Outdoor Research, the American supplier of outdoor apparel, gloves and other specialist products, has appointed sales representatives for southern Germany and Switzerland, after it decided to invest directly in Europe. This comes after Maurice Brenninkmeijer, Outdoor Research’s former country manager in Canada, moved to Winterthur to supervise European sales. The brand was previously sold in German-speaking countries through Exped. The new Swiss distributor is Flagrant Sports Trading, which has also taken on Kühl for the same country. Furthermore, Outdoor Research had a distribution deal for the U.K. and Ireland through the Mountain Boot Company, and in Norway with Vertikal AS, which remain in place. Another distribution deal with Extreme Sports for Denmark and Sweden was restructured as an agency agreement after this company was bought out by an investment fund and renamed Extreme Outdoor Sports. The next market to be entered by Outdoor Research is France, with the Benelux countries to follow. The investment comes as Outdoor Research continues to enjoy speedy growth, with an average sales expansion of 30 percent per year since 2005. The company was taken over in 2003 by Dan Nordstrom, after the death of its founder, Ron Gregg.
