K2 Sports plans to move its worldwide headquarters in the coming months from Vashon Island to Seattle, Wa. K2 Sports sales, finance, customer service, and legal departments will move in August and its marketing teams will be in place at the new location by September. The move of K2s business operations will be completed when the product development, machine shop, test lab, and prototyping personnel move to the new facility in early November.
K2 Sports has operated on Vashon Island since the early 1960s. During that time K2 has grown from a small American ski company which manufactured its products on Vashon, to a global enterprise with wholly owned subsidiaries in Europe, Canada, Norway and Japan. In addition to K2 skis, the company also sells K2, Ride, Morrow, Liquid and 5150 snowboards, Atlas and Tubbs snowshoes, K2 Inline skates, Ride Outerwear and related accessories around the globe. K2 Sports also has global operating responsibility for the Madshus brand of Nordic ski equipment based in Biri, Norway and has recently announced the acquisition of the Karhu and Line brands further adding to the scope and reach of its business.
“Due to the strong internal growth K2 Sports has posted over the past five years the ability to expand and grow our businesses has more opportunity for success in the dynamic Seattle environment,” said Robert Marcovitch, President of K2 Sports. “Although we have successfully run our business on Vashon for over 40 years, we believe that moving the business to a mainland location is critical to our continued growth.”
K2 Sports new facility will be located at 4201 6th Ave S. in Seattle and is comprised of some 28 thousand square feet of finished office space. The new offices will house the more than 200 employees who currently work at K2 global headquarters. No jobs will be affected by the move. In addition, almost 90 thousand square feet of multi-purpose space will be converted into a new state of the art ski and snowboard prototyping facility and a unique marketing and showroom environment.
“Maintaining world class graphic and product prototyping capabilities are mandatory for us to continue the legacy of innovation that we have had in our products,” said Anthony DeRocco, VP Global Marketing. “We are thrilled to be able to take what is an exceptional development environment and re-design it to an even higher level of competence.”
“I am confident that the move to Seattles revitalized SoDo district will be done with virtually no disruption to our business operations,” Marcovitch said. “We will continue to distribute and warranty our products at our Fife, Wash., facility where we have operated for the past 5 years. The other business functions will move in a carefully staged manner to minimize the impact on our associates and customers.”
