Confirming a report in OCC, a well-informed source tells us that Lowe Alpine will get out of the apparel sector again, starting with the spring/summer 2015, to focus again on backpacks and accessories. Equip Outdoor Technologies, the British company that bought the brand from Asolo in October 2012, had restated Lowe Alpine's apparel collection last year, after a three-year absence from the market. The line was sold only in the U.K. until the autumn/winter 2013/14 season, generating sales about €2 million for the year, and the distribution was enlarged to other countries this spring. Feeling evidently that it did not get the desired level of acceptance, Equip Outdoor has now decided to focus its development of apparel products on its lower-priced Rab brand, whose sales have been growing at an annual rate of about 30 percent. Run by Matt Gowar, the group approached total sales of £40 million (€49m-$67m) last year, compared with £16 million seven years earlier.

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