All Article articles – Page 213
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TNF is unruffled by warm weather
After another robust quarter, The North Face will strive to reduce its product offering by about 15 percent by the second half of next year, as part of its efforts to make its product range more focused, its retail displays more hard-hitting and its margins more attractive.The outdoor and action ...
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Outlast is in new hands
Outlast Technologies, the Boulder-based specialty company for so-called phase change materials, has new owners: The investment company Golden Equity Investments based in Colorado as well. It is, according to Martin Bentz, managing director of Outlast Europe, a relatively new private equity investor specializing in small and medium-sized companies that have ...
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Wolverine’s sales, orders are hit by European recession
Wolverine World Wide blamed the recession that is hitting many of Europe's economies for a 2.4 percent drop in its revenues to $322.8 million in the first quarter ended March 24, falling below the company's and financial analysts' expectations. The situation in Europe also affected the group's order backlog, which ...
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Kathmandu’s profit fell due to price wars
Kathmandu, the big outdoor retailer from New Zealand with 116 specialty stores in that country as well as in Australia and in the U.K., posted15.4 percent growth in sales to NZ$146.7 million (€90.9m-$120.2m) for its first half, ended Jan. 31. Gross profit was up by 11.9 percent to NZ$92.0 (€57.0m-$75.4m), ...
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International sales drive Lafuma’s growth
The Lafuma group saw its turnover increase by about 8 percent to €132.1 million, as ample gains by the group's outdoor brands more than made up for a sharp decline in the sales of the Oxbow surf brand. The expansion was largely driven by international sales, which jumped by 15.8 ...
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Weather hurts Columbia in Europe
The warm weather and economic issues were blamed for a 14 percent decline in Columbia Sportswear's European sales in the first quarter of the year, down to $38.1 million, amounting to a drop of 11 percent in constant currencies. The weather mostly impacted sales of Sorel footwear, and Columbia brand ...
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Wolverine sets up joint ventures in India and Colombia
Wolverine Worldwide has created joint ventures in India and Colombia as part of its efforts to expand internationally through a direct presence, starting off with its Merrell and Caterpillar Footwear brands. The group believes that setting up joint ventures will enable it to have more clout in developing brands than ...
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Salewa takes Czech and Slovak business in its own hands
The Italian company is building its own subsidiary for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Located in Brno, Czech Republic, the company will be led by Branislav Adamec. The Slovak executive is licensed by the International Mountain Guide Association and has spent about 15 years in the outdoor industry. Adamec has ...
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Wolverine buys Sperry and other brands
Wolverine World Wide has won the bidding for the Performance + Lifestyle Group (PLG) of Collective Brands, which includes Saucony, Sperry Top-Sider, Stride Rite and Keds. It will pay $1.23 billion for these operations, which were the milk cow of the loss-making company. They will add revenues of about $1 ...
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Vibram responds to charges on barefoot running
Vibram has been accused of making “deceptive” statements about the benefits of barefoot running with its FiveFingers shoes by a group of five American law firms that purport to be representing more than 100 individuals with claims of more than $5 million. Their lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts ...
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Salomon’s hard-hitting Argentine partner turns to Brazil
Winners from Argentina has far-reaching plans for its development in Brazil, after it obtained licensing rights for the Salomon and Wilson brands in the country. Winners has held the same rights for several years in Argentina, where it has built up a remarkably juicy business for Salomon.The switch in Brazil ...
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Amer predicts lower winter sports pre-orders
Buoyant apparel and footwear sales pushed the Amer Sports group's sales up by 9 percent to €489.8 million for the first quarter, with an increase of 7 percent in constant currencies, but the company's winter sports unit was hurt by the mild winter and the group warned that its pre-orders ...
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OutDoor show invites bids for 2012 industry awards
The floor is open for the Outdoor Industry Award 2012, which will be again organized by iF International Forum Design in cooperation with Messe Friedrichshafen, the host of the OutDoor show. Applications for the best gear of the year can be turned in until June 7.Manufacturers and designers are invited ...
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Under currency pressure, Mammut’s trunk grows shorter
The Conzzeta Group reported today that its sporting goods subsidiary, which revolves around the Mammut Sports Group, lost some turnover in its last financial and calendar year, in comparison with 2010.Segment sales went down by 4.7 percent to 210.8 million Swiss francs (€174.8m-$233.6m). Conzzeta says, however, that Mammut would ...
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Time has come for Sportler to click for the mountains
Sportler, the big Italian outdoor and sporting goods retailer, is making investments to become stronger in internet retailing. The chain just acquired Bergzeit (“time for the mountains”), a German online retailer with its banner bergzeit.de plus two brick-and-mortar stores in southern Germany. Georg Oberrauch, Sportler's owner and chief executive, told ...
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Haglöfs goes direct in Benelux
Haglöfs, the Swedish outdoor brand, has decided to open a sales subsidiary for the Benelux markets in the coming weeks. These markets were previously handled by agents but a few months ago Haglöfs started weighing other alternatives after its longtime Dutch partner, Snowgoose, suspended its activities.The Benelux unit will be ...
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Columbia axes jobs due to a modest forecast
Columbia Sportswear is about to lay off 80 employees from its global staff, representing 2 percent of its total workforce. The cuts concern mainly the headquarters in the U.S. and the European subsidiary. Officials at the latter operation, which is based in Geneva, declined to comment, but the headquarters in ...
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Bestard gets a Chinese award
The Spanish shoe manufacturer was happy to publicize the fact that two members of its Chinese mountaineering team had won this year's “Golden Rhino Award” at last month's Ispo Beijing show for their recent exploits in the Daxue Shan range in Sichuan province. Bestard pointed out that it ...
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Italy’s Assosport creates an outdoor section
Assosport, the Italian sporting goods industry association, has announced the establishment of a dedicated business unit for the outdoor industry. One of the goals is to help Italian companies to develop their export activities, to coordinate sector-specific actions and to promote participation in outdoor sports through a series of programs, ...
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Asolo gets out of receivership
The creditors of Asolo have approved a settlement of the company's debts, proposed by the court of Treviso, allowing the highly secretive Italian company to get out of bankruptcy protection proceedings without liquidating any of its remaining assets.The settlement, which was approved on March 15, calls for the repayment of ...
