Eline Le Menestrel and Giorgia Garancini are Gen Z’er, climbers, outdoor lovers, optimists and activists. They co-founded "Be Outdoor Humans", a platform to encourage outdoor practices as a force for good and to help us reconnect with the interdependencies that make life on Earth possible.
The Gen Z Mountains
The Gen Z Mountains
Oberalp Virtual Convention FW23/24
How The Next Generation Shapes
The Outdoor Industry
Three Oberalp generations: Christoph Engl, Ruth Oberrauch, Giulia Gema
What makes Gen Z so relevant?
Oberalp’s average employee age is 36.5 years - and our customers are even older. We asked ourselves: For which generation do we develop products? Aren't we working too much for the present and too little for the future?
The new generation is called Gen Z - and they are actively voicing their demands and are willing to stand up for them.
We all know we will have to change – and it is up to us to induce it. Therefore Oberalp lets Gen Z take the stage.
Our objectives: to listen diligently to Gen Z representatives and to bring us closer together.
How do you approach Gen Z as future clients or employees?
How does Gen Z live?
Over half of the 1 billion TikTok users are between 18-25 years old. Videos associated with the word “outdoor” have been viewed over 8 billion times. To find interesting Gen Z speakers for the convention, we set up our own TikTok channel @meandmymountain, screened more than 1000 profiles – and invited the following four.
Danielle Marie Lister
lives the outdoor experience to the fullest in Yukon, Canada.
Carla Fernandez
is a pilgrim on her way to Santiago de Compostela every summer.
Jamie Wise
is an aspiring trail runner from Stockholm – crunching up to 140 km a week.
Pablo Recourt
is a Belgian climber, cyclist and environmentalist hunting the most exciting 8A.
Simon Schnetzer, Researcher & Climber
Gen Z Knowledge
Simon Schnetzer is an acclaimed youth trend scout and avid climber from Bavaria. On stage he discusses with his audience how to bridge the generational gap between Gen Z and the older generations – with focus on the business aspects. The listeners mainly consist of Oberalp dealers from around Europe who recently met in Zurich.
- A representative survey among 153 Oberalp affiliated dealers
- Gen Z trend talk with Simon Schnetzer
Which conclusions to draw
Simon Schnetzer advises companies like Google or the Bavarian board of tourism on generational topics – and now does it for our convention. He came up with several theses on Gen Z mountain sports enthusiasts – and tested them in a qualitative research interview with an exclusive focus group. The members of the focus group came from all around the world: Sweden, Canada and France.
Simon and his guests discussed subjects like the post-pandemic outdoor frenzy, the sentiments around lifestyle, mountain sports, sustainability, shopping habits and brand awareness.
What Gen Z associates with mountains
Simon's conclusions
Six messages
from youth researcher Simon Schnetzer
Stefan Rainer, CSO Oberalp Group
How to stay relevant for Gen Z
Stefan Rainer is Chief Sales Officer of the Oberalp Group – and at the forefront of the Gen Z strategy.
He dives into the topic from a business perspective: Where is Oberalp at the moment – and where will it be in the future?
5 reasons why
Gazelle Vollhase is a Berlin tech recruiter. She conducted countless job interviews with Gen Z’ers and sees them as an incremental and vital part of every company.
Gazelle Vollhase, Recruiting Expert at Idealo Berlin
Our conclusion: The Oberalp Board4Next
How will we let young generations change Oberalp? We felt that we need to give them more room. We therefore created Board4Next.
Everybody at Oberalp under 28 can apply. Here, the chosen eight will take on real business cases.
What motivates us
Engineering next-generation mountain gear: The ideas and stories behind the Winter 23-24 collections.
From the catwalk to the shelves