Latest News & Analysis – Page 289
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Camping Boost Helps Market Decrease Stay Small For 2009
NPD Group has put out some figures on the 2009 European market for outdoor products just in time for the OutDoor show in Friedrichshafen. The market research firm found that in the 36 countries surveyed, sales after VAT slid by about 1 percent to €14.3 billion, after 1 percent growth ...
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Patagonia’S Distribution Puts On The Brand’S Shoes
Patagonia confirmed that it was taking the European distribution of its footwear range in its own hands to optimize its sales in specialist outdoor stores. The brand’s footwear business is currently handled by Wolverine Worldwide, but Patagonia Europe indicated that it wanted to deploy more focused resources behind its footwear ...
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And Puts New Benelux Distribution In Place
Ultimate Outdoor, a new Dutch distribution company, was appointed agent for Patagonia in the Netherlands. It takes over from John Zopfi, a Patagonia manager who previously handled the brand’s sales in the Benelux countries and Denmark from his office in Eindhoven, in the south of the Netherlands. After the change ...
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Tecnica Sells 30% Of Lowa
As it turns out now, Tecnica Group, which is launching some interesting new products, sold a 30 percent stake in Lowa last year at an undisclosed price to boost its finances in the midst of the international economic crisis. Riko, a large contract manufacturer in Slovakia, bought a 20 percent ...
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Merrell Works With Vibram On Barefoot Technology
Consolidating its partnership with its biggest single client, Vibram has developed a special thin sole for Merrell that will be used in a more commercial line of shoes than its own successful FiveFingers range, but with a special minimalist look as well. Officials of Wolverine World Wide indicated that ...
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Vibram Continues To Grow
The success of the FiveFingers line contributed to a rise of about 7 percent in the turnover of Vibram in 2009, offsetting a small decline in the outdoor sector that was evidently due to the difficult economic situation. It grew to $110 million including $30 million worth of sales by ...
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More Financial Information On Black Diamond
Three executives own 39 percent of Black Diamond Equipment, the new public U.S. company coming out of a reverse merger of the former Black Diamond and Gregory Mountain Products under the umbrella of the former Clarus Corporation, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prior to ...
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Fiskars’ Brands Get A New Grouping
The integration of Silva and Gerber, the two specialist outdoor equipment brands owned by the Fiskars group, is moving ahead with the formal launch of Fiskars Outdoors, a unit regrouping the sales and marketing operations of the two brands. Four years ago, Finland’s Fiskars group acquired Silva, the Swedish ...
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New Upswing For Dale Under A New Shareholder
Dale of Norway, the specialist in high-end pullovers, predicts that it will lift its sales and profits this year for the first time since 2002. The brand saw its sales shrink continuously from nearly 150 million Norwegian kronor to about NOK 80 million (€9.9m-$12.4m) last year, and it consistently reported ...
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Chinese Sourcing Costs Are Rising Independently Of The Yuan
The free float of the Chinese yuan/renmimbi is expected to have less of an impact on the cost of sporting goods imported into Europe than local inflation, the rising cost of raw materials and the recent devaluation of the euro. While the gross margins on most sporting goods products are ...
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Press Jury Picks Best Scandinavian Products Of The Year
A jury of European outdoor journalists, presided by Frank Wacker of the German Outdoor magazine and with the participation of the editor of this publication, came together near Gothenburg in mid-June to select the best Scandinavian products at the request of the Scandinavian Outdoor Group. The overall winner for ...
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Study Looks At Trail-running In The U.S.
The Outdoor Foundation partnered with Montrail to do a study of trail-running in the U.S., finding that 4.8 million Americans aged 6 and older participated in the sport last year. They made 153.7 million outings for an average of 31. 8 days per person. Among those who are trail-runners, 82.6 ...
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Sourcing In Asia Faces Increasing Trouble
The weakened exchange rate of the euro against the dollar, which the editor of this publication mentioned in the “famous last words” of the last issue, is just one of the problems affecting European brands and retailers of outdoor products, compounded by the rising cost of many raw materials. ...
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Lafuma’S Chinese Deal With Lg Improves Korea’S Strength In The Region
The Lafuma Group has been working with a family-owned company in Hong Kong, Toronto, to introduce its core Lafuma brand into the outdoor market of mainland China. The operation is now profitable on annual sales of €3.2 million, but Lafuma wants to take it to a higher level, requiring heavy ...
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Lafuma Improves Its Profitability
While its sales are still weak, the Lafuma Group is gradually turning around. One year after a major refinancing that resulted in the arrival of new investors, the improved results allowed the French company to generate €8 million in free cash flow during the first six months of its current ...
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Pentland Follows Vf’S Move To Help Blacks Out
Pentland, the owner of Berghaus, Brasher and other brands, snapped up a stake of 5.87 percent in Blacks Leisure Group, as part of several changes in shareholding that accompanied the leading British outdoor retailer’s equity increase last month. Pentland already has a stake of about 57 percent in JD Sports ...
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Summer Feeling At Kjus - And At Belowzero, Too
The Swiss high-end brand of snow wear is launching its first summer collection for spring-summer 2011. The new range is called the “Perfomance Lifestyle” collection and will display “uncompromising performance,” according to Nico Serena, head of research and development and son of Didi Serena, the chief of LK International. ...
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Unterwegs Joins Outdoor-profis And Sport 2000
The Unterwegs group, the big fish in the pond of north German outdoor retailing, has finally joined Outdoor-Profis, the large buying and marketing group of specialty retailers, as its now by far largest member. The group runs eight regular outdoor stores; additionally it operates one outlet shop in Bremen, an ...
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Owner Says Quality Kept Patagonia Ahead Of Economy
Yvon Chouinard, the founder and owner of Patagonia, told Entrepreneur Magazine in a recent interview that sales for the fiscal year ended April 30 should be about $340 million, marking one of its “two best years ever.” The other best year was the one ended April 2009, with sales of ...
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Gregory Appoints New Distributors; New Parent Completes Bd Deal
The U.S. backpack brand has sealed distribution deals with five partners in European countries where Gregory has not had any presence so far. Hugo Youngman, the chief of the European operations, told this publication that he picked distributors rather than agents for the new markets. In the Czech Republic, ...
