Few of us have scaled the Eiger. But loads of us have a fleece by The North Face – mine’s red and ‘borrowed’ from an ex 10 years ago. If it’s good enough for a mountain right?

Credibility allows brands like The North Face to transcend the technical and become a something more like an attitude. But how do they do it? Well first by making really good gear, but then so do lots of people.

The North Face are what we think of as a participation brand, it still does the thing that made it famous even if that isn’t what people need from it now. Similarly, if you were to drive up the Eiger in your North Face fleece you’d probably choose a Land Rover. Most Land Rover drivers famously go round puddles but driving one makes them feel like they could, and they just might, have an intrepid off road adventure any day now. And that’s why Land Rovers are great.

It’s this participation vs proximity that separates attitude from lifestyle. An attitude brand gets stuck in and does the thing, a lifestyle brand stands alongside and adopts the look. Which is fine, nothing wrong with that.

Except attitude is real, lasts forever and is born of something fierce and motivating. Lifestyle is an interest and a like, which is a few degrees less powerful. And so participation brands build up a cohort of loyalists who aren’t going anywhere regardless of the vagaries of fashion. From this solid base they can expand their appeal and get more people more involved in the thing they’re doing. But they must never lose the loyalists, never stop participating, never stand alongside and adopt the look. Credibility is what they sell, lose this and they lose their reason to be.

Those brands who have lost their way a little need to refocus on why they started what they’re doing in the first place. Get back involved with what they loved, become a champion of their thing. Because credibility is more important now than ever, when we’re all making harder decisions on what we buy, whether that be through economics, consciousness or concern. And after all, we a live a bit bigger through our proximity to people and brands who get stuck in, do something excellently and really live what they love.