Astral, the maker of premium PFDs and footwear based in the USA, has established its own presence in Europe.


Philip Curry, CEO and director of R&D, describes the new arrangement: “Astral needs to be in the community in order to serve it. We simply cannot do that to our standards using a traditional distribution model. So, we have assembled an amazing team on the ground in Europe, and we'll work directly with them to better serve the market there.”
   
Jutta Kaiser of HF/Paddle-People will lead Astral's European effort and act as chief administrator. She will work in conjunction with Astral sales agents Olli Grau in Central Europe and Bennett Barr for Scandinavia and UK. Order fulfillment for all of Europe will come from Astral stock well positioned in UK and Germany.