Travel Gear: Trekking Gloves

In Marketing class I learned about a man who had a bunch of folding stools to sell. He first positioned them as general-purpose folding stools, but there were no takers. He sold them all when he positioned them as fishing stools.

A well-positioned product connects with a specific market. With a bit of luck, the sale requires minimal targeted advertising and fetches a premium price.

This week I’ve been in the market for gloves. Not just any gloves, but gloves to protect my hands when I clamber over rocks and ride scree.

I’ve explored volcanic trails without gloves. After a few days of clambering, the tips of my fingers crack painfully at the cuticles.

REI outdoors equipment store had gloves at various price points. Some were north of $100, but nothing met my need.

After some discussion, two sales associates suggested the $38 leather work gloves. “Built for tough jobs in the outdoors, … keep your hands warm without giving up dexterity.”

I did not want gloves that are too heavy and too hot for subtropical trails.

But I now had the right positioning word: “work.”

I drove over to The Home Depot where an associate from Tanzania led me to the work gloves aisle. The selection ranged from $5 to $20.

I thought about the group of hikers I had seen at a trailhead on Japan’s Yakushima Island earlier this year. They were putting on gloves of a type I had not seen at REI: regular work gloves.

I left with a $10 pair of “Grease Monkey” work gloves.

Had REI positioned these as “trekking” gloves, the price point could have been nearer $50.

The protection is where I need it: leather for fingers and palms, breathable mesh on the back. These are not substitutes for the job, they are exactly what I need.

This winter I will be wearing my monkey gloves while actual monkeys go about their business in the forest.