CORPORATE AND M&A
+++ Danish footwear manufacturer Ecco has selected Stratasys’ Origin One 3D printing technology to produce molds and shoe lasts using a Henkel Loctite photopolymer, accelerating product development at its plants in Portugal and Denmark
+++ According to Bloomberg News, the Canadian owners of Selfridges & Co., the Weston family, have agreed to sell the British department store operator to Thai conglomerate Central Group
+++ The international data and analytics group YouGov announced the acquisition of the Swiss market and social research company LINK Marketing Services AG, based in Zurich +++
PRODUCT & MARKETING
+++ Revo is the new official sunglasses sponsor of the Società Guide Alpine Courmayeur, a world-renowned mountain guide service founded in 1850 and headquartered near Mont Blanc in the Italian Alps
+++ Vermont-based Anon, a brand under the Burton umbrella, is partnering with Aspen Snowmass to be the official helmet and goggle provider of the Colorado ski resort starting this winter season
+++ For spring 2022, German brand Ion (based in Unterhaching near Munich) is expanding its apparel collections for bad weather bikers of all styles, offering insulated jackets and 3L hardshells, softshells as well as hybrids
+++ Fair fashion supplier Hessnatur has received the German Federal Ecodesign Award 2021 in the product category for its functional Nature Softshell, for which neither PFC nor plastic are processed but only ecologically harmless and renewable resources
+++ Chris Davenport, two-time American extreme skiing world champion and ski mountaineering pioneer, is joining the Ortovox athlete ambassador team this season to raise awareness of avalanche awareness and support the German brand’s mission to protect people and the environment in the mountains +++
EXECUTIVE CHANGES
+++ Toby Xu, deputy CFO, will succeed Maggie Wu as Alibaba’s CFO, effective April 1, 2022
+++ After more than two decades at the helm of Amazon’s German business, Ralf Kleber is handing over the chief executive post to his successor Rocco Bräuniger at the turn of the year, but will remain with the company until mid-2022 to manage the transition
+++ The CEO of the German fashion and lifestyle retail company Breuninger, Holger Blecker, was appointed as the new president of the International Association of Department Stores (IADS)
+++ Ironman Group has hired Suzanne Cohen, who previously held senior consumer marketing positions at JPMorgan Chase & Co, Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts (and its luxury brands), as chief marketing officer
+++ After its recent acquisition of Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Texas-based GSM Outdoors has hired Crispin Powley to the newly created position of vice president of fishing
+++ With Sophia Bolte as influencer marketing manager and Henrik Haberlah as shopper marketing specialist, Salomon Germany has expanded its team at the Munich location with two new marketing specialists +++
CSR & SUSTAINABILITY
+++ California-based company HydraPak, manufacturer of hydration reservoirs and soft flasks for the outdoor, cycling and running sectors, announced that it has reached carbon-neutrality for its entire business in collaboration with and certified by non-profit organization Climate Neutral
+++ According to saferchemicals.org, a group of more than 100 American local, state, and national organizations sent a letter to REI’s CEO Eric Artz on Dec. 8 calling on the company to lead the outdoor apparel industry in a bold transition away from the entire class of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”
+++ U.S. footwear brand Erem, founded in 2021 by former Timberland president and CEO Jeff Swartz and his son Noah, has joined the Plastic Impact Alliance, a grassroots initiative launched in January 2019 in the U.S. by members of the outdoor industry to eliminate single-use plastic in the outdoor industry
+++ Patagonia received the Award for Corporate Excellence from the U.S. Department of State for Climate Innovation because of the company’s work in Argentina to protect nature and advance climate solutions +++
RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION
+++ Sport Factory Pacific Limited, based in Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia, will distribute U.S. B Corp Cotopaxi’s products and message throughout Australasia from March 2022 +++
FINANCIAL RESULTS
+++ Kathmandu Holdings announced that it has accepted the resignation of PwC and appointed KPMG as its external auditor for the financial year ending July 31, 2022 +++
E-COMMERCE & DTC
+++ German shoe manufacturer Lowa has started working with the authorization platform authorized.by and offers all retailers with an online presence to be approved via the platform with the “Authorized Partner“ seal with TÜV-ShopIdent
+++ Sympl, an Egypt-based buy now, pay later platform soft-launched last month, has raised $6 million +++
LEGAL & INSTITUTIONAL
+++ The Italian fair trade agency, AGCM, has fined U.S. online retailer Amazon €1.129 billion for abuse of dominant position in order fulfillment
+++ Austria’s mandatory Covid-19 vaccination law, which is scheduled to take effect from Feb. 1, 2022, through February 2024, requires vaccination refusers over the age of 14 (excluding pregnant women and others not eligible for vaccination for health reasons) to pay a fine of up to €3,600 per quarter
+++ Because of the alleged human rights abuses in China, Australia, Canada and the U.K. have joined the U.S. in its diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022 +++
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