability” in a way to also include JDEI. Sustainability for us is, People, Planet, Product and Profit, in that order.

Matt Lewis has been taking an online course on Sustainable Business Practices (SBP) over the past few months. There are 4 Pillars of SBP.

Social and Culture
Safety and Security, Wellness, Equity, Diversity and Cultural Inclusion
Economic
Measuring the financial impact of sustainability, communication, performance, stakeholder, corporate education, and training.
Planet
Impact of CO2 and other pollutants by mode of transportation and accommodation, methodologies, creating a carbon footprint.
Management
Manage the business of Sustainability and maintain a healthy balance between the 3 main Pillars

This will be a never-ending journey. We are committed in perpetuity.

The Alta Group and Philanthropy

Dave Haavik — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 20:26:40 +0000

The Alta Group and Philanthropy

Posted in

Industry

News

Post date

Tue, 06/26/2018

Author

Dave Haavik

When Roody Rasmussen started the Alta Group, Inc. in 1993 Philanthropy was part of the DNA. Myself and Dave Allan, along with the rest of the Alta Group have continued that tradition every year. Our goal is 1% of gross revenue is to be donated to non-profits and other organizations in need. We feel gross revenue is a better goal than some sort of % of profit. Profit is too easily manipulated.

Beyond the cash donations we make, we try to support a lot of other organizations with “in-kind” donations of product and swag. Think Climbing Gym Team fundraisers, school fundraisers, Ducks Unlimited, etc.

Here are some (not all) of the organizations within the Outdoor Industry that we have supported over the years. Not every year, but over the years:

Washington Climbers Coalition http://washingtonclimbers.org
The mission of the WCC is to make Washington a better place to climb through advocacy, stewardship and education.
American Safe Climbing Association http://www.safeclimbing.org
Climbing anchor replacement throughout the US
Friends of the Northwest Avalanche Center https://www.nwac.us
Helps fund the NW Avalanche forecasting center

Obviously, giving back to the community we profit from feels right, but it goes beyond that. We also have made significant donations organizations outside of the Outdoor Industry. For Example:

Ballard Foodbank http://www.ballardfoodbank.org
Local foodbank hear the Alta Groups head office
Union for Concerned Scientists https://www.ucsusa.org
Science for a healthy planet and safer world
SMASH (Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Health Care) https://smashseattle.org
SMASH is a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping our music community healthy and thriving by providing health education, advocacy, and access to affordable healthcare.

Click Here see a full list of 2017/2018 donations.

The Alta Group and Philanthropy

Dave Haavik — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 20:20:28 +0000

The Alta Group and Philanthropy

Posted in

Industry

News

Post date

Tue, 06/26/2018

Author

Dave Haavik

Here are some (not all) of the organizations within the Outdoor Industry that we have supported over the years. Not every year, but over the years:

Washington Climbers Coalition http://washingtonclimbers.org
The mission of the WCC is to make Washington a better place to climb through advocacy, stewardship and education.
American Safe Climbing Association http://www.safeclimbing.org
Climbing anchor replacement throughout the US
Friends of the Northwest Avalanche Center https://www.nwac.us
Helps fund the NW Avalanche forecasting center

Obviously, giving back to the community we profit from feels right, but it goes beyond that. We also have made significant donations organizations outside of the Outdoor Industry. For Example:

Ballard Foodbank http://www.ballardfoodbank.org
Local foodbank hear the Alta Groups head office
Union for Concerned Scientists https://www.ucsusa.org
Science for a healthy planet and safer world
SMASH (Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Health Care) https://smashseattle.org
SMASH is a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping our music community healthy and thriving by providing health education, advocacy, and access to affordable healthcare.

Click Here see a full list of 2017/2018 donations.

FNG’s Closet Chapter 1 - Thoughts as a New Rep

Steven Masters — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 23:00:28 +0000

FNG’s Closet Chapter 1 - Thoughts as a New Rep

Posted in

Industry

Post date

Thu, 01/04/2018

Author

Steven Masters

Although I probably had the shortest tenure as FNG in Alta Group history (3 months, thanks Scott!), I’m still only 9 months into the job. Making a career change to a new job at a new position in the Alta Group comes with certain growing pains, but I feel with the challenges come great opportunities.

Having worked in Outdoor Retail for 10 years, I understand that side of the business really well. It's not easy to juggle all the operations of a store; customers, staff, inventory, operations, sales, expenses, buying, etc. While it’s a big task, having the right people working with you makes all the difference. From my experience, this included my reps that I could count on and looked forward to having worked with me and my staff.

Now as a Rep with the Alta Group, I tend to think outside the box for opportunities to support our dealers. This can be for ways to grow sales at our dealers, engage staff with better training and tools to help them on the sales floor and utilize consumer events to drive customers to local dealers.

The greatest thing I’ve learned and come to appreciate since joining the Alta Group is the importance of excellent communication. When I started the job, one of the few rules the Alta Group has is to respond to all phone calls and e-mails within 1 business day. We have a lot of folks depending on us, between our brands, dealers, event coordinators, and co-workers, and it is important that they can count on us and know that we’re there to take care of them.

Trade Shows and Badges

Dave Haavik — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 22:53:14 +0000

Trade Shows and Badges

Posted in

Industry

Post date

Thu, 01/04/2018

Author

Dave Haavik

I’ve kept the badges from every tradeshow I’ve been to. Weird, I know!

Tradeshows...

I have been attending the various tradeshows within the Outdoor Industry for 30 years or so. For the past 25 years as a sales rep, the 5 years before I attended as a Vendor (Sundog if you remember) and a buyer (The North Face and Vertical Club (Yes, Club, not World yet)).

In many ways, they are exactly the same as they were 30 years ago. Attend Sales Meetings, make show appointments, prep for appointments, travel, more sales meetings, do the show appointments, travel, follow up, collect preseasons and repeat every 6 months or so. Actually, in almost every way they are the same now as they were then.

I remember the first Outdoor Retailer I attended, it was in Reno back in 1988 or 89, not sure exactly. It was in a Ballroom at the Reno Hilton. I have missed 2 Outdoor Retailer shows since. One during a transition of jobs and the other when my oldest daughter was born. I can’t remember when OR added the winter show, but I think I have been to over 50 of them.

One of the changes has been the increasing importance of our regional show. In December of ‘17 and January of ‘18 The Alta Group will have attended 3 different WWSRA regional shows; Bozeman, Portland, and Reno. I think you, the retailers are enjoying the cheaper, slower paced, more efficient aspect of the regional shows. It's nice to sit in one booth and see multiple lines while sitting in one chair!

For the Alta Group, there is a lot of preparation for the regional show. Coordinating with our vendors to make sure that we have samples and collateral on time, planning a booth (Wait till you see us in Portland, new and improved!), setting appointments, setting the booth up, etc.

After the Portland and Reno show, we will be off to the OR show in Denver. First time in Denver, curious to see how it goes. I honestly hope it goes well and jump starts the show again. It seems the attendance for us has been declining over the years but I love the “rendezvous” aspect of the event.

So, if you see me at the OR shows and ask: “how is the show going for you” and I say: “just like the last 50”, don’t think I am jaded, it's just a little blurry.