This article highlights the interdependence between the innovation trajectories of sporting goods and the strategic dynamics of the small companies that support them. As regards to innovation, the state of the art unveils that small and very small companies tend to be put aside, even though they are identified as performing in innovation in the outdoor sector. For them, recent literature suggests to address innovation both at the strategic and operational level. This article will draw on the cross-fertilization of sociotechnical network and business strategy analyses, especially through the exploitation versus exploration dilemma. We undertook a longitudinal survey of an outdoor small company through twelve semi-structured interviews, field observation and secondary data. JEL Codes : O31, Z21