There is a version of consumer brand building that almost everyone in this room has seen fail. Paid acquisition campaigns that scale, then crater. Inventory cycles that overshoot, triggering markdowns that destroy margin. Celebrity partnerships that spike awareness without building anything lasting underneath. Communities that look enormous on social media and convert at a fraction of the rate of a far smaller, more loyal base.

And then there is a different version. Slower to build, harder to copy, resistant to the disruptions that shake everything around it. It starts with a product that is genuinely better, reinforced by a community that believes in what the brand stands for, and it compounds in ways no media spend can replicate.

Our next guest is running three of the most pioneering brands in the outdoor consumer space, and building that second version.

Outerknown was founded by eleven-time World Surf League champion Kelly Slater with one mandate: build premium lifestyle apparel with a radical commitment to sustainable sourcing, at a time when most brands were still treating sustainability as a footnote. Firewire Surfboards has spent nearly two decades redefining what a surfboard can be, anchored by world-class shapers and an innovation ethos that has attracted Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, and some of the most discerning athletes in the sport. Slater Designs brings the performance design vision full circle.

In May 2024, all three came together under a single holding company with a global footprint across nearly sixty countries.

Dylan Slater, no relation to Kelly, is the CEO building that future. He spent nearly twenty years at Rip Curl, rising from team manager to President of North America, navigating the brand through pandemic supply chain upheaval and the surge in demand that followed. He left in 2023 to lead Firewire, and a year later was appointed to lead the full holding company.

He is here to talk about what actually works, how AI is reshaping design, forecasting, and marketing; what builds durable brand equity in a world of algorithmic acquisition.