Raliegh Bicycles is gearing up for a move into the higher-end component and bicycle market. The company is adding 800 SKU’s to its catalog this year, focusing on premium components from Ritchey, FSA, Crank Brothers, Shimano, SRAM and Jagwire.

Norm Krisher, Marketing Coordinator for Raleigh, told SEW, “We are looking to boost our offering of national brands… Raleigh has always been known as more of a family value brand, we’d like to ramp up the upper end.”
Raleigh isn’t just adding product to their catalogue either. There will be new high end mountain and road bikes. “We are seeking to expand our line in the MTB category with full-suspension bikes carrying better OE spec’s and at a higher price-point,” said Krisher. “…and we have a brand new 16 pound team road bike.”

SRAM and RockShox have expanded their “BlackBox” Product Development to include BlackBoxRacing.com, which will be a showcase for their athletes and products alike.
“The BlackBox program is an investment in technology and athletes, the result is cutting-edge componentry,” said Global Marketing Manager David Zimberoff.

There are nearly 20 BlackBox products currently being raced around the world.

Jet Boil made a stir at the OR show, and it’s not often that a brand new company with only one start-up product can catch that much attention from a crowd of CORE users and retailers. Even competing sales reps talked about how great the Jet Boil Personal Cooking System is.
With virtually no advertising, and no “free beer” marketing hype, Dwight Aspinwall, President of Jet Boil, managed to flood his booth with buyers and media alike. “We had a very good show,” the unassuming Aspinwall told SEW, “We have some of the best reps lined up with the whole country covered. I think that helped more than anything.”

The company is doing all of its production domestically out of the White Mountains in NH. “Our vision was born out of a frustration with the state of the art. We tried to come at the task of back-country cooking from a different direction and create the simplest, fastest way to get something hot,” said Aspinwall. The cooking system they created has over twice the fuel efficiency of any other stove on the market. He said, “We have a lot of plans for the future, just nothing we’re willing to share… yet”

Aaron Feuerstein is still working on securing finances for his buy-back of Malden Mills and had been granted a bit of a reprieve in his efforts to secure the required funds.

He gained a little time in his attempt to secure $50 million in working capital guarantees from the US Export-Import Bank in Washington, with a final meeting with the agency’s board was postponed until Monday Aug 25th from the original 8/21 date.

The guarantee would be the agency’s largest ever.
On August 26th his buy-back price increases to $124 million until August 2004, $151.4 million until August 2005, and finally $158.5 million until August 2006.

The Outdoor Industry Association added some new faces to its board with the purpose of creating a better cross section of its members. “We intentionally expanded the retail presence and consciously strengthened the paddle sports and climbing sectors on the board,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, OIA president.

Lee Fromson, CEO of Cascade Designs, succeeds Steve Barker as Chairperson and lead the new executive comitee. Mike Wallenfels, vice-president of sales and marketing at Mountain Hardwear is now First Vice-chair; Jim Clark, CEO of Watermark, is Second Vice-chair; Dan Templin, CFO of the North Face, is Treasurer; and Kim Coupounas, CEO of GoLite is the new Secretary.

Coupounas told SEW, “I am eager to begin fulfilling the specific responsibilities of board secretary …” She went on to say that there were some “lofty and exciting goals for the association,” including, “doubling industry sales by 2015.”

New appointed seats go to Jeff Espy, publisher of Hooked on the Outdoors; Joan Keller, owner of Le Travel Store; Peter Metcalf, CEO of Black Diamond; and Tony Post, president & CEO of Vibram.

Joe Campisi, Malden Mills marketing VP; Brian Cousins, Cloudveil CEO; Paul Fish, Mountain Gear president; Rod Johnson, owner of Midwest Mountaineering; Mike Wallenfels, sales and marketing VP at Mountain Hardwear; and Jeff Weidman, co-owner of Rutabaga Paddlesports were all elected as voting members by the OIA constituency.

Mountain Bike Magazine no longer has its executive editor, Zapata Espinoza along with several other employees. Rodale, the publisher, is restructuring the publication after pulling it out of normal circulation last year.
Along with “Zap,” Mountain Bike's art director, Dave Pryor, and Doug Donaldson, Bicycling's associate editor were let go. Rodale says that this move, and last years re-launch of Bicycling Magazine, were at the request of its customers.

“Grow the sport of cycling. That’s what we hear from you… what our editorial team has done for Bicycling, that’s what we intend to do for Mountain Bike Magazine,” said Steve Madden, Editor in Chief in a recent letter.
The two went on to say that Mountain Bike has historically “concentrated on the elite rider” to the point of excluding the masses. They attributed the 150,000-copy loss of circulation to this trend, and said, “no one is doing a good job of speaking to people in an inviting tone.”

Mountain Bike Magazine will be back on Newsstands sometime in 2004 as a bi-monthly, and upgraded publication. The voice of Zap that introduced countless riders to the world of shaved legs, anaerobic thresholds, and just having fun in the woods will be noticeably absent.

Marmot Mountain Ltd. Made two big announcements the week before the OR show. First they were awarded the 2003 American Mountain Guides Association Industry award. Tom Fritz, Marmot VP of Marketing, will accept the award from Mike Alkaitis, Executive director of AMGA, at the OR Summer Market Show.

The Industry Award is presented annually to the outdoor company that has shown outstanding support through scholarships, product, and sponsorships of professional American mountain guides. “I am excited to present this award to Marmot for their consistent support of American mountain guides.” said Alkaitis.

Fritz is understandably excited over the award, saying that it “…confirms the deepest values of our company,”
The second bit of news was that Marmot is buying Marker Ltd., the international apparel licensee of the binding manufacturer, Marker International of Zug, Switzerland.
Steve Crisafulli, CEO of Marmot said, “Marker is a dominant hard-goods brand … particularly in Europe.

Marmot’s European operations, fulfillment and sales infrastructure should greatly aid us in establishing Marker apparel sales there.”

Grace Galdi, Executive Vice President of Marker said she was “particularly interested in Marmot” because of their experience with complex designs.

Crank Brothers beefs up its U.S., European, and Canadian Distribution with the addition of three key channels. The company says that these are a part of an ongoing process that will allow them to better serve the independent bike dealer.

“We feel fortunate that our brand has momentum with consumers and dealers around the world” says company General Manager, Andrew Herrick. He went on to say that these “blue chip distributors” will allow CB to “maximize our potential in two of the largest international markets.”

In Germany, Cosmic Sports will be the exclusive distributor for the high-end pedal, pump, and accessory manufacturer. In Canada Norco will be joining Big Country Equipment as a distributor, and in the U.S. Raliegh America will carry Crank Brothers products starting August 1st.

Transcend re-launches it’s downhill magazine after two years of publishing on the web. After restructuring they are going to send out an 8000 copy test run, and according to the editor, Frasier Britton, the Montreal based publication will “return to the industry in style.” It will include coverage from The NCS series, the World Cup Series, Worlds, The Mountain States Cup, the Canada cup series, the Joyride series and possibly Interbike.

Metolius is making public all of the safety redundancies built into their gear. The company was reluctant to make much of this information available in the past because of liability reasons, and “the company has been fearful that a climber will not rely on his or her wits if he or she knew about the safety features built into our products.”

According to Metolius founder and President, Doug Phillips, “Climbing safety falls into two basic categories. First is knowledge; knowing how to properly use the equipment and to recognize, avoid or prepare for dangerous situations is always primary. Second is to use equipment that’s designed to be safer.”

Metolius now feels that communicating the full extent of all of their safety features is imperative so climbers can know just how far they can push their equipment. The company stresses that all of the over-kill built into their products is not an excuse for

Columbia lands it’s distribution center, which was slated for the mid-west , in Henderson County, KY.
The new Kentucky facility will enable , two-day product delivery to Columbia's East coast and Midwest customers, an area representing approximately 70% of Columbia's footwear business.

The new facility will be around 428,000 square feet and will be used for the distribution of Columbia and Sorel-brand footwear lines. COLM estimates that the the project will be approximately $40 million. Net sales for the companies footwear line in the U.S. grew about 24% in the last 5 years.

…But wait, there’s more Columbia news. The company has just announced a sleeping bag and tent licensing agreement with NorthPole Llc.
Columbia estimates that the “relevant” tent market is approximately $337 million at retail and the “relevant” sleeping bag market is about $230 million at retail.
NorthPole claims to be the largest tent and sleeping bag manufacturer in the world with a history of design innovation, but with the ink on the Mountain Hardwear purchase still wet, it will be interesting to see where this is going to end up.

White Sierra taps Patagonia vet Andy Howe as their new VP of Business Development, filling a new position at the sportswear company. His duties will include executing a strategic distribution plan and continuing to deliver a cohesive brand message.

Howe’s addition to the team builds on several changes the company has been making, including hires in product development and marketing; increased market penetration; a re-designed product line and a new retail and consumer communication campaign.

After failing to get EPA approval on its BugAway product line last year, Ex Officio and Orvis have apparently finally got it right. We reported last October that Ex Officio’s line of insect repellant clothing had not approved by the EPA for consumer use, forcing the apparel company to pull the line it sold in at retail.

While Orvis, Ex O’s parent company, was forced to pull the plug in the states, it managed to salvage some of their R&D investment by marketing the line in Europe.

Well, this time they managed to pull it off with a man-made form of an all-natural insect repellent derived from the chrysanthemum plant called permethrin. It's EPA registered, odorless, and, according to Orvis, effective through 25 washings.

Bogner and Phenix are teaming up for mutual benefit, with the two companies inking a service agreement which will allow the San Fran-based Phenix exclusively on sales.

Bogner will take over Phenix administrative duties along with customer service and logistics. Shipping will be handled out of Newport, VT for the US and Coaticook, Quebec for Canada. Phenix began marketing Bogner in Japan in 1967 and remains the exclusive Japanese licensee of Bogner branded skiwear.

“We see this synergy as a natural extension of an already successful working relationship between the two companies in Japan,” said Wiseman.

There’s more good news for snow sports, according to the ‘02-’03 Kootke end of season survey, ski resort popularity is on the rise — up 11% from the long term national average. “In years past, skier visits hovered around 46 million in a poor season to 54 million in a good one,” said NSAA President Michael Berry. “Last season's numbers… re-emphasize that the industry is becoming more resilient…”

Snowboarding continues to grow in popularity with the highest participation in the Pacific-West at 44.2% of total visits. Overall board use grew from 28.1% to 29.5% of all users.

We saw an obvious correlation between snow fall and participation:

Schoeller Textiles has changed the name of its ComforTemp product to PCM for its textiles based on Phase Change Materials. The change is the result of the bankruptcy of Frisby Technologies, Schoeller’s partner in the U.S. and the subsequent sale of the ComforTemp brand name to Freudenberg.

Schoeller is making the move to differentiate its product from a number of other products that are expected in the market bearing the ComforTemp name.

The Swiss textile manufacturer said that a change was necessary because new ComforTemp textiles may not, “comply with our understanding of reliable function and the highest quality…”

Schoeller maintains that there will be no change in appearance of the garments or marketing material provided other than name and that advertising materials already produced will retain their validity.

Chip Coe added “President” to his Smartwool title with his new promotion. His new duties will include overseeing the strategic planning for SmartWool as well as the day-to-day operations for the company. “Chip has successfully been running the company as the COO for several years,” said Ken Fox, Chairman of the Board.

Dahon bicycles sold a record number of folding bicycles so far this year. The California-based manufacturer sold an all time record 90,000 folding bicycles in H1 2003, up 38% from 65,000 units in the first half of 2002.

Dr. David Hon said, “We’ve seen growth in all of our major markets, but the odd thing is that the reasons for the sales boom in each country are slightly different. In Japan…they want to switch to a higher quality supplier… The same goes for the China market. In the UK, our sales have skyrocketed because of the London Congestion Charge … And in the U.S., our sales spiked sharply after September 11.”

Nine leading fitness, medical and bicycle organizations are launching Bike Right, a national public education campaign aimed at getting more americans into cycling. The Contributors include Giant, Bikes Belong, IMBA, and several other organizations. A stated goal of Bike Right is to demystify the bicycle purchasing process.

First it’s Hamilton’s shoulder, now it’s the forks on Cervelo bikes that need fixing as 317 Wolf all-carbon forks are being recalled off of Cervelo Super Prodigy and Soloist Team Framesets. The Taiwan made forks can develop cracks in the crown. To date, no injuries have been reported.

Tender Corporation and Adventure Medical Kits have gone one step beyond their 14 year-old distribution partnership, with insect repellant-maker Tender investing in AMK, and AMK restructuring some executive positions to complement the change.

Chris Gubera has been promoted from National Sales Manager to President. Frank Meyer, Co-founder of AMK said, “Chris's commitment to AMK, history with the company and strong relationship with our dealers make him an ideal choice for President.”

AMK has also pulled in some outside talent, adding former Sierra Designs and Adventure 16 executive Ted Ganio as Vice President of Operations.

Vail Resorts is implementing a new decentralized marketing strategy due to the growing area outside of Colorado that they serve. The current Senior VP of marketing, Martin White was a part of this decision and “participated fully.” He and the VP of Sales and Distribution, Richard Lesman, will be leaving the company once this strategy is under way.

“Although the changing nature of our business… has suggested that we move to a decentralized approach, this in no way reflects on the considerable achievements and contributions made to Vail Resorts by Martin White and Richard Lesman,” said Vail CEO, Adam Aron. “…It is both most effective and cost-efficient to decentralize the marketing and sales functions within the company. Speed of decision making will inevitably be enhanced in a decentralized structure.”

There is no word on what will happen to the current Marketing chiefs at each of the company’s resorts or the central office staff in Denver.

Ojai brings in five new groups to expand their sales coverage. Tome Wheeler will now handle SoCal. In the Modwest, Stephanie Bixby and Tammy Anderson cover the states of ND, SD, NE, MO, IL, MN and WI, while Joanne Kapilla covers MI, IN, OH, and KY. In the South East, Penny and Mark Burrell cover SC through Eastern PA, while Misty Allen covers further south into AR, LA, MS, AL, GA and FL.

C.A.M.P. USA has hired Greg Jones as their new Operations Manager. Jones, formerly the director of operations at Schwinn/GT and Director of Business Development at Montbell America, is an avid ice climber, mountaineer and Summit City Search & Rescue Team member.

The Italian climbing manufacturer has also brought in Red Point Creative to head up their marketing initiatives in North America. . RPC has already conducted focus groups for C.A.M.P USA and is incorporating their findings in this new strategy.

Accell Group reported a slight increase in total sales for the first half of 2003, rising 4% to €165 million. Net profits rose 41% to €5.0 million.

René Takens, chairman of the board of Accell Group, commented: “The results we have achieved over the last half-year give us a lot of confidence for the future. In view of the current state of the economy, we cannot be anything other than pleased with our performance… (this) means we are now in a strong position to initiate further growth.”

AG has already announced that they are negotiating the purchase of the Finland’s, Tunturi, described by AG as the leader in Finland’s bicycle market.

Tunturi produced sales of about €35 ($37) million last year. AG said they will acquire all issued shares and finance the purchase with their own reserves. The deal is expected to close by August…

…Be One Mountain Bikes Gains Independence through licensing deal with Accell Group. This Netherlands based high-end downhill bike manufacturer was formerly a subsidiary of Batavus, a leisure-bike company owned by AG. Someone in the hierarchy realized that the leisure bike crowd didn’t exactly mesh with the extreme athletes that ride Be One bikes.

According to Takens, “Because Be One requires ever more targeted marketing … different from that with which Batavus is familiar, Accell Group has decided to switch to licensing. Their years of experience mean that the current management of Be One are best able to further develop Be One's position in its niche market.”

Keep your eyes open for Be One in the American Market. They have recently been signed on by World Wide Distribution, who will be importing the SRAM equipped downhill bikes starting next year.

Obermeyer has tapped Backbone Media to handle its Public Relations efforts. Previously, the 55-year-old ski company dealt with PR in-house, but felt a need to bring in new ideas.

“Bringing Backbone on board to spearhead our PR efforts will allow for a fresh perspective and creative ideas in managing our media relations. Partnering with a local company gives us an opportunity to really work as a team to best achieve Obermeyer’s goals in this category”, said Barbara Owen, Director of Sales and Marketing.

Nordica has brought rep Jon Rucker in from the field to head up Ski Product Development. Rucker has been with Nordica since 200, and was the Southeastern sales rep for K2 and Salomon previously.

“This completes the product team headed up by Andy Hare who will continue with his Nordica boot product management responsibilities. With this strong team, we believe there is a real opportunity for the new Nordica USA to meet the expectations of it's dealers and become a market share leader in the ski segment”, stated Andy Knittle, CEO of Nordica USA.

In other news at Nordica, Dave Kleeschulte, former national sales manager for Head, has joined Nordica and will be the new Mid Atlantic rep, replacing Rucker.

Buck Knives is delaying the announced relocation of their El Cajon, CA plant in order to be fair to their existing employees.

“The revised timeline for moving its operations was to accommodate the complexities a move of this type presents, and to ensure current employees are provided with adequate transition assistance,” said Tom Ables, PR manager for the company.

Most of these employees will no longer have a job once BK relocates to Post Falls, ID, but the company is attempting to ease this as much as possible.

“The original relocation timeline as outlined was extremely aggressive,” said CJ Buck, president and CEO of Buck Knives. “The new target dates allow the company to take steps to ensure the needs of its employees are met and better address the challenges involved in making a move such as this.”

Ex Officio is following industry trends and bracing for growth. While no official company numbers have been posted, the adventure travel clothing manufacturer is hiring new sales reps in a hurry.

Jean Jenick, an outdoor apparel veteran for the past 20 years, will be taking over the Midwest territory. The Rocky Mountain territory will be managed by Jen Mastro, who’s experience ranges from her years as a buyer for Neptune Mountaineering and Loveland Ski Shop. Cheryl Sternberg will head up Ex Officio’s Southern territory including TX, OK, KS, AR and LA.

EXO has also promoted two internal sales managers. Mary Collins will manage product launches, and Wendy Bretzel will head up the Accessories department.