The Challenge
Working Within the World
Zumiez already had a concept. They had a theme — Warped World — and a roster of vendors already in motion when they brought Alt Ethos in. The brief wasn't to conceive the event from scratch. It was to design specific environments within someone else's creative framework, alongside other collaborators, without losing the thread of what makes the experience feel cohesive.
That's a different discipline. It requires fluency in a brand's visual language, the confidence to bring genuine creative contribution, and the operational precision to execute alongside other production partners without creating chaos. Alt Ethos co-designed the concept with Zumiez's team, working to keep every element fresh while staying unmistakably on-brand for one of skateboarding and action sports culture's most recognizable retailers.
"Working within someone else's world isn't a constraint. It's a different kind of craft."
Photo — Custom Tube TV Structure · Build Night · April 2022
The custom tube TV structure under construction — Keystone Conference Center ballroom, April 2022
The Solution
Three Environments. One World.
Alt Ethos designed and produced three distinct physical environments for the Zumiez 100K — each with its own identity, each connected by the "Warped World" thread, each built to be experienced rather than simply seen.
The Outdoor Entrance — Real Fire
Attendees didn't walk into the event through a lobby. They walked through a residential back patio built at scale — a cedar pergola, living plants, 120 feet of artificial turf running the full approach, and a real fire pit at the center. Fire marshall approval was required. It was obtained. The fire was real. The smoke in the mountain air was real. The moment of walking from hotel corridor into a glowing backyard at altitude — that was real too.
The 100-Foot Blanket Fort — Beautiful Chaos
One hundred feet of blanket fort hallway constructed from layered fabric, safety pins, string lights, and sheer controlled mayhem. The interior was packed with hundreds of stuffed animals — warped, strange, UV-reactive — illuminated by blacklights that turned the whole space into a fever dream. Bean bags and pillows lined the floor. People sat down. They stayed. And the stuffed animals were designed to leave with them. Strange enough to be irresistible, curated to feel like a discovery — every animal taken home extended the experience past the event itself. The keepsake was part of the design from the beginning.
The Prize Room — You Walk Through the Screen
The prize room was housed inside a custom-built vintage tube television — constructed from truss, clad in period-appropriate vinyl with wood-grain finish, ventilation grille details, and oversized channel knobs. The screen opening was outlined in LED strip — pink and red, glowing — and the interior held the event's prize distribution environment with graffiti murals and illuminated installations. Walking in meant walking through the television screen. The structure filled a full ballroom corner. The sketch that became the build lives inside a TV frame for a reason.
Photo — The Blanket Fort · Stuffed Animal Wall
Photo — The Blanket Fort · Attendees Inside
The 100-foot blanket fort — UV blacklight, fairy lights, and hundreds of stuffed animals. Attendees stayed longer than expected.
Inside the Project
What Made It Work
The Brief
They Had the Theme. We Built the World.
Co-designing within an existing concept — working alongside Zumiez's in-house team and other vendors — required understanding the brand deeply enough to make genuine creative contributions without overriding the whole. Alt Ethos designed the concept collaboratively, adapting and problem-solving in real time.
Real Fire
The First Thing You Felt Was Heat.
A real outdoor fire pit at a mountain resort. Real cedar pergola. 120 feet of turf running the full approach. Alt Ethos handles every compliance, infrastructure, and site coordination requirement as part of standard practice — so the client experience is simply: it was there, it was real, it worked. The fire was the first thing attendees encountered. It told them immediately this wasn't going to be a normal conference.
The Fort
Designed to Be Taken Home.
The stuffed animals weren't just environmental dressing — they were designed to be taken. Alt Ethos selected and curated creatures that were strange enough to be irresistible: warped, UV-reactive, character-driven. We knew attendees would want them. We made them want them more. Every animal that left in someone's bag extended the experience past the event itself. The corridor became a destination. The keepsake became the souvenir no one planned for — because we planned for it.
The Television
Everything a Client Needs to Walk Through.
The TV structure began as a sketch on paper — hand-drawn dimensions, facade notes, a rough profile of what the screen opening would feel like at scale. It became a full architectural element built on truss inside a hotel ballroom. Designing something you walk inside requires thinking about entry, threshold, and what the transition from one space to another should feel like. We thought about all of it.
The Build
Five Days. Everything Delivered.
Load-in began April 6th. The event was April 12th. The outdoor patio, the pergola, 120 feet of turf, a fire pit, a 100-foot blanket fort, and a custom-built television structure — all installed, dressed, lit, and ready. Delivered on time and within budget.
The Collaboration
Staying Fresh Inside Someone Else's World.
Zumiez's "Warped World" was already defined when Alt Ethos joined. The contribution wasn't to redefine the theme — it was to bring specific environments to life that felt like they could only have been designed by people who understood both the brand and the craft of experiential design. That distinction is the whole game.
The Outcome
Built. Delivered. Remembered.
The Zumiez 100K brought together over 1,000 of the company's top-selling store employees, regional leaders, and corporate team from across North America for a multi-day conference and awards event. Alt Ethos's environments were integrated into the full event flow — the entrance, the hallway, the prize room. They were experienced by everyone who attended.
The blanket fort stayed populated for longer than planned. The fire drew people outside. The television became the backdrop for the event's prize ceremony. None of those outcomes were in the brief. They were the result of designing environments that people actually want to be in — not just walk past.
Delivered on time. Within budget. Alongside other production partners, inside a venue that required fire marshall coordination at elevation in the Colorado mountains.