Skins, the Australian brand of compression garments, opened a subsidiary in Munich for the Germanic countries at the beginning of this month, as part of its European sales drive. The operation went into business to speed up the brand’s expansion in Central Europe, ending a distribution contract with Embassy Sport for the German market. Headed by Christian Scheffold, former general manager for New Balance in the Germanic countries and Italy, the Skins subsidiary in Munich will cover the same countries. Scheffold worked previously for Timberland and Quiksilver. It already has a subsidiary in the U.K., headed up by David Ling, which takes care of this country as well as a master agent in France and distributors in Scandinavia. Skins has achieved wide market leadership in compression garments in its home market with annual sales of about 28 million Australian dollars (€17.2m-$27.4m). It only went into Europe through the U.K. three years ago and will generate about £3 million (€3.8m-$6.0m) in that country this year, with a distinctly upper-end distribution strategy. Skins is showing at OutDoor because its sports underwear can be used in hiking and other outdoor pursuits. Among the novelties for next year is a range of compression wear for cycling.
