Of most interest to me is the seeming agreement between core industry players about authenticity as a cultural value. "Selling out" is not necessarily seen as making money, but as giving your brand away:
"In other words, selling a stake in your business, selling to the wrong stores, selling bad product or selling too much product — it is all tantamount to selling out."
The young people at the top of this fragmented industry understand that when they lose personal credibility with their core customer base, they lose their businesses.
Or maybe they don't: maybe they are concerned with losing credibility with themselves!
I'm looking for this kind of integrity in the yoga business. It is, after all, an industry based on a spiritual practice.
One of the newest entrants to yoga's tangle on the newsstand offered me the opportunity to make over my body: "lean legs, sexy abs, a firm butt".
Hmmmm.
