Westbay Trading Company will take over sales in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan for Deuter USA, a leading international backpack brand since 1898.
Westbay is one of the best-established outdoor industry rep agencies in the Great Lakes region, and owner Tom Meier has been with the agency for more than half of its 30-year history.
“Deuter is a technical pack brand with over 100 years of heritage, and we love what we see in terms of the brand’s new direction,” said Meier. “And honestly, German brands are cool.”
Deuter enters spring 2018 with an entirely reinvigorated product line and brand aesthetic, backed by the “My Deuter Adventure” social media and retail campaign, in partnership with Backpacker and Moosejaw. Product highlights for 2018 include a reinvented Futura line of hiking packs with the vaunted Aircomfort Sensic back system, an all-new Aircomfort Lite line of trekking packs named Best Value in Backpacker’s 2018 Gear Guide and the all-new Speed Lite day pack, an Outside Online Reader’s Choice pick.
Under the Westbay agency umbrella, Deuter joins other top outdoor brands including Cascade Designs, Outdoor Research, Reef and Native Eyewear.
The Westbay team, in addition to Meier, consists of George Terrizzi (sales), Shirley Chau (administrative) and David Zwiers (tech rep).