If Utah’s political leadership was under the impression that any short-term damage relating to its opposition to Bears Ears National Monument would fade away, Amy Roberts, executive director of Boulder-based Outdoor Industry Association, put that notion to rest last week.

In a memo to OIA stakeholders, Roberts said OIA would move Outdoor Retailer from its Salt Lake City location in 2019:

As you read earlier this week, Outdoor Retailer is proactively looking for a new home. We owe it to our members to move the show in a timely and responsible way.

I wrote last month about Outdoor Retailer’s influence. Moving OR will be a huge loss for Utah.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert hopes to patch things up with OIA this week. He’ll have to assuage Roberts, who wasn’t thrilled with her reception by Utah’s legislative delegation recently in Washington D.C. He’ll also make the case, as he did in a newspaper editorial Sunday, that Utah’s support of public lands is misunderstood, suggesting his administration hasn’t done a good job communicating that Utah values its public lands heritage.

It’s a hard argument to make, given the lively debate throughout Utah the past couple years relating to the Public Lands Initiative (PLI), proposed federal legislation that codified Herbert’s perspective and those of Utah congressional leaders Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz. All of Utah also weighed-in on the issue. No Governor in America has been more clear on public lands than Herbert.

It’s the PLI to which opponents, including OIA, object. A year ago, Roberts outlined OIA’s concerns in an otherwise cordial letter to Congressmen Bishop and Chaffetz. “We would like to express our gratitude to you and your staff in particular, for the time, energy and resources that have gone towards crafting the Public Lands Initiative (PLI) over the past few years,” Roberts wrote, but then took pains to “point out some of our biggest concerns with the proposed legislation,” including:

The Antiquities Act and the Wilderness Act are fundamental laws that support the outdoor recreation industry, the recreation economy and important recreation assets that are in the national interest. Rollbacks of grazing, wildfire or air quality restrictions that seek to amend or are not aligned with the Wilderness Act or any diminishment of the Antiquities Act will not be supported by OIA.

In the end the Public Lands Initiative died in the finals days of Congressional debate last year. But when President Obama used the Antiquities Act to establish Bears Ears National Monument only weeks later, and Utah leadership doubled down with dramatic opposition, OIA leaders mobilized in protest and signaled plans to move Outdoor Retailer from Utah.

They’re following up, and it’s a bitter pill. Herbert’s own move to establish an Office of Outdoor Recreation, to in part support outdoor industry, was a master stroke, copied last year by Colorado. Brad Peterson, the first executive director of the Office, and Tom Adams, his successor, have been effective in bringing parties together and recruiting business. OR’s move may disappoint Gov. Herbert, but no more than Adams. We spoke last week. I had to ask whether the Office of Outdoor Recreation supported the administration’s position. Adams responded, simply, “We support the Public Lands Initiative.” (It was a dumb question; they are the administration.)

As principled a move OIA would suggest moving OR is, it carries risk. If Utah’s unfit to host OR, what of industry’s choices? Must member actions comport with the “principles” established here? What of decisions to invest in offshore manufacturing, for example, if a company has a choice? It can be everything brands avoid. Sustainable and authentic, it’s often not.

There are important exceptions. Last month, Peter Metcalf, founder of Utah’s Black Diamond, was out front bemoaning Utah’s fitness to host OR. Metcalf’s a powerful spokesperson. As we chronicled in 2015, Black Diamond made the difficult decision to reshore hard-goods manufacturing from Asia to Utah. It’s a gutsy, meaningful move that if copied more, would send outdoor industry into a new economic stratosphere.

At minimum, as OIA moves OR, it should ask its most powerful members to accelerate efforts to invest in local communities and domestic supply chains in support of U.S.-inspired brands. Otherwise, selective actions like moving OR are no more than posturing. The move from Utah divests in a community that’s been a worthy host.

Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Contact him at btaylor@companyweek.com.

For outdoor enthusiasts, the twice-annual Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City is a feast for the soul. Last week’s Outdoor Retail Winter Market, the smaller of the two seasonal gatherings (small being a misnomer), again seemed a wild success, with nearly 1,000 brands and suppliers showcasing the latest in outdoor apparel, gear, materials — and opportunity. The optimism on display here is palpable, fueled now by the realization that outdoor industry has crashed the national scene. Smiles, and profits, flow freely at OR.

With growth comes new challenges though, and as brands scale up to meet growing demand, the industry faces an interesting crossroads. Most companies exhibiting at OR make things outside the U.S. But increasingly, the progressive ethos that informs the tastes of consumers and company development is running counter to the realities of offshore manufacturing. Offshore manufacturing is often everything that brands assiduously avoid. How will industry respond? Where and how will industry manufacturing evolve?

Today making offshore is assumed to be a prerequisite for growth brands. Expertise and margins often demand it. As we’ve chronicled, the offshoring of entire industrial sectors, like apparel manufacturing, has left little in the way of a domestic supply chain for U.S. brands. What’s here is expensive. There’s also a lack of a contemporary blueprint to develop new employees; the ‘institutional memory’ companies rely on in other sectors has faded.

As a result, supply chains stretch from Boulder or Jackson to Ho Chi Minh City or Guangzhou.

But for brands that value sustainability, and B Corp status, and the virtues of place in the development of ‘authentic’ U.S. or regional brands, explaining where one’s products are made and why, especially to a discerning millennial buyer, is increasingly challenging. Making offshore can be inherently unsustainable. Travel and shipping overseas is resource-intensive. Developing and prototyping products can be a messy, wasteful process, especially for small brands. Working conditions in overseas factories, greatly improved from a decade ago, still can be a cause for concern.

And how to impart brand values to such a significant part of one’s business, from thousands of miles away?

It’s hard to find a more progressive company than apparel-maker Toad&Co, founded in Telluride, Colorado. Their mission: “To lead with integrity and weave optimism into everything we do; To create meaningful change through socially & environmentally smart business; To inspire people to live their fullest lives.” It’s powerful stuff for Toad&Co’s target buyer.

Toad&Co manufacturers offshore. Marketing Director Sarah Matt, responding to a Q&A in Outdoor Retailer Daily, said this about the high standards the publication ascribed to its ‘foreign factories’: “We believe the factories we partner with are an extension of our brand, so we work hard to ensure they meet our standards for quality and sustainability, as well as providing fulfilling and humane working conditions.”

It’s a reasonable response, similar to one that a hundred brands would offer.

But Matt would acknowledge that Toad&Co manufacturers overseas primarily because of cost — meaning the factories would certainly be an extension of the brand if Toad&Co was a discount retailer. That’s not the case. To the contrary, most brands exhibiting at Winter Market are premium retailers. These companies earn, and deserve, higher price points because of quality and a value-add mission.

A truly sustainable, social-driven mission would involve manufacturing closer to where products are designed, prototyped and purchased. Shortening the supply chain would ‘green’ a company’s logistical operation. Investing in factories or contract manufacturers here would further embed brands into local communities and strengthen the authenticity of U.S. brands. Most powerfully, shortening the supply chain would create domestic, middle-class jobs and create fulfilling working conditions our communities need.

How to reconcile the dissonance of offshore manufacturing with the progressive vibe outdoor brands seek? The answer, of course, lies in the development of a more robust domestic supply chain.

Acknowledging the massive investments brands have made in overseas manufacturing is also part of a solution. It’s easy to throw stones; it’s harder to actually build and maintain a profitable business from several thousand miles away. And so many companies have navigated the complex, difficult process brilliantly. How else to account for the riches at OR?

Celebrating their success as both public and private voices contemplate a resurgent domestic supply chain is our path. More on the journey in the coming weeks.

Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Contact him at btaylor@companyweek.com.

If there’s a better job in business media than reviewing the stories and photography filed every week by our network of contributors, I’ll have to be reminded what it is. Business is about people and companies, and every week, I’m left shaking my head by the work, the passion, the outcomes, of those we write about.

In addition to the stories you favored most, here’s my list of gems from the past year, manufacturing stories that speak to why we do what we do.

1. Raw Urth Designs — The company’s tagline says it all for me — ‘A boutique metal shop creating custom designs.’ We need more ’boutique metal shops’ in our economy, companies that cut, bend, and weld; that celebrate entrepreneurship; and a passion for making things.

2. Naked Edge Snacks — I love Jonathan Castner’s photographs of John and Lisa McHugh, not to mention that they’re poster children for Colorado’s nation-leading natural and organic food sector that’s transformed the regional economy. We wrote about a couple dozen similar businesses in 2016 — coverage we’ll continue in 2017.

3. Swiss-O-Matic — Take your pick of companies from the machining ecosystem we profiled in ’16, they’re all favorites. But Claude Rocchia’s outpost in Montrose connects past and present, using magnificent machines from the 20th century to fabricate intricate parts for today’s OEMs.

4. Agri-Inject — Can manufacturing transform rural economies? Ag-tech certainly will, and Erik Tribelhorn’s company and others on Colorado’s eastern plains like Graham Electric Planter are helping farmers reinvent the sector while creating high-value jobs. Why are we so slow in rallying support for more early-stage, rural manufacturers? Their payback is colossal.

5. Industry Report: Cannabis R&D in Colorado — CompanyWeek Editor Eric Peterson’s exhaustive look at cannabis and hemp-related science underway in Colorado exposes our collective failure to educate the public on the different outcomes of cannabis legalization, some that have nothing to do with recreational use. The chilling effect of misguided federal policy on legitimate science can be breathtaking. Take note. Now.

6. Fly Pedals — On a lighter note, is there a better business story than two aspiring entrepreneurs reshoring the manufacture of a consumer product to the U.S. from China? Especially one that involves a foundry and machining? Simple answer. No.

7. Wynkoop Brewing Company — Take your pick of the dozens of craft brewers we profiled in 2017, but former Wynkoop brewer Bess Dougherty’s big personality stole the show for me. I also enjoyed Jonathan Castner’s photo expose from his epic summer cycling sojourn through Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, which brought us Black Tooth Brewing Company and Grand Teton Brewing, among others.

8. The Whole Works — If I were to guess, Colorado’s apparel and outdoor industry sector will transform into a modern, tech-driven manufacturing ecosystem, with brands locating here to develop, prototype, and test. Those who make here in volume will utilize cut-and-sew operations that are able to scale and modernize, and recruit and train qualified sewers. Certainly one of those will be The Whole Works in Rifle, Colorado.

9. Watson Mills — Builders and craftspeople share an important space in our economy with benders and fabricators, and Todd Palmer’s artisans stood out for me. We profiled them in January of last year and I never lost sight of their skill set. None of us should.

10. Housefish — See above. And buy locally made stuff!