Solstice is re-joining the outdoor industry with a new silent ownership group, a new design team, and a new marketing firm, after a brief hiatus. Formerly headed by Don Pattison, Solstice is now run by a team of former Columbia Titanium designers, including Dan Tiegs, who will be Solstices vice president of merchandising and design. Marketing and communications will be run by TAOW Productions, who has experience working withclients like Red Bull Energy Drink, Diesel, American Express, Nike, Diamondback and adidas.
Solstice was acquired by this new silent ownership group in the summer of 2006, and Tiegs was brought on-board in September. He brought a team of four other designers with him, mostly people he worked with at Columbia. Since then, they have been working on developing a new line of Solstice apparel that will launch at retail for the fall 08 season. The trade will get to see the line starting in November, with an official product launch at OR Winter Market.
“Solstice had simply failed to evolve with the times. They still have a core following and there arent any alienated customers, the brand just needed to be modernized,” Tiegs told The B.O.S.S. Report. “We are going to focus first on the performance heritage of the brand, but we will also have a limited lifestyle offering for fall 08. In Spring/Summer 2009, we will roll out a more comprehensive lifestyle product line.”
Tiegs also said that most of the brands existing dealers have already signed on to carry the new product under the new team. Solstice is still working on building a sales team, but plans to have reps on the road in the next two to three months.
