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The Ski Shop That Deleted Its Own Stores and Won
In 1984 it was a rental counter on St. Denis Street. By 2016 the last store was gone and the whole company lived online. Here is how two employees bought the place and turned closing stores into the plan.
Dennis Seydel
Dennis Seydel is the Chief Marketing Officer of The North Face, appointed in January 2025 after joining the outdoor brand in 2023 to lead global brand management. A marketing executive who spent 17 years building brands at Nike, he went on to run marketing at YouTube Music and Uber Eats, serve as Chief Brand Officer at healthcare-apparel disruptor FIGS, and lead North America marketing and communications at Tommy Hilfiger. He is known for working at the intersection of culture, sport, and consumer storytelling.
Joe Vernachio
Joe Vernachio is the CEO of Allbirds, the once high-flying wool-shoe brand he is now trying to put back on its feet. A 30-plus year outdoor and athletic industry veteran who started as a product manager at Chouinard Equipment and has since steered product at Patagonia, Nike, Roots, Spyder, The North Face and Mountain Hardwear, he took the top job at Allbirds in March 2024 after three years as COO. He is part product geek, part operator, and an Everest aspirant who once spent a month getting through the Khumbu Icefall.