Latest News & Analysis – Page 304
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Lafuma’S Eider Purchase Pays Off For Year
Sales for Lafuma Group were up by 14.6 percent to €53.5 million for the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31. However, excluding Eider, which the company bought last year, revenues were down by 5.5 percent. The drop came after a particularly strong fourth ...
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Rab Sets Sails For America
Rab, the British brand for technical mountaineering apparel and equipment, has just opened its own subsidiary for the U.S. market. The Brits showed up at the OR show for the first time two years ago and now consider the American market attractive enough to install their own operations in Boulder, ...
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Sog Sets Up American And Chinese Branches
The Scandinavian Outdoor Group celebrated the premiere of its Scandinavian Village at this winter’s OR show in Salt Lake City. The Nordic group currently made up of 32 brands decided in Utah to establish its own group of Scandinavian brands in America. The founding members of this new organization ...
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Vf Realigns Its Coalitions
VF Corporation is realigning its management structure, giving more responsibilities to three relatively young executives in Europe and the U.S. following its latest acquisitions. In Europe, VF is setting up a new “coalition,” called Sportswear and Contemporary Brands EMEA, to foster the development of the recently acquired 7 For All ...
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Tsl Goes Snowshoeing With Hagan
Hagan, the big player in touring skis, will take over the distribution of TSL in Austria and Germany. TSL is the big French manufacturer of snowshoes that also offers poles, backpacks and other hardgoods. Hagan is run by Franz Siegesleuthner, who also distributes Garmont in the region. Former distributors were ...
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U.S. Market Rolls Between Obama And ‘Oh, No!’
Visitors were down slightly at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market exposition in Salt Lake City that took place more than a week ago, but there were more exhibitors and the organizers are considering it a good show. About 16,500 attendees went to the show, down about 5 percent from last ...
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Teva’S Parent Puts On The Ahnu Shoes
Ahnu, a young brand for outdoor footwear, has been acquired by Deckers Outdoor Corporation, the parent company of Teva and a few other brands. Its founder and president, Jim Van Dine, will remain with the company. Van Dine was once an executive of Deckers, but served as president of ...
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Wolverine Buys Three More Footwear Brands
The purchase includes Chaco, a paddle-inspired footwear brand, and ULU, a premium brand of performance winter boots. The two brands were under the same helm before. Chaco is based in Colorado. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Additionally, Wolverine acquired Cushe, a British brand for outdoor-inspired footwear. Chaco ...
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Messe Fn Gets Prepared For Record Run On The Outdoor Show
Messe Friedrichshafen, the organizer of the OutDoor show, is preparing its venue and the infrastructural implications for the 16th OutDoor to take place at Lake Constance from July 16-19. After a provisionary easter entrance for a while, the trade visitors will see a completely new eastern entrance with brand-new ...
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2009 Starts With A Big Partnership In European Specialty Retailing
Globetrotter Ausrüstung, the huge German outdoor retail chain and mail-order retailer, is on honeymoon with its Swiss counterpart, Transa Backpacking, the leader in Switzerland’s specialty outdoor retailing. The Hamburg-based German retailer has bought a 25 percent stake in the Zurich-based company, whose common stock capital is CHF 450,000 (€303,380-$402,860). ...
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A Change Of Generations At Gore Footwear
There are only rare opportunities to call a change in a management “historic.” It is pretty much historic though that Thorger Hübner has recently stepped down from the top of Gore-Tex’ global footwear operations. The 65-year-old has retired after 27 years of leading W.L. Gore’s shoe business. Hübner has been ...
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Management Changes At Hi-tec
Barney Gollings was appointed last week to the new position of international sales and marketing director at Hi-Tec, the U.K.-based outdoor, uniform and sports footwear brand. The move is part of Hi-Tec’s plans to beef up the resources of its international division, which deals with all countries not covered by ...
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Schöffel Is Up Thanks To Outerwear
Schöffel, the German manufacturer of ski- and outerwear, reached sales of €75.5 million in 2008 compared with €72 million in the previous year. Peter Schöffel, managing partner of the company, said that the turnover of the Schöffel brand was up by 14 percent, but he did not disclose what the ...
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More Americans Get Up, Get Out, Get Moving
The 2008 Outdoor Recreation Participation Report shows that Americans overall are getting outside and being active more, but children’s numbers dropped. The report, a result of an online survey of more than 60,000 Americans over age 6, covers 114 outdoor activities. It found that the rate of participation in ...
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Oeko-tex Changes Measurements, Adds Dangerous Substances
The Oeko-Tex Association has changed its Oeko-Tex Standard 100, used for testing textiles for harmful substances. The limit values and test criteria are to be expressed in milligrams per kilogram (“mg/kg”) as of Jan. 1, changing from the previous parts per million (“ppm”). This way confusion will be avoided with ...
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U.S. Sales Were Down In November
The U.S. outdoor retail business appears to be facing lower income as of November 2008, according to a survey sponsored by the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) and conducted by The Leisure Trends Group. The survey is called “Outdoor Topline Report.” According to this survey, sales were down in November ...
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Oia Takes Action To Strengthen Retail
Anticipating increasing market shifts in 2009 due to continuing economic difficulties, the American Outdoor Industry Association has put out a refined strategy to support outdoor specialty retailers through training, education and timely research. The OIA has just launched the so-called Outdoor Specialty Retail Survive or Thrive Assessment Tool, which ...
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European Outdoor Group Invites Oia To Transatlantic Eco Coop
The European Outdoor Group (EOG), the federation of the leading outdoor brands marketed in Europe, calls for an open meeting at Munich’s Ispo show to inform about the latest activities of the federation’s Sustainability Working Group (SWG). The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 10:30 a.m. in Room ...
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The North Face Teams Up With Apple; Parent Lowers Guidance
The North Face has developed in cooperation with Apple a special software for snow enthusiasts for their iPhones. The freeware, called “The North Face Snow Report,” supplies the iPhone user with weather forecasts, maps, and information on snow and wind conditions. The snow report is applicable for all major ski ...
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Eco-friendly School Signs On With Vaude
Vivalpin, the private mountain and ski school in Germany, has teamed up with Vaude, the German specialist in mountain sports equipment. Vivalpin mountain guides and ski instructors will use equipment and apparel by Vaude and by its subsidiary Edelrid. Both brands will also be prominently featured in the school’s catalog ...
