Latest News & Analysis – Page 303
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Wolverine Is Consolidating European Operations
The Wolverine World Wide group has put forward a plan to centralize its European back-office functions in London and Paris, entailing the closure of offices in the Netherlands and Germany. Customer service and credit control for the Benelux countries, Germany and Austria are to be phased out and moved to ...
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Rocky Brands Sales Slip, But Loss Narrows
Net loss was $2.24 million against a loss of $23.6 million for the period ended Dec. 31. Fourth-quarter revenues were off by 9 percent to $66.0 million. Wholesale sales declined by 5 percent to $49.4 million because of supply chain disruptions caused by a former vendor, and retail sales slipped ...
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Capo Puts New Management At The Top
Capo, the Austrian specialty headwear brand, has appointed a new managing director. Otmar Kräutler, the new chief, had been sales director; he’s been with the brand since June 2008. Before, Kräutler was with various textile manufacturers from within and outside the sporting goods business for more than three decades, including ...
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Vf’S Outdoor Coalition Overtakes The Jeans Core Business
VF Corporation, the huge parent of strong brands such as Wrangler, Lee, Nautilus and, in the outdoor-related business, The North Face, Jansport, Eastpak, Napapijri and Eagle Creek, has announced strong sales for 2008. Revenues increased over the full year by 6 percent to $7.64 billion, mainly driven by the outdoor ...
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Tnf Will Stay Away From The Outdoor Show This Year
It was the major news that echoed off the walls of the outdoor halls at this Ispo Winter: The North Face will not exhibit at the OutDoor show in Friedrichshafen. The rumor was quickly confirmed by Patrik Frisk, the chief of the brand in Europe, the Middle East and Africa ...
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Positive Results For Fenix Outdoor
As it had predicted, the group’s sales in the 4th quarter were strong enough to make 2008 a good year. Its net turnover grew to 216.1 million Swedish kronor (€20.0m-$25.8m) from SEK 194.5 million in the year-ago period, probably thanks to good winter conditions across Europe. Operating profits dropped to ...
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Down With Live Plucking, Say Swedes
Swedish outdoor brands were hit by a slamming TV report about down products earlier this month that claims that between 50 and 80 percent of the producers in China, Poland and Hungary pluck live geese – a process that is said to be very painful for the birds. Both ...
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If Amer Were Only About Outdoor
things would not look too bad at all, but the company deals also with diving, golf and fitness equipment. For all the improvements that came about in its winter sports business, Finland’s Amer group still reported flat sales for its fourth quarter as it suffered a drastic and rapid ...
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Sympatex Is Serious On Sports And Acting Global
For the first time, Sympatex presented itself as a pure sports brand at Ispo. It has revamped its website and the entire look of its advertising and marketing tools. Thomas Baierlein, Sympatex’ chief executive, explained that the company has concentrated its efforts on brand building in terms of transforming Sympatex ...
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Berghaus Hires New People To Meet Global Goals
In order to continue its strategy for global growth, Richard Cotter, Berghaus’ president, has appointed or promoted three top managers. Michael Lockett, previously operations director, assumes the role of vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. Based in Hong Kong, Lockett will work along with Sean Hillier, the company's business ...
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Salewa Sees Continued Growth
Excluding Oberalp, Sportler and other properties of the Oberrauch family, the Salewa group reports an 8 percent sales increase to €136 million for 2008, driven by ski touring and hiking boots, and is budgeting a 10 percent increase to €150 million for 2009. Salewa’s new subsidiaries in North America and ...
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Montane Reports Soaring Sales Worldwide
The British brand for high-end lightweight and breathable apparel had a good performance in 2008. Global sales went up by 32 percent to €6 million. The brand still needs improvement in its foreign sales because 65 percent of the turnover is made within the United Kingdom while the rest of ...
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Columbia Extends Marketing Efforts In Europe
Columbia Sportswear does not intend to lower its marketing efforts as far as the European market is concerned even though the group’s headquarters in Portland, Oregon, announced cutbacks in marketing in other parts of the globe. Antti Kärävä, Columbia’s marketing director for Europe, specified the group’s marketing strategy ...
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66° North Gets Even More Active In Europe
66° North, the Icelandic brand, is entering the Dutch market through a new and independent sales agent, Karine Hölscher. It is also re-organizing sales in the German market, which will now be divided in two. It has taken on Ralph Dzuber as its sales representative for the north of the ...
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Wolverine Sees Record 2008 Despite Fourth Quarter
Net income at Wolverine World Wide fell by 6 percent to $24.1 million for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 3. Operating profit was off by 15 percent in the period to $32.3 million and the operating margin went down by 1.4 percentage points to 9.3 percent. The company’s total fourth-quarter ...
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Outdoor Mall Indicates Strength In China
One of the world’s largest outdoor malls was inaugurated in Beijing last month, with a smattering of international and Asian brands on a sales surface of 6,500 square meters. Oddly called Neil, the mall features shop-in-shops with brand names from Columbia to Deuter, Fjällräven, Lafuma, Meindl, The North Face, ...
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Stronger Dollar Pushes Timberland’S Results Down
The Timberland Company saw an 11.8 percent drop in sales to $390.6 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31. Growth by SmartWool and Timberland Pro could not override the net closure of 28 stores, licensing of its North American apparel business, and a general decline in sales outside the ...
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Visitors At Ispo Were In An Outdoor Mood
A total of more than 60,000 daily visitors were counted at Ispo, compared with 64,000 one year ago, and close to 66 percent of them came from outside Germany, down from 70 percent. The number of visitors was slightly higher than one year ago in the first two ...
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Columbia Cutting Back On Marketing Strategy After Slump
Columbia Sportswear is cutting back planned investments in marketing and retailing after a poor fourth quarter in which group revenues fell by 6 percent to $354.9 million, with three percentage points attributable to foreign exchange rates. In terms of dollars, sales in Europe fell by 21 percent to $59.9 million, ...
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Haglöfs Achieves Record Results In 2008
Seemingly unaffected by the economic turndown, Haglöfs, the Swedish outdoor brand, sailed past its goal of 500 million Swedish kronor in December, with 515 million SEK (€48.6m-$64.5m) in turnover for the full financial year in 2008. That was up almost 100 million SEK (€9.4m-$12.1m) from the 428 million SEK (€40.4m-$51.9m) ...
