Ben Aidan spent 16 years helping build one of the biggest names in outdoor. Now he's channeling that experience into protecting the mountains that inspired it all along. This November, he's bringing that story to ISPO in Amsterdam.
Ben is speaking at both the ISPO Leaders' Summit (3 November) and the ISPO Expo (4-5 November), and his career is basically a trailer for what he'll cover on stage.
Every industry has its lifers, the ones who've seen every trend cycle, every trade show, every "next big thing" come and go. Ben is one of them. But rather than coast on two decades of outdoor industry know-how, he cashed it in for a new mission: getting brands to fight climate change as hard as they fight for shelf space.
Ben is the Partnership Director at Protect Our Winters (POW) Europe. If you haven't come across POW before, it's a global network of athletes, scientists, creatives and outdoor brands campaigning to protect the winters, mountains and wild places that the outdoor community depends on, by pushing for real climate policy change, not just awareness. Before joining POW, Ben was the driving force behind Salomon's reinvention
The accidental digital kid
Rewind to the late 90s. Ben's in the US, chasing a career in journalism, when he stumbles into one of the first-ever web design courses instead. Right place, right time. That detour led to eight years at a digital agency, then, in 2007, a move to Salomon.
Building a powerhouse
At Salomon, Ben helped launch e-commerce for the brand, then the whole group. By 2013, digital wasn't a nice-to-have, it was the business, and Ben stepped up to Brand Director. A role he held for the next 11 years.
His high point? The 2022 brand relaunch. The brief was to make Salomon younger, more feminine, more urban, more open to people who'd never set foot on a trail. It worked. Revenue climbed from the €600-800 million range to a reported €1.5 billion, and suddenly Salomon trainers were as common on the streets of Paris and London as they were on the trails.
It was also around 2017-2018 that sustainability properly landed on Salomon's agenda. Looking back, Ben's honest that he wishes it had happened sooner. Once a team rallies behind something that matters, he says, the energy it unlocks is a different level entirely.
Sixteen years in, then a leap
Ben left Salomon in summer 2024. No plan B, just a gut feeling that whatever came next had to keep him close to the mountains.
He didn't have to look far for a reason. Ben lives in Annecy, not so far from Chamonix. The climate crisis isn't a headline for him, it's the glacier he watches shrink every time he takes his kids skiing. Combine that front-row seat with 16 years of knowing exactly how outdoor brands think and operate, and the next move made itself obvious. He started volunteering with POW. When a role opened up, he took it, joining POW Europe full-time in December 2024.
Turning brands into climate advocates
Ben's job now is convincing brands they're more powerful than they realise. At POW Europe, he brings together athletes, scientists, creatives and brands into one coalition that can actually shift policy in Brussels, not just talk about it.
"A well-known brand showing up with its whole community behind it gets heard very differently to an NGO knocking on the door alone."
That's the whole strategy in one line. The outdoor industry didn't create the climate crisis by itself, but it's often the first to witness it, and that gives it a credibility nobody else in the room has. Our industry might be part of the problem, but Ben is convinced it is part of the solution.
Why ISPO, and why this year feels different
Ben's no stranger to ISPO. He visited during his Salomon years, back when the show floor was all product and hard sell. What's got him excited about ISPO Amsterdam is watching the event become something bigger: a place where climate and sustainability now share top billing with the gear.
Catch him live across two sessions:
Are you an industry leader? Catch Ben at the ISPO Leaders Summit to watch his session "The Future of Winter Sports: From Climate Risk to Competitive Advantage". Industry leaders will be real about climate risk, materials innovation and what the snowline of 2035 means for the gear we'll all be buying next.
Plus, Ben will also be talking on the Brand & Retail Horizon Stage during the Expo on "How Can Your Brand Drive Climate Policy in Outdoor Sports?" Flying across Europe is often cheaper than the train, mostly down to how the two get taxed. A major EU transport shake-up expected in Q4 2026 could change that. Ben, alongside an athlete and a brand partner, breaks down how outdoor brands can shape decisions like this one.
The thread running through it all
From reinventing a €1.5 billion brand to reinventing what climate advocacy looks like in this industry, Ben keeps coming back to the same question: what can we actually do to make a change? This November in Amsterdam, he's putting that question to the room.
Secure your ticket to ISPO 2026 and catch Ben's sessions live.