K2 Sports plans to relocate Tubbs Snowshoes marketing operations into K2's Seattle global headquarters. Tubbs's customer service, credit, distribution, development and manufacturing operations were previously integrated into the K2 Sports organization in 2006. With this move, Tubbs' marketing organization will be integrated into the K2 Outdoor group headed by Brand Director Charles Lozner.
With the formation of the K2 Outdoor group in 2006, Lozner brought together Atlas Snow-Shoe, Karhu and Madshus USA in order to share talent and leverage resources across K2 Sports' Winter Outdoor brands. Lozner has driven the overall brand direction for Karhu for the past five years.
“The Tubbs integration is part of K2's strategy to provide better products and services for its retail partners by operating out of a single facility,” said Robert Marcovitch, K2 Sports' President. “We see this move as an opportunity to increase Tubbs' market leadership with continued product innovations and support for our dealers with groundbreaking consumer marketing and educational programs.
Kathy Murphy, long time industry veteran and key member of the Tubbs group will continue on in a consulting role through October of 2008. “All of us at K2 Sports sincerely thank Kathy and her team for bringing a high level of passion and creativity to the snowshoe industry,” Marcovitch said. “Kathy's leadership over the past 15 years has helped snowshoeing become a perennial growth category for the winter sports market. Her efforts have attracted millions of new consumers to the sport.”
Founded in 1906 Tubbs is North America's number-one selling snowshoe brand for trail walking, fitness snowshoeing and family outings. In 2008, Tubbs will contribute more than $250,000 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation through the Tubbs Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer Snowshoe Series. In addition Tubbs introduces thousands of children to snowshoeing each year and encourages an active outdoor lifestyle through its Winter Fit for Kids program that is part of the physical education curriculum in more than 500 schools.
Tubbs Snowshoes is part of the K2 Sports family of winter sports and outdoor recreational brands. In 2007 K2 completed the build-out of its new 300,000-square-foot global headquarters and its American distribution center in Seattle. Currently K2 Skis, K2 Snowboards, K2 In-Line Skates, Ride Snowboards, Atlas Snow-Shoe, Madshus, Karhu, Line Skis, Full Tilt, Morrow, 5150, Powder Ridge, Little Bear and Tubbs operate out of the Seattle facility.
Last year K2 was acquired by Jarden Corp., a New York Stock Exchange-listed consumer products company that owns popular brands such as Sunbeam and Mr. Coffee. K2 is a division of Jarden's Outdoor Solutions business that includes other leading industry brands such as Marmot, Volkl and Coleman.
