Latest News & Analysis – Page 238
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Good times for public outdoor companies
The good old days are over for the outdoor industry, says Rolf Schmid, president of Mammut and the European Outdoor Group, in a message to his colleagues in preparation for next week's Ispo Munich trade show, where the EOG is organizing many meetings and events. Admitting that the industry is ...
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A clearer picture of the big Chinese market
We finally made it, just in time for the Ispo Beijing trade show that started today. After two years of research and extensive travel to many large and small cities in the country, last week we were able to finalize the most comprehensive report ever published about the Chinese sporting ...
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OR celebrates female leadership and local manufacturing
In a preliminary statement, Emerald Expositions, the new organizer of the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, reported a total of more than 1,036 exhibiting brands and an estimated 22,000 visitors at last week's edition of the American trade show in Salt Lake City. It mentioned “an air of optimism and excitement” ...
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Keen will make shoes in Europe
Keen Footwear will offer the first three models of shoes with the “European Made” label for the autumn/winter 2015/16 season, backed by a high-budget marketing program. They are being outsourced to an unnamed Italian company that uses a direct injection process and has a modern manufacturing facility in Romania. The ...
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Kamik makes two important appointments
Kamik has appointed a seasoned European manager, Patrick Chevallier, as its vice president of international sales. The 52-year-old Frenchman will replace Donald Flam, who is expected to retire in about three months' time. The fast-growing Canadian brand, owned by Genfoot, has also promoted Catherine Cook to a new position as ...
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Confluence hires a new international director
A 36-year veteran of the international sporting goods industry, Alistair Thorburn, has been appointed managing director of international operations for Confluence Outdoor, effective from Jan. 1. He acted most recently as international president of Pure Fishing, the big fishing tackle subsidiary of Jarden Corp., where he coordinated 19 different subsidiaries. ...
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Klättermusen hires global sales director
John Zopfi has been appointed as global sales director at Klättermusen, the Swedish outdoor brand, from the start of this year. The recruitment could be regarded as part of the brand's strategy to expand its distribution under the ownership of Scope, a private equity firm that bought a majority stake ...
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Leadership transition secured at Nomad
Peter Korver has been appointed to the helm of The Nomad Company, the Dutch outdoor brand, which was hit last summer by the death of its owner and managing director, Barry Kooijmans, in the Malaysia Airlines flight shot down over Ukraine.Korver is a well-known personality in the Dutch sports business. ...
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New structure for Timbuk2 in Europe
Timbuk2 Europe is a new Dutch-based company that has been set up by a veteran of the outdoor industry to distribute the rather distinctive messenger bags and other products of Timbuk2 in Germany, Austria, the U.K. and Ireland, a territory that had been previously covered by Bradshaw Taylor out of ...
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Jarden finished 2014 well
In a preliminary statement, Jarden Corp. said a few days ago that it is likely to report on Feb. 12 sales of at least $2.4 billion for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, thanks to strong organic growth, offsetting a significant negative impact from the strong dollar and other changes ...
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Wolverine reports on sales acceleration
Nine of the 16 brands in Wolverine Worldwide's portfolio delivered double-digit sales increases in the fourth quarter of 2014, led by Chaco, which is adding closed-toe footwear. Sperry Top-Sider recovered in the quarter, posting a high single-digit gain. These and other tidbits were given by the group's management a few ...
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Polartec launches its hybrid wool/synthetic fabric
Wool is as hot as down, and Polartec is going for a hybrid product combined with synthetic fibers to get the best of both worlds, somewhat like Primaloft and Columbia Sportswear a year ago with their natural/synthetic down blends or, a few years earlier, like Toyota with its hybrid gasoline/electrical ...
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The debate on down standards heats up
Producers of outdoor clothing are being invited for the first time by two competing organizations to join a series of discussions about the standards that should be applied in the sourcing of duck and goose down.Patagonia, the undisputed pioneer in this domain, will host a lunch debate at the Ispo ...
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Snow+Rock opens its biggest tri-brand store
The opening by the Snow+Rock group last month of a 12,000-square-foot store in Leeds represents a milestone in a business plan that calls for a doubling of the British retailer's turnover to around £150 million (€192m-$233m) in five years' time under the management of Richard Cotter. Its sales had not ...
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New major alliance in the Chinese outdoor sector
In China, the year ends – at least on the basis of the Gregorian calendar – with a big bang through the forging of a major new alliance in the country's growing outdoor industry: Toread, the country's leading outdoor brand, has agreed to acquire a 20 percent in Tutwo, most ...
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Jack Wolfskin to take over its Chinese business
Tristate Holdings reports that it has reached an agreement with Jack Wolfskin for an early termination of their distribution and licensing agreement in China, as the German outdoor brand is setting up its own business in the country. Jack Wolfskin is estimated to have become one of the five leading ...
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New owner and manager for Eddie Bauer Europa
Eddie Bauer, the American online and offline retailer specializing in outdoor and leisurewear products, has reportedly bought out its German-based licensee, Eddie Bauer GmbH & Co KG. The company belonged to one of two joint manager directors of Eddie Bauer Europa, Werner Schulz, who is now 61 years old and ...
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Sportia takes control of Team Sportia
Through an equity increase, Sportia, a financially solid Finnish chain of nearly 60 franchised stores, is acquiring a 67.5 percent controlling stake in Team Sportia, the third-largest sports retailer in Sweden, which has recently gone through rough times. It's a significant across border transaction that is intended to refinance the ...
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Tecnica is selling Dolomite
The Tecnica Group has signed an agreement in principle to sell its Dolomite brand to an American equity fund, Symphony Global Brands of Washington, D.C., at a basic price of €6.7 million, plus the value of its inventories and other assets. Officials of the Italian company cautioned that the deal ...
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New managers, new DC for fast-growing Bergans
Jochen Hoffmann, who has worked for Norrøna and Berghaus in Germany and the Benelux countries, takes over from Bernd Taube as sales manager of Bergans of Norway for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Taube had left the company in the summer. Bergans has also appointed a new CSR manager at its ...
