Top outdoor brands head for Vancouver

Leading footwear providers Merrell and Keen have backed this year’s imminent Outdoor Industry Association conference in Vancouver, Canada.

Attendees will arrive in greater number than last year, according to organisers, with the footwear brands providing sponsorship for the three-day event at the Vancouver Hilton.

While the city of Vancouver lies just over the Canadian border above Washington state, there was also good news in store for footwear in the north-west of the US itself.

The University of Oregon this week gave the green light to plans for the state’s first bachelor’s and advanced degrees in product design, destined to start in Autumn 2008.

Aspiring designers lucky enough to get on the course could find inspiration from locally-based sponsor, Keen, who is based in the Oregonian city of Portland.

The area is claimed by many to be a real hub for creatives, making local shoe design a hot industry, with Vancouver now hoping the October conference will boost its own design industry for outdoor products.

Fitness Footwear stocks a range of great outdoor shoes from Keen, such as the Targhee II, while quality shoes from Merrell, such as the Chameleon range, are also on offer