Outdoor Apparel and Technical Outfits: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Patagonia led all tracked brands in valid recommendation coverage in September 2026 at 75.4%, ahead of Arc'teryx at 69.7%, a gap of 5.7 points. The largest coverage increase came from REI, which moved from a reconstructed baseline of 0.0% in August 2026 to 62.4% in September 2026, reflecting a brand-name tracking change from REI Co-op. The largest coverage decline came from Marmot, moving from 28.2% in August 2026 to 22.0% in September 2026, a drop of 6.2 points.

The month was mixed overall, with significant movement in both directions. Beyond Marmot, other notable declines came from Arc'teryx (75.5% to 69.7%), Patagonia (80.8% to 75.4%), Outdoor Research (60.3% to 54.3%), and Mountain Hardwear (36.5% to 31.2%). REI Co-op, which is not part of the September 2026 tracked set after the brand-name transition, moved from 67.1% coverage in August 2026 to 0.0% in the baseline comparison.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 702 qualified observations in August 2026 and 696 in September 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were represented in both months.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Outdoor Apparel and Technical Outfits

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how observations were qualified.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See the AI Market Discovery Methodology for full details.

Current Brand Standings

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view for September 2026, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate is the share of qualified observations in which the brand is mentioned at all, regardless of recommendation status.
• Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations in which the brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist.
• Top-three rate is the share of qualified observations in which the brand appears among the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate is the share of qualified observations in which the brand is the first recommended option.
• Net sentiment is the balance of positive over negative mentions among observations where the brand appears.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Increase: REI

REI appears in the September 2026 tracked set following a brand-name transition from REI Co-op. Its valid recommendation coverage was 62.4% in September 2026, with presence at 82.9% and a top-three rate of 19.1% across 434 valid recommendation observations. The baseline comparison of 0.0% reflects the tracking change rather than an absence of brand activity in August 2026.

Largest Decline: Marmot

Marmot declined from 28.2% in August 2026 to 22.0% in September 2026, a drop of 6.2 percentage points that moved beyond normal month-to-month variation. Presence slipped modestly from 42.6% to 40.2%, while the top-three rate ticked up from 2.7% to 3.0%, meaning the decline was concentrated in lower-ranked or non-shortlist mentions rather than top placements. The brand recorded 153 valid recommendation observations in September 2026.

Category Leader: Patagonia

Patagonia remained the category leader for valid recommendation coverage in September 2026 at 75.4%, down from 80.8% in August 2026. The decrease of 5.4 points moved beyond normal variation. Patagonia's presence rate edged up from 96.9% to 98.3%, and its rank-one rate rose from 47.9% to 49.9%, indicating that even as overall shortlist coverage narrowed, first-position recommendations strengthened. The brand recorded 525 valid recommendation observations in September 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The top three brands by valid recommendation coverage show distinct placement profiles.

Patagonia and Arc'teryx both appear in the top three in the majority of their recommendation appearances, but Patagonia is named first in 49.9% of observations versus 9.8% for Arc'teryx. Close coverage totals can still hide very different first-position rates. REI's September 2026 placements cannot be compared against an August baseline under the same brand tracking.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All 702 qualified observations in August 2026 and all 696 in September 2026 fell into the Brand Recommendation class, where the AI response recommends one or more specific brands.

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery only and does not yet contain qualified observations in the pricing or multi-brand comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Each observation preserves the full context needed to understand how and why a brand appeared in an AI response. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, or the full universe of possible AI responses. It does not capture organic-search ranking, social mention volume, or private and sponsored channels such as branded plugins or paid placements inside AI assistants. Observations reflect what public-facing AI surfaces returned at the time of collection. A movement in any single metric does not, by itself, establish a causal explanation.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index is an independent, neutral industry benchmark that tracks how often and how prominently brands appear in AI-generated discovery responses across major AI and search surfaces. It is published monthly with consistent methodology so that changes over time are comparable.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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