With frighteningly warm weather impacting the entire east coast and a very late start to the season in California, SIA.07 could have been a depressing event. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Vendors, one after another, expressed their surprise at the up-beat nature of their dealers, especially at the buying shows preceding SIA. This is not to say that business is good in the east. The lack of snow certainly impacted retailers, but responsible inventory management last year is leading to less financial difficulty this year.

According to most accounts on the floor, going into the 2006-07 season, many retailers had extremely lean inventories, and they ordered low during the pre-season. So, they are not hurting as much as they could be had they ordered heavily. Thanks to that smart inventory management, SIA.07 appeared to be one of the healthiest shows since the organization launched the “See it, Try it, Buy it” concept. The ski side of the show floor showed more life than ever, and the snowboard side was actually conducting business. Both factors contributed to a healthy balance of fun and work that most attendees appreciated.

There were several key trends impacting the ski hardgoods market this year and for the first time in years, there was some real innovation on the floor. Perhaps the most prevalent trend in ski hardgoods was the introduction of at least three new ski lines from snowboard companies. In addition, traditional ski brands are slowly learning how to talk to the youth market through park & pipe and freeride products, and the corresponding marketing messages. The main area of innovation this year was in bindings – specifically backcountry bindings.

On the softgoods side of things, most apparel companies were purely focused on fashion and style as their point of differentiation. Much of this is due to the lack of any visible technical performance innovation in fabrics and construction. While it is true that some companies are making waterproof breathable fabrics that are lighter, or breath slightly better than before, to the consumer this usually translates to more confusing numbers rather than a tangible feature-benefit. In spite of the lack of performance innovation, many apparel companies are using new waterproof breathable hard-shell and softshell fabrications to create interesting new styles and designs that talk to the consumer more effectively than any list of technical specifications. By using new treatments and technologies, many apparel companies are using interesting texture-on-texture patterns to highlight the narrower silhouettes that are currently en vogue.

The overall color palette at SIA this year was much more muted than the over-the-top neons we saw last year. Spicier earth tones were prevalent, paired with some very bright whites and brighter, more colorful accents. Pink was definitely back in the color line-up this year, as was fur, after a one year hiatus. In fact, after trying to re-launch the faux-fur look into the men’s market (and failing) two years ago, the industry seems to be ready to give it a try again.

The trend towards narrower silhouettes maintained itself this year without much change since last year. The only real difference was that more snowboard companies are now offering a narrow option to many styles in their line for the more modern, fashion forward boarder. This is not to say the big, baggy look has disappeared – it is still alive and strong among much of the snowboard community.


>>>For a more detailed look at the show and the brands therein, check out this week’s edition of The B.O.S.S. Report…