SOURCE 69 (feb/march) by BoardsportSource Magazine

BOARDSPORT

ISSUE #069. FEB/MAR 2014. €5 IN WITH THE NEW… AW14/15 PREVIEWS: GOGGLES/OUTERWEAR/SNOWBOARDS/WETSUITS BACKCOUNTRY BUCKS: HOW TO MAXIMIZE SALES OUTBOUNDS SKATE-FLATION: ARE WE SELLING SKATE HARDWARE TOO CHEAP?

E U R O P E A N S U R F / S K AT E / S N O W B U S I N E S S

BIG WIG INTERVIEW: RYAN HOLLIS – MERVIN MANUFACTURING

PLUS: DONNA CARPENTER, DEREK O’NEILL,LOVE INC, OUTDOOR TECH, INDOSOLE, TRADESHOWS, NEWS & MUCH MORE…

HELLO #69

Editor Jojo Cook jojo@boardsportsource.com

Welcome all to 2014 - here’s wishing us all a successful New Year.

Surf & French Editor Iker Aguirre iker@boardsportsource.com

As we discussed in last issue’s editorial there’s a fresh new buzz in the air as the industry has finally rebooted itself to face the new business reality. The majors have transformed themselves into leaner meaner business machines and companies have exited and entered product categories in a more thoughtful, targeted process rather then hoping to be all things to all people. Opportunities are still there to be seized; for example brands launching new winter product categories in 2014 include Nikita going into boots, Apo launching women’s outerwear, Jones unveil the first kids splitboard, Lib Tech have relaunched outerwear and 686 have completely overhauled their approach to the category. Talking of new, we have an exclusive interview with Derek O’Neill on the new Vissla surf and D’Blanc eyewear brands in Europe, and the Big Wig interview follows the theme with an interview with CEO Ryan Hollis at the newly independent Mervin Manufacturing.

Snowboard Editor Rémi Forsans remi@boardsportsource.com German Editor Stefan Dongus stefan@boardsportsource.com Design & Art Director Owen Tozer owen@boardsportsource.com Design & Production Roddy Bow production@boardsportsource.com Web Media Manager Denis Houillé denis@boardsportsource.com Digital Content Manager Harry Mitchell Thompson harry@boardsportsource.com Proofreaders Harry Mitchell Thompson, Insa Muth, Marie-Laure Ducos Contributors Harry Mitchell Thompson, Dirk Vogel, Michael Reinwald, Asier Zabarte, Luke Van Unen, Lucy Paltz, Gordon Way, Fabien Grisel, Yuri Kolobov, Franz Holler, Frank White, Joey Jorgensen, Alex Crowe, Luke Van Unen, Miriam Deller, Patrick Colton, Lucy Stephens, Carly Gough, Ross Robinson, Peter Warwick-Brown, Jade Persaud-Walters, Daisy Maddinson, Sam Grant, Clare McInerney, Tom Wilson-North, Peter Warwick-Brown, Anna Langer Advertising & Marketing clive@boardsportsource.com Germanic Markets Advertising kone@boardsportsource.com Accounts Manager accounts@boardsportsource.com To Subscribe www.boardsportsource.com subs@boardsportsource.com Publisher clive@boardsportsource.com Published by Extreme Sport Business 22 Friars Street, Sudbury Suffolk, CO10 2AA. UK Boardsport SOURCE is published bi-monthly © Extreme Sport Business All Rights Reserved

As always, our brand profiles look at the smaller brands looking to make their mark in the European market. With it being tradeshow

time, we look at what’s new for the 2014/15 snowboard, outerwear, goggles and wetsuit categories. As a seasonal special, we take a look at what shops should be stocking to benefit from the growing demand in the backcountry sector. We also look at the past and present of snowboarding to help see what’s new over the hill and Donna Carpenter is the first in a new series of women in boardsports interviews. Our skate pricing and Controversy articles stir up the debate in online pricing and on sales policy in the multi-channel world where the future of independent retailers is very much at stake. Ride O’Meter, our regular look at what’s happening in the media evaluates exposure in snowboarding and adds a new video dimension. And the issue would not be complete without our preview of the key winter sport trade shows ISPO, Slide and Sport Achat, where new is what it’s all about. So a new year offers new opportunities which need to be grasped, so let’s rephrase from ‘in with the new and out with the old’ to ‘in with the new and in with bold!’ The new sideways- SOURCE Editorial team.

CONTENT 15 NEWS

69 MEN’S OUTERWEAR PREVIEW

17 TRADE SHOW PREVIEWS

82 WOMEN’S OUTERWEAR PREVIEW

21 RETAILER PROFILE

90 DEREK O’NEILL VISSLA AND D’BLANC

23 SNOWBOARD PREVIEW

92 RIDE O’METER

29 SNOWBOARD PICTORIAL

95 BRAND PROFILE – INDOSOLE

41 SKATE PRICES

97 BRAND PROFILE – LOVE INC

43 SOCIAL MEDIA GIRLS

99 BRAND PROFILE – OUTDOOR TECH

46 BIG WIG – LIB TECHNOLOGY

101 BACK COUNTRY

49 GOGGLE TRENDS

105 GREEN PAGE

52 GOGGLE PICTORIAL

106 NEW PRODUCTS

57 WETSUIT TRENDS

108 MARKET INTELLIGENCE

61 FUTURE OF SNOWBOARDING

120 EVENTS

65 DONNA CARPENTER INTERVIEW

122 ONE EYED MONSTER

ON THE COVER: Kyle Martin, Dragon Snow Marketing Manager. Photo by Abe Blair

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written permission, except for permitted fair dealing under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. Application for permission for use of copyright material including permission to reproduce extracts in other public works shall be made to the publishers. Full acknowledgement of author, publisher and source must be given. The views expressed in this publication are not those necessarily held by the Publisher. ISSN # 1478-4777 www.boardsportsource.com 13

INDUSTRY NEWS

BILLABONG REORGANIZES Billabong’s AGM saw Chairman Ian Pollard confirm both financiers Centerbridge & Oaktree and also Neil Fiske as the new CEO. The brands in the group have been separated into two sections; the ‘big three’ Billabong, RVCA and Element and the ‘emerging.’ The company will focus on product, merchant front-end, where Fiske believes the brands can improve on merchandise planning, buying, allocating and inventory management. Marketing will improve their ‘integrated marketing calendar’, which lays out the major story and key items each month, aligning all marketing and depth of buy against these stories. They will also be shifting heavily towards customer relationship merchandising (CRM) and targeting the best customers who shop in all their channels – digital, retail stores and wholesale. Planned changes in the supply chain will lead to savings of tens of millions of dollars and will result in fresher product, lower mark downs and a big release of cash flow. The reorganization includes the development of global brand structure for the big three while fostering brand specific cultures. Additionally the merchandising, design and marketing teams will be strengthened and a global capability developed in four critical areas: finance, supply chain, IT, and direct-to-consumer platform.

POW INC. ACQUIRES HOLDEN OUTERWEAR POW Inc, the parent company to POW Gloves and Spacecraft Collective, successfully completed the purchase of Holden Outerwear in December. “We have vetted several opportunities in the past year, and Holden Outerwear met our criteria to round out our portfolio of authentic and recognizable brands. We are excited to partner with the founders to provide them with the operational support they need to stay competitive in the outdoor wear industry,” said Greg Danielson, CEO of POW Inc. Holden CEO Ben Pruess, who joined the brand in August 2011, has exited the company. Co-founders Mike LeBlanc and Scott Zergebel, and designer Nikki Brush remain with Holden. The acquisition lays the foundation for POW Inc. to focus on strengthening its brands, POW Gloves, Spacecraft Collective and now Holden Outerwear, while scaling the business to its true potential.

AMPLID’S OWNER LAUNCHES MERINO WOOL APPAREL BRAND Peter Bauer, owner of Amplid, has launched Pally’Hi, a merino wool apparel brand. Pally’Hi was founded on the belief that not everybody who wears merino wool clothing wants the ‘Mt. Everest expedition’ style and fit. Pally’Hi’s debut collection is a mix of summer and winter essentials with versatile colours and casual fits. All Pally’Hi merino wool is sourced from AWTA (Australian Wool Testing Authority) certified farms.

#69

ZOUND INDUSTRIES AWARDED FASTEST GROWING SWEDISH COMPANY BY COUNTRY PRESIDENT Swedish headphone brand Zound Industries has been named the fastest growing company in Sweden over the last three years. The prize, awarded by Sweden’s leading business newspaper DI (Dagens Industri), recognizes Swedish companies that have achieved profitable growth and created new jobs on an annual basis. The prize is amongst one of the most prestigious business awards handed out in Sweden. In the last three years, Zound Industries’ turnover has increased by almost 11,000% to 322.9 million SEK in 2012. About half of Zound Industries’ turnover is represented by Urbanears.

BATALEON 11TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY At the coming tradeshows Bataleon will be presenting their 11th collection. Of course they had to skip the 10 year anniversary since Bataleon always does things a little different. Or is it because they know that 11 is the crazy number? When they started with their Triple Base Technology snowboards everyone sure thought that they were crazy. But these days we can savely say that they were for sure on to something. After the rocker revolution and all the creative ideas that followed, the classic camber is back and 3D is the new buzz word. Bataleon has been combining these 2 things on all their boards since 2003 so if you havent tried their product now is a good time as any to do so. Here is to 10 more years of Yeahforit!

QUIKSILVER MOVING FORWARD Quiksilver has now completed several initiatives under its profit improvement plan. Following the November sale of Mervin Manufacturing for $58 million, Quik has purchased all remaining minority interests in its joint ventures in Mexico and Brazil and established a €60 million European credit facility. Plans to divest other non-core businesses, including Surfdome, Hawk Designs, Moskova and its business under license with Maui and Sons are underway. Management will focus on expanding the three core brands, Quiksilver, Roxy, and DC Shoes, along with driving through additional operational efficiencies.

NITRO MOVES TO ULTRA SPORT IN THE UK

Nitro Snowboards have appointed Ultra Sport as their exclusive UK and Ireland distributor starting with the 14/15 Winter collection. The change took place in January as Nitro begins celebrating its 25th year with a number of parties and special products.

DHD SURFBOARDS OPENS SURFBOARD FACTORY IN PORTUGAL

BACKCOUNTRY.COM ACQUIRES BERGFREUNDE.DE

The new factory will use the same machine, the APS 3000, as in the Australian factory, the same surfboards blanks (South Coast blanks), the same cloth and the same type of tools meaning quality will be globally consistent. With the new factory all team riders and customers can now customise their boards in Europe, Australia and USA.

Backcountry.com, the established USA e-commerce leader in the outdoor, action sports, bike, and power sports markets, have acquired Bergfreunde.de, a leading e-commerce company for outdoor enthusiasts in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This is Backcountry’s first foray into the European market. 15

event preview

TRADE SHOW PREVIEWS SLIDE 4-6 FEBRUARY 2014 / TELFORD, UK / WWW.SLIDEUK.CO.UK The UK’s biggest winter sport tradeshow returns to the Telford International Centre for its fourth successive year. The show has been brought forward two weeks so it won’t conflict with mid-term breaks and the mid-week slot, this time from Tuesday through to Thursday, has been kept following its successful introduction last winter, so this year supplier order deadlines will be much less of an issue. Around 250 brands are expected and Slide looks set to be a sell-out, with 90% of the available stands sold before Christmas and more than a dozen new brands on the exhibitor list; from Zeal Optics and Picture Organic Clothing to Misguided Fools and Lucky Bums. Slide is the only opportunity for UK retailers to see so many brands under one roof, making it the key event in the UK snow industry calendar and an easy decision for specialist retailers. This winter, Bern and Pow are hosting the Slide Party on February 4. Themed as a Mexican Beach Party it

seems set to bring some warmth to the mid winter chill and is bound to be over-subscribed. On February 5, at the close of the show, the SIGB (owners of Slide), are holding their AGM and an Open Forum meeting where all attendees, whether members or not, can have their say and bring up any topic on the UK industry. The Telford location has proved itself to have some major plus points for visitors; the on-site hotels mean visitors and exhibitors can walk the few metres from hotel to show; there’s no major city centre traffic to delay arrival/ departure and Telford is well served by the road and rail network meaning travel to and from the show is as easy as it gets. Free parking and a free shuttle from the train station to the exhibition help make the trip a painless one. Online registration is live until just prior to the show opening on www.eventdata.co.uk. To buy visitor tickets go to www.ultrasporteu.com.

SPORT ACHAT 17-19 MARCH 2014 / LYON, FRANCE / WWW.SPORTAIR.FR is a must visit for the French winter sports industry, welcoming more than 650 ski, snowboard and outerwear brands to the huge Lyon Eurexpo Centre. Now in its twelth year, the show is designed to work in conjunction with Sport Airs’ other business-to-business events including ASAP (a clothing specific event held in Annecy), Snow Avant Premiere (the On Snow demo test for snowboarding) and Traces (the On Snow demo for freeride and freetouring). After attending these earlier test events retailers then come to Sport-Achat to finalise their orders. Last winter some 320 exhibitors and 650 brands attended, including many new brands, filling 18,000 square metres of floor space. By the time the show closed its doors some 3682 visitors had walked the halls, which represented an increase of 3% over the previous year. Snowboard hardgoods brands who have

already booked booths at the time of going to press include Nitro, Ride, Nikita, Lib Tech, Dupraz, Nidecker, Yes, Jones, Flow, Apo, Electric, Smith, Deeluxe, Vans, Fox, Giro, Drake, Volcom, Oakley, DaKine and POC and outerwear exhibitors including Bench, Nikita, Bonfire, Mons Royal, Patagonia, The North Face, Columbia, Norrona, Dolomite, Jack Wolfskin, Sun Valley, Helly Hansen, Millet, Eider, Fusalp, Brunotti and many more. On the Monday evening just after the fair, Gore-Tex and Sportair have organized a party for retailers and brands to help people meet each other in a relaxing atmosphere. Sport-Achat has become an indispensable working tool to help retailers to select the right assortment of brands and products for their store as it gives them a global view of what’s available, making the show an effective, fast and efficient use of their time.

JACKET REQUIRED 5-6 FEBRUARY 2014 / LONDON, UK / WWW.JACKET-REQUIRED.COM After four successful seasons at Victoria House in Bloomsbury, Jacket Required is returning to its original home in East London to occupy the Old Truman Brewery on the Wednesday from 10am-7pm and Thursday 10am-6pm. A brand new space has been developed within the grade II listed building to house the show’s AW14 edition. Situated over two floors the new location adds space for an additional 50 exhibitors. Boardsports and streetwear brands at this sixth edition of the show include Altamont, Deus ex Machina, Dickies, Element, Herschel Supply co, Lightning Bolt, Makia, Nixon, Carhartt, Polar, RVCA, Stance, Critical Slide Society and Wemoto. For the most up to-date brand

list go to www.jacket-required.com/brands. London’s credible and relevant men’s tradeshow reflects the strength of what is happening in the UK market right now and continues to keep London relevant on the European circuit. Jacket Required is a strictly invitation-only trade event so register in advance to guarantee your entry. With a convenient central London location, easily reached by tube, rail, bus or foot, Shoreditch High Street Station, Liverpool Street Station and Aldgate East Station and Old Street Station all within walking distance. Check www.rac.co.uk for the best route and directions to the venue.

event preview

ISPO 26-29 JANUARY 2014 / MUNICH, GERMANY / WWW.ISPO.COM ISPO 2014 has been bought forward a week to January 26, meaning it will take place before the SIA show in the USA, kicking off the global winter sports trade show season for the first time. This year’s show promises to be as successful as last January’s when 81,000 business professionals from 109 countries attended, a 4% increase over the prior year. Boardsports is still one of the major features of the show with three halls. Last year saw the return of the Quiksilver group with their impressive stand. As always the major players will be there in force and ISPO will fulfil its key role as the major flag waving exercise for snowboarding and all the other winter sports. The flexing of this combined muscle indicates not only to our retail base but also to the sports industry at large that there is good business to be done in action sports. This is becoming more and more important as retailers are now driven more by economics then their passion for sports.

transition. Brands exhibiting include Picture Organic Clothing, Teko, Monkee, Bleed, Entropy, Völkl, Patagonia and Vaude. This year’s Scooter Village will demonstrate how scootering has matured and is now a product category that retailers need to consider seriously. The four days of competition on the ramp will see international pro riders including World Champion “Kota” and European Champion Ryan McNamara demonstrating all the latest tricks. Brands already signed up include Grit, Crisp, Chilli, Razor, District, Eagle, Annaquda, Blazer, AO, Zinc and Micro. The Longboard Embassy will have more than 100 brands exhibiting, 20% more then last year and certainly Europe’s biggest ever collection of longboard brands at one single event. Team riders will be riding the Pumptrack and Gordon Timpen the infamous German photographer will have a photo booth and take pictures of visitors. Landyachtz, Arbor, Carver, Never Summer, Madrid Skateboards and Mike Jucker Hawaii are just some of the brands showing their product.

In Hall A1 the ISPO Shop Summit has been replaced by the ISPO Action Sports summit which has been designed to inspire all action sports retailers and brands rather than just the snowboarding community and will provide a focal point for ISPO’s new associated New this year is the ISPO FREESKI SUMMIT in hall A3. The idea behind this services including ISPO Academy, ISPO Beijing and ISPO Jobs. There development is to get the freeski industry, scene and media to congregate will be a redesigned bar with ample seating spaces for meetings together and harness their energy and present their movement to the and don’t forget the traditional Weißwurst Brunch is on Wednesday whole snowsports industry. Located in the centre of A3 and organised by morning. Visitors to the ISPO Distillery Concepts & Creation, the Action Sports Summit will have summit will have freestanding wall In Hall A1 the ISPO Shop Summit has been replaced access to lockers, mobile phone spaces where core freeski brands by the ISPO Action Sports summit which has been and laptop charging stations, will display products, visuals and designed to inspire all action sports retailers and complimentary Wi-Fi and plenty info texts. of actions sports magazines. brands rather than just the snowboarding community Central to the Action Sports Gibbon will be presenting the first summit is a stage that will be ISPO Slackline Street Games with used to host meetings and presentations throughout the four days with Mr. Slackline, aka Andy Lewis from the USA, choosing the winner and the focus on current issues affecting the industry with presentations every afternoon “Slackline gangs” will be competing with each other. from the various themed platforms that were launched last year. The SUP Area presented by Paddle Expo will again present this growing Josè Moreno-Tapia Rivas, ISPO Action Sports Community Manager trend, exhibitors include Mistral, Bic Sport, SIC and NRS to name a few. explained; “We expanded the concept to include the entire action sports industry, and the goal is to offer a comprehensive selection for Spacejunk in hall A2 will exhibit works from some of the best artists all retailers, representatives of the industry, media and athletes.” involved in board culture, street art & pop surrealism, including Jon Fox (UK), Didier Ra (France), Goin (France), Todd Schorr (USA), The Action Sports summit is at the centre of the themed platforms Nicolas Thomas (France), Nicolas Le Borgne (France) and a tattoo that had such a successful introduction last year. The World Freeride artist group show. Live painting will take place on the stand and the Festival & Tailgate Alaska will be hosting the second instalment THC exhibition will display work dedicated to brands like Burton who of TAILGATE MUNICH. The themed platform is the epicentre for are working with artists. Volcom’s mini ramp in Hall A2 will be busy freeride snowboarding at the show, bringing together all aspects throughout the show - the fun starts on Sunday with an open to all of snowboarding and related lifestyles to one spot with educational Best Tricks contest + 3 in-a-row. The following day it gets serious clinics, presentations, legends’ stories and daily seminars on products with €8000 prize money up for grabs in the invitation-only contest and trends, snow science and backcountry safety. Brands on show limited to 40 skaters. On Tuesday the ISPO industry contest is open include K2, Völkl, Libtech, Karakoram and Spark R&D. to all exhibitors employees and workers, so signup at register@ volcomeurope.com and stake your place. The ISPO INSPIRE project combines Brands For Good’s corporate social responsibility with the ecological responsibility platform put The stand-out ISPO evening event last year was the 686 Lights Out together by GreenRoomVoice. Together they will create a boothboxing event. Open to all the industry, riders and retailers, men environment where you can share, discover and find inspiration for and women had the chance to put on the gloves, in a real ring, with what is being done and will be done to respect both the planet and trainers and an official referee. This year’s event will be on Monday humanity. Brands for Good shines the spotlight on what the industry night at the Backstage, Henry Jackson will be the MC and Bob is doing in CSR, highlighting projects from Billabong, Volcom, O’Neill, Van Unnik (686 team rider) will be defending his title. So if you’re Indiana, Arc’teryx, The North Face and Patagonia, amongst others. interested get training! GreenRoomVoice’s space will showcase brands who have a serious approach towards ecological responsibility and offers them tools, So lots to see and lots to get involved in plus all your favourite brands, consulting and a communication platform to help them make this so see you there. 18

retailer profile

OUT OF BOUNDS Out of Bounds originally opened as a snowboard school with a small shop 25 years ago. After relocating in Obertsdorf in 2003, greater emphasis was placed on the retail side of the business. Sven Gittermann’s snow school and shop is conveniently located at the base of the Nebelhorn cable car and even has a coffee bar that his customers can enjoy before they hit the hill. This year, Sven launched an online shop: www.outofbounds.de/onlineshop. How do you use social media to your advantage to promote your store? I promote my shop on Facebook. Social media is such a useful tool, it caters for any marketing I want to do. I can stay in touch with my customers, I can talk to them and they can talk back. What particular product has been the best seller? What’s working and what isn’t? My snowboards sell really well. Additionally the freeride product area has been very popular in the last couple of years. I think this perhaps pushes other product categories to the background but I wouldn’t say that they’re ‘not working.’ What is your best selling accessory category? Handmade beanies are always really popular. They sell consistently well. What percentage of your sales are from online business compared to your in-store sales? Since I have only recently started selling products online, I don’t really have valid figures that we can compare. At the moment my shop generates most of my turnover (this may or may not change in the future). My personal advice is still very valuable for my customers they like to hear my opinions on products before they make decisions on what to be. What are the benefits of having a physical shop over simply having an online store? I think with the combination of my snowboard school and shop I have the complete offering, there are great synergistic benefits in having both businesses in one. As I have already mentioned, my personal advice and contact is only available in my physical shop. However, the reach my website gives me is great too. I’m sure the online shop will grow to be very important. What is the snow scene like in Germany? Huge! Oberstdorf is the biggest ski and snowboard resort in the

country. It’s also famous for freeriding. My sales in freeride products have risen considerably as this scene continues to gain popularity. What makes your store different and in what ways does your store excel beyond your competition? My store isn’t only a shop but also a school and a place where friends and customers meet, converse and enjoy themselves. This social aspect is unique; it builds a good vibe in and around the store. How does your cafe draw customers into your store? The combination of not only buying but also being able to enjoy a cup of coffee draws my customers in. They come in when they want a coffee, so they’re continually exposed to what I have available in the shop. Again, it’s something that my store has different in comparison to other stores and adds to the warm atmosphere. What trends do you see upcoming? Freeriding is still growing, particularly in our region, so I expect sales in these products to continue to increase in the coming few years What kind of advice can you give other independent retailers who are trying to compete against the big megastores? The most important thing is the personal and professional advice to create a relationship with your customers every time they come over the threshold. This is something that the big stores cannot compete with and something that we must focus on and continue to excel at. Which up and coming brands do you hope to stock in the future? I started selling products from Arc’teryx and also various splitboards. I will continue to stock freeride products because I expect them to sell well. What are you doing to pull people into your store? I allow customers to test my boards so they can make a comparison between different brands and board shapes. They can get the product that is right for them. The coffee bar helps too!

OUT OF BOUNDS, NEBELHORNSTR. 67, 87561 OBERSTDORF, GERMANY / WWW.OUTOFBOUNDS.DE / INFO@OUTOFBOUNDS.DE 21

photo: Head

preview

SNOWBOARD PREVIEW 2014/15 A cynic once said that 90% of people are fine on 90% of snowboards, 90% of the time. Amazing then, that snowboarders spend all summer hunched over catalogues, browsing forums and scouring the web to find that board-in-a-million that will be just perfect for them. And in a market full of different cambers, capsule collections, microbrands, quick-strikes and early releases, it’s getting tougher for them – and us - to pick the winners. Fortunately, SOURCE’S 2014/15 Snowboard Preview is here to sort the funk from the junk. By Tom Wilson-North. KEY NEW MODELS Broke clients and economic mediocrity means less cash to spend on the board collection, so the biggest trend we’ve seen is that of do-it-all sticks replacing quivers. One of the categories that does versatility the best is backcountry freestyle, with twintip powder boards seeing big investment and marketing. Jones Snowboards lead the way here, backed by their latest movie Higher, scheduled for an autumn release. “The 2015 rider wants a board that can do it all and charge in any condition, any terrain, from the backcountry to the park. We design all our boards to have legit crossover performance potential. We’re offering multiple new elite freestyle sticks including ultra-light and limited edition models of the award winning Aviator and Mountain Twin”, explains their global marketing guy Seth Lightcap. Niche Snowboards’ Dustin Morrell agrees; “A lot of people are venturing outside the park and getting back to the all-mountain scene once again, but want to maintain the versatility of a freestyle board”, he says. With these blurred freestyle/freeride/snowdome/park lines come new shapes, and Amplid’s Pillow Talk is one we’ll be checking out in great detail at ISPO. It’s a single size 156 twin with huge spatula

tips and a big, wide waist. Lib Tech’s take on the trend is the Travis Rice’s Goldmember powder twin. With new Firepower construction, it promises the lightest swing weight on the market - perfect for giving Rice’s powder pirouettes a try. Endeavor have an updated Clout Series with 3D base and a high nose and tail profile, and Whitegold are pitching their Proto XIV/V as a short, wide and twin shaped ‘powder skateboard’. Meanwhile, Never Summer’s all-new, all-mountain trench-digging twin is called the Rip Saw, with tapered profile and extra added camber for big mountain booosting. Unsurprisingly, all these boards are aimed at advanced level riders; with declining participation, this is clearly where the money is. Don’t count on the powder twin trend hanging around for too long, though. “We see a more freestyle trend creeping back”, warns Nikita’s PLM Emilie Valade. “At the moment, this is happening a lot more in the US, whilst Europe is a bit behind, trending more towards ‘all-terrain’ for now. But we’re still being asked for softer boards with solid edge hold to allow some messing around and an aggressive ride in one package”. Rough Snowboards’ freestyle offer is called Young Guns, and is available in two colourways, 23

preview

“It seems that the lines of freestyle and freeride are starting to become blurred which is helping to finally develop product that is truly ‘all mountain’ oriented” Marc Vitelli, Sims

PROGRESSIVE FREERIDE Whilst 13/14 will be remembered as the year that the soul-surfing, rootsy freeride movement exploded, 2014 sees the freeride trend mature a step further, in a more modern direction. After a year and a half of development, Volkl unveil a weird new spikey looking freerider called the Alright, which claims excellent backcountry credentials through a shortened effective edge and powder tips. The 167 model has the same effective edge as a 140, which pulls the widest parts of the board toward the middle, making it more chuckable. Arbor have undoubtedly the worst-named board in freeride – Shreddy Krueger – although it looks like it’ll work well, with setback and taper incorporated into their System rocker. It’s an old-school meets newschool shape with a rocket nose and mellow swallowtail. Ride have an innovation called SplitTail on Jake Blauvelt’s Alter Ego board, which lets you turn your regular board into a swallow at the flick of a switch. Elsewhere, there’s another flutter with Noboarding happening; Jones have got one to show us, and Burton have a Fishcut-style noboard called the Pile Driver. Finally, driving their Family Tree microline a step further is Nicholas Mueller’s directional, tapered, blunt pow/ freeride board called the Flight Attendant, with S-Rocker and ecofriendly recycled topsheet. NEW TECH STEPS We’ll see new cores aplenty next year, with the focus on weight reduction and increased snap. Apo’s new PH Bounce Core is the one they’re shouting about, whilst Venture switch to lighter aspen cores throughout. Roxy have new linewide ultra-light cores too, called Heart Cores, which promise upgraded performance. And Bataleon are replacing their composite cores with full wood, right down to the bottom end. Endeavor are the first company to license The Channel from Burton, and Flow have added custom-made Vectorply multi-axial carbon/ fibreglass weaves which increase grip whilst keeping the allimportant handflex nice and soft. We’ve also seen big progression in sidewalls. Rome and Endeavor are using suedewall elastomers for dampening and durability, whilst Slash play safer with great-looking and dead-tough beech sidewalls. Whitegold will be using cork sides on their Proto Proto XIV/V model mentioned above, and Burton will be building their new Dual Guardrails in the same way as their bindings, using injection processes to create bomber sidewalls made of polycarbonate, TPU and rubber. A SIDECUT ABOVE Edges and sidecuts are a huge park of board shaping, and Rossignol have some funky tech going on here next year. “Bringing sidecut radiuses into winter sports is probably one of the biggest innovations 24

that snowboarding is NOT known for”, laments Product Manager Arnaud Repa. “With our new upgraded Radcut we’re featuring a very short sidecut radius going through the middle of the board combined with a longer reversed sidecut radius towards tip and tail, making the board more versatile while enabling the rider to vary the sidecut radius along a much longer edge length”. Cool. You’ll find this on the Angus and Justice, mixed with Magne-Traction 5S edges for full edge control. Meanwhile Salomon have a new EQ1 Sidecut on their Sanchez and Spark models; it enables quick stopping when you need to hit the brakes, but stays out of the way the rest of the time. WILL THE SPLITBOARD TRAIN DERAIL? Splitboarding has seen slow but steady growth at retail, despite bandwagon-jumpers aplenty and some decidedly sketchy-quality boards lingering around shops. Will 2014/15 be the year the splitboard train turns into an express? Arbor’s Matt Patty doesn’t think so. “Splitboards will continue to be a small but important part of snowboarding. I’m not convinced that train ever really left the station from a retail volume perspective - but we recognize its growth and establishment within our community and are proud to offer one as a true labour of love.” There’s no denying the massive interest in the category right now though. Burton go 100% Channel Split on their range, adding sizes to the sublime Landlord and retiring the older Freebird. They’ll be offering Family Tree branded G3 skins, too. Smokin’ have a Future Freeride Splitboard in the line, and Venture offer a couple of new super-short stubby Storm boards in 148 and 153 with gigantic waist widths. Since the category exploded Jones have been at the front, so it’s interesting to see Jeremy & co treading new ground next year. They’ll have a spitboard in kids’ sizes – a world first – and an introductory priced splitboard. We love this idea. Splitboards need to ditch the snobbery of exploitative prices, and Jones bringing in a low-end model will keep Quechua out of this market...for now, at least. Lib Tech on the other hand keep it premium, with a split Birdman called the Wingman, a Skunk Ape HP Split and a split Travis Rice completing the range. Also at the higher end are Nitro, who use a Koroyd core in their new Thunderbold Split. Some cool new tech is coming out from the ski companies, who have years of ski-touring experience to drive product development.

photo: Oakley

whereas there’s a board from Signal called the Freedom Machine which is stiff between the bindings yet soft on the nose and tail for jibalicious pressing. If you think that the premium end of the market is a house of cards, why not slot your buying down a notch? We’ve noticed heavy development at the middle of the market. Slash are releasing a Manuel Diaz-inspired directional twin midline called the Brainstorm, and YES will be showing a fresh new shape for their Basic. Over at Nitro, there’s a new model called the Bad Seed with Lowrider Camber and Power Pods. Meanwhile, Salomon’s freestyle midrange is revamped, the boards providing outrageous value with trickled-down tech inserts, friendly flexes and sturdy bases.

preview

NEW CAMBERS Since the camber shake-up happened a few years ago, the dust is starting to settle with rocker evolution slowing down and a return to – surprise, surprise – traditional camber. Burton’s PurePop is camber evolved, using small flat zones outside the feet for a slightly loose feel, whereas Lib Tech’s TT (Tomahawk Technology) full camber is an extension of their existing C3 programme. Meanwhile, over in their Lake Tahoe factory, Smokin’ Snowboards will be using a modern version of camber they’re calling Thrash Rocker. But hybrid cambers and full reverse still have their places. Imperium transform their double rocker into a bigger double “power rocker’, and Rome’s Mountain Division deck combines rocker, flat and camber to make a freeride weapon with huge versatility. GRAPHIC STORIES No real directions or graphic trends to speak of next year – just a cat-and-mouse game of aesthetic one-up-manship as brands seek inspiration in different directions, or all vie for a collab with the artist of the moment. We particularly like Verdad’s topsheets, which are a little tougher and rawer than their approach last year. Macro photography meets art through some gritty, gritty themes. Nikita’s Expression board, with graphics from Icelandic musician and artist Sindri Már Sigfússon is in the same kind of hardcore vein, full of attitude. You’ll recognise his art from Alien Workshop skateboards.

to staff their logistics department that only works with handicapped or disabled people. Positive discrimination. Most importantly, we have a suggestion for the industry that will make you more eco, save you money and give retailers less need to discount; step up to a two-year product life cycle. End this obsessive single-seasonality. Your retailers will thank you for not having to drop price nor trouser at the end of the first year. Dupraz do it well and it works brilliantly for them. CONCLUSION A solid-looking year ahead: Refinements in the freeride category, a sensible step in the all-mountain direction for mid-priced boards, some bling tech in cores and sidecuts and some great graphics. “It seems that the lines of freestyle and freeride are starting to become blurred which is helping to finally develop product that is truly ‘all mountain’ oriented”, thinks Sims Brand Manager Marc Vitelli. With less out-there boards there will be far fewer stinkers on the market, which is good news for a solid buy for 2014/15.

The undisputed winner in graphics next year is Lib Tech, celebrating 20 years of Jamie Lynn art on five Lynn-drawn pro-models. photo: Head

Salomon have a 4-part splitboard called the Premiere, with narrow skis and a compactable Track-Lock middle section, which turns into very low underfoot weight. Meanwhile, Volkl turn their expertise to improving accessories, offering a vacuum-base climbing skin and a four-piece hiking pole that should provide a little competition to Black Diamond’s ubiquitous Compactor.

The freeride posse play a little safer, with Jones & Arbor sticking to wood, Dupraz mountains and waves, and Venture opt for organic patterns and colours. Meanwhile, Burton focus more on the how - their Blunt is full of fake newspaper stories written by Burton employees, and their Déjà Vu was created using a real rotating canvas. There’s also a collab with Martin Guitars on Danny Davis’ Easy Livin board. It seems that their line is more about blends of colours than photography, cartoons and characters. However, undisputed winner in graphics next year is Lib Tech, celebrating 20 years of Jamie Lynn art on five Lynn-drawn pro-models. One model, the Half Cap, is a reconstruction of one of Jamie’s boards from the 1990s, with near-identical graphics, construction and camber. There’s also a headless Deflowered board, a tapered Mullet-style pow board and a couple of other colourful, easy-on-the-eye designs that’ll be bought as much for collections as they will be to ride. ECO DOESN’T WORK, ETHICS DO The point’s already been made; consumers are happy to use ecofriendly products, but aren’t happy to pay an extra premium for them. Besides, how ecological is snowboarding itself? “You don’t need to sugar coat this shit,” retorts Stepchild’s Shams. “Snowboarding and skiing are probably the most un-environmental sports in the world. The amount of flights, helis, car rides, sleds, slashed down mountains, displaced wildlife and ship freighting that the industry is responsible for is insane. We aren’t naive to this, but we do our best to reduce damage, we don’t manufacture in China - one of the worst polluters in the world – and we use FSC certified wood. Some of our boards have recycled sidewalls. We are not hippies, we just want our winters to stay cold”. Fair one. The guys over at Goodboards set a shining example by rounding up their pals and going out trash collecting on their local mountain, Burton are shipping their Family Tree boards with a compostable Kraft bag and Verdad are using a sheltered workshop 26

Splitboards need to ditch the snobbery of exploitative prices, and Jones’ low-end model will keep Quechua out of this market...for now, at least.

AT A GLANCE KEY NEW TRENDS

1 - POWDER TWINS 2 - FULL CAMBER (WITH A TWIST) 3 - VERY LIGHTWEIGHT CORES 4 - SENSIBLY PRICED SPLITBOARDS 5 - NEW SIDECUT TECHNOLOGIES

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2014/15 TITLE: PICTORIAL

PAGE: 1 OF 6

PRODUCT: SNOWBOARDS SEASON: AW 2014/15

AMPLID MORNING GLORY / PILLOW TALK / STEREO

APO

ARBOR

BATALEON

ICONIC EERO / ICONIC SAGE / ICONIC SPENCER

AFRAME / WASTELAND / WHISKEY

AIROBIC / ETA / GOLIATH

BURTON

CAPITA

ATTENDANT / TALENTSCOUT / TRICKPONY

DEFENDERS OF AWESOME / BLACK SNOWBOARD OF DEATH / HORRORSCOPE

MEDIA BLITZ / PLY / SUPERNATANT 29

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2014/15 TITLE: PICTORIAL

PAGE: 2 OF 6

PRODUCT: SNOWBOARDS SEASON: AW 2014/15

DRAKE BATTLE / DF1 / TEAM

DUPRAZ

ENDEAVOR

FANATIC

STD / X-LIGHT / SPILT

COLOUR / LIVE / NEW STANDARD

FTC / SNOWSURF / TWIN CBC

FLOW

GNU

GOODBOARDS

CANVAS / CHILL / WHITEOUT

ECO IMPOSSIBLE / FOREST BAILEY SPACE OUT / LADIES CHOICE

APIKAL / CAPRA / WOODEN

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2014/15 TITLE: PICTORIAL

PAGE: 3 OF 6

PRODUCT: SNOWBOARDS SEASON: AW 2014/15

HEAD FORCE / SHINE / EVIL

IMPERIUM

JONES

CLASSIC / FATALE / MADNESS

EXPLORER / POWDERSURFER / ULTRAAVIATOR

HAPPY HOUR / WOWPOW / WWW

LIB TECH

LIGHT

LOBSTER

TRAVIS RICE GOLD MEMBER / JAMIE LYNN PHOENIX / SKATE BANANA

JOY / TROOPER / VICE

JIBBOARD / NOSEJOB / YOUTHBOARD

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2014/15 TITLE: PICTORIAL

PAGE: 4 OF 6

PRODUCT: SNOWBOARDS CARBONIUM SERIES

US PAT. NO.7798514

SEASON: AW 2014/15

NEVER SUMMER RIPSAW / SNOW TROOPER / THE CHAIRMAN

NICHE

NIDECKER

NIKITA

KNEW / MINX / THEME

ESCAPE / LIVIN’ THE DREAM / MEGALIGHT

CHICKITA / EXPRESSION / SIDEWAYS SISTA

NITRO

PALMER

RIDE

ADDICT / BADSEED / GLORYSTOMPER

CROWN / HONEYCOMB / HONEYCOMB PRO

ALTER EGO / BERZERKER / BUCKUP

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2014/15 TITLE: PICTORIAL

PAGE: 5 OF 6

PRODUCT: SNOWBOARDS SEASON: AW 2014/15

ROME GANG PLANK / LO FI RKR / MOUNTAIN DIVISION

ROSSIGNOL

ROUGH

ROXY

ANGUS / JUSTICE / XV SPLIT

POWDERSKATE / SIGNATURE / YOUNGUN

SUGAR BANANA WATERCOLOR / RADIANCE / TORAH BRIGHT

SALOMON

SIGNAL

SLASH

DERBY / SPLIT / PREMIERE

DISRUPTOR / JAKE FREEDOM MACHINE / TROUBADOUR

ATV / BRAINSTORM / HAPPYPLACE

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2014/15 TITLE: PICTORIAL

PAGE: 6 OF 6

PRODUCT: SNOWBOARDS SEASON: AW 2014/15

SMOKIN SUPERPARK / FAWESYMMETRICAL / POWWOW SPLIT

STEPCHILD

TECHNINE

VERDAD

DIRTYBAG / LIZZARD&POSSUM / STEREOTYPE

ELEMENTPRO / LM PRO / THOMSON PRO

CLOCKWORK / SNOWVATO / FLYING ACE

VOLKL

WHITE GOLD

YES

ALRIGHT / DISTURBIA / UNTRAC

NORTH / FLYER / SHAKA

GREATS / PYL / STANDARD

industry analysis

ARE WE SELLING SKATEBOARD HARDWARE TOO CHEAP? While everything seems to be getting more expensive, the price of skateboard hardgoods stays the same. Is the industry shooting itself in the foot? Analysis by Dirk Vogel.

Speaking of value, when I started skateboarding in 1988, my first pro-level board cost a whooping 320 Deutsche mark (including pink griptape), the equivalent of ¤350 today. Nowadays, the average deck at a skate shop costs around ¤60 (with free grip), a set of trucks ¤60, wheels ¤30 and mounting hardware and bearings another ¤30 combined. So a complete set-up today retails for about half of the 1988 price point in Europe. You can also open a 1988 copy of Thrasher magazine and find mail-order offers for custom completes starting at $99.99, equivalent to $197.40 in 2013 at a 97.4% inflation rate, when completes start at $84.99 right now. (Meanwhile, a pair of Vans high-tops cost $34.99 back then, and $60.00 today, so other product categories did adjust their pricing.) Exploring the issue of hardware prices and inflation, I spoke to two of Europe’s most seasoned distributors. As it turns out, the matter is far more complex than calculating inflation rates and end prices on paper. The #1 reason: China, China, China In the 1980s, almost 100% of skateboard decks were produced in the U.S. – which came at a price. In 1999, California companies still produced 100,000 decks and 500,000 wheels each month. Only two years later, production started moving to China for low manufacturing cost and high margins. And it remains in China today. Says Jörg Ludewig from Urban Supplies: “Considering inflation until today, decks are easily half of what skaters in the ‘80s had to pay. Probably less. Thank God for the [customers’] acceptance of Made in China products.” Distributors are lowering their margins to absorb the price difference. While prices have remained stable (numerically) despite inflation, distributors have had to settle for lower margins on hardgoods, especially decks, in order to stay competitive. Says Chris Allen, Director at Shiner: “US shops sell for a much slimmer margin than stores in Europe and to be competitive in the market in the EU, the distributors have had to work on a smaller margin to combat consumers buying direct from US stores mail order.” Selling hardgoods can be hard, agrees Jörg Ludewig at Urban Supplies: “The

photo: Dwindle

Here’s a question that recently popped up on Internet skateboarding message boards: Is skateboard hardware being sold too cheap nowadays? Prices for decks, trucks and wheels have been flat, in numerical terms, for almost a decade now. Meanwhile, the cost of everything else is going up; especially gas, food and electricity. And once we factor in the rate of inflation – ¤100 in 2000 is the equivalent of about ¤138 today (EU Consumer Price Index) – it seems only fair to ask: How long can this go on before skateboard hardgoods lose all their appeal to customers, or what marketers call perceived value? fact is that the margins in hardgoods are not always the best. And the variety of products is so much higher than in the past that a normal shop has a hard time to actually showcase half of it. And kids usually want the other half... So the inventory risk is a lot higher and this does not always reflect in higher margins for the dealer to cover that risk.” Actually, decks used to cost even more in the early 2000s. As Chris from Shiner points out: “The price of decks has remained the same – and in fact has come down in the last 15 years. In the early millennium years decks sold for £60/¤70.” Harder shredding equals more frequent replacements. A complete board may have cost twice as much in 1988, but it also lasted much longer. Vert skating and early street – mostly on ramps and transitions – were gentler on hardware than today’s heavy-duty street antics. Says Jörg Ludewig: “Skateboarding was different then, the decks lasted a lot longer. If you look into how many decks a good skater is going through per year right now, he is spending a lot more than his buddy in the 1980s. Products are under way heavier (ab)use compared to back then.” Shop decks sour the market. With shop-branded decks at prices around ¤29.99 cornering about 50% of the deck market in some stores, name brand skate hardware is walking a fine line when it comes to pricing without alienating core consumers. “It’s also to be more competitive against the price of shop boards. This is the same reason for the reduction in the price of wheels,” says Chris Allen. Price and value are not the same. As a famous Chinese proverb maintains, only a fool confuses price with value. Skate hardware is no exception, says Jörg at Urban: “Unfortunately skateboarding is still 90% marketing, so the cheapest is not always the best – or the best the most expensive. You can buy a lot of crap for too much money, even it is considered cheap, and you can buy top products cheap, though they are considered expensive. Example: A cheap crappy China deck for ¤30 is a rip off, a current tech board for ¤70 is cheap.”

market insight

SOCIAL MEDIA A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND Despite the challenges currently facing the women’s market, the outside world is telling us not to forget that women are a key consumer group to connect with. This report observes the basic facts every brand should know about social media and gender-specific marketing.

CHILDREN OF THE (DIGITAL) REVOLUTION Digital marketing has shifted the way businesses grow and develop. The arrival of the Internet and the continual rise of multimedia gadgets mean there are more and more opportunities for small and large businesses to connect with their audiences. One online marketing tool with some serious relationship leverage is social media. Reaching out to 40% of the world’s seven billion population, it’s fast becoming ‘the world’s largest focus group’. With an ever-changing digital landscape, success is not always easy to achieve however. Effective social media marketing boils down to more than just uploading a generic photo to Instagram or sending the odd tweet. “Social media tends to create a more volatile audience than other media and has a specificity that we need to keep in mind. Unlike a newsletter subscriber or a returning customer (online or offline), the social media fan base doesn’t really belong to the brand,” says Theo Cagnet, Billabong’s European Web and Social Media Coordinator. “Once you know this and keep this in mind, you know you have to keep looking for new online trends, new platforms and media or new means of communication knowing that none of these platforms you’re currently using will be here forever. MySpace is an example of what can happen (or go wrong) with social media. Everything moves fast and it’s important to use these tools wisely and at the right time.” “Forget India, China, Or The Internet. Economic Growth Is Driven By Women” The Economist Historically, most brands have followed the popular belief that if you ‘target men then the women will follow’. But research into gender differences have shown that there is a growing importance for brands to understand the psychological differences between male and female buying habits in order to form a connection. Despite brands actively

marketing to women since the 1960’s, ‘91% of women think that advertisers don’t understand them’ (Nielsen). What works with men doesn’t necessarily work on women. In fact, most of the time, it won’t. Today, women are the key decision makers, controlling 66% of global spending. This compares to 27% in 2009, an average rise of 8% per year. With this in mind, gender driven growth is at the forefront of many corporate, industry and even government drives for reviving a struggling economy. We’re not talking girls v. boys here, but responding to the demands of an emerging market. When taking into consideration the spending power that women yield in the global marketplace, it would be simply bad business to ignore the potential female consumers have in jump-starting our industry. Recent research from Snowsports Industries America revealed that women accounted for $1B of snow sports purchases in 2012/13. From a (re)growth perspective, it’s no longer a question of if to market to women, but how. We spoke to some of the industry’s top marketing teams to find out how they deliver gender-specific marketing. Their expert marketing opinions helped shape five key questions we think every business should be asking when using social media to effectively market to both genders. 1. WHAT DOES A WOMAN WANT? “How long have you got!? Women want it all.” Nikita’s Brand Director Carla Murphy tells us. “And nowadays they can pretty much get this and more from the brands they choose to adopt as theirs. Brands that will win in the arena will be those that open up the communications to broader topics than those of which they play in, those brands that behave in a self-less manner will also stand out; informing but

market insight

Choosing the right media channel, designing the right content and creating the right experience are all steps to winning over your female market.

not dictating, sharing but not monopolizing and above all providing a benefit that is useful and worth passing on, after all relevancy is consumer currency.” 2. AM I CONNECTING THE RIGHT WAY? WAIT. AM I CONNECTING AT ALL When it comes to online communication, 71% of women use social media compared to 62% of men, spending on average 30% longer on social media networking sites. “Social Media is a tool to connect with immediacy to our audiences, our ambitions from that are to deliver a benefit through relevancy, to be open and honest and share likeminded ideas.” continued Murphy for Nikita. “By doing this we are being true to two-way engagement and not just marketing the brand, if that means brand loyalty grows that’s great, we see it as developing relationships rather than increasing brand loyalty and work to create long-lasting reasons to connect.” 3. WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE NEEDS OF MY DIFFERENT USER GROUPS? AND HOW CAN I MARKET TO CUSTOMERS ACCORDINGLY? The social era has reinvented how we communicate with each other, but there remain some fundamental differences between the way men and women view the purpose of conversation. For men, it’s primarily a means to achieve tangible outcomes, whereas for women it’s a tool for enhancing social connections and creating relationships. “Women tend to interact or react just as much if not more than men, this might be because we’ve split our social media platforms into genders (with men and women having separate channels) and we put some effort into creating and proposing content that is specific to each gender which helps creating a better relationship with our fans,” describes Cagnet for Billabong. “Women seem to be more keen on giving feedback or talking about products than men although we’ve seen technical products get good social feedback or interaction among men.” 4. DOES ONE SIZE FIT ALL? No. Recognising which social media networks your consumers respond to most is also important. Women want to see clever mobile applications where they can engage and interact with sophisticated media. Facebook, Twitter and newcomer Pinterest have the greatest pull from women. Of the 1.5 billion active Facebook users, 53% are female and Pinterest appeals to women fives time more than men. LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ relate more so to male users. “Diving deeper into insights from social media platforms we noticed a strong presence in female followers and high engagement levels from our female audience which we did not necessarily expect considering that we’re coming from an action sports background

which usually tends to be male dominated.” Katrin Mayr, Interactive Marketing Manager for Vans & Reef told us. “Seeing a balanced split between female and male audiences among pretty much all age groups encouraged us to tailor our marketing strategy to each sex and to initiate female specific platforms like the vansgirls blog or the @ vansgirls twitter account.” Understanding age and background differences are also key. A third of 18-24 women check Facebook first thing in the morning. Women under 40 and women in full-time employment are more likely to check their smartphones whereas women over 40 and women who work from home are more likely to check their compute 5. AM I CREATING THE RIGHT BRAND EXPERIENCE? Creating the right brand experience largely comes down to creating the right content. “Women are definitely looking for stories around and about our products which is what we’re producing and sharing on social media (lookbook, collections videos, athletes stories and diaries, everyday life etc.). They are way more likely to react and share these branded stories than if we had just released a collection with no life around it.” explains Cagnet. For women, stereotypical campaigns don’t work. When buying a product or service, it’s not about seeing pink - it’s about being educated and seeing information, in particular things like features and pricing, functionality, size and weight. Making it social, relevant, impacting and inspiring, ‘connecting with a women’s innate nature to engage and multi-task’. “With Vans being a very visual brand, the main difference when it comes to marketing to men and marketing to women is the use of visuals and imagery,” described Mayr. “Over the course of time we noticed that our female audience tend to be more responsive to women specific imagery such as women specific styles/prints/silhouettes and are more likely to engage with the brand.” Women are more likely to recommend a brand, product or service through a social network if they’ve had a great personal experience with them. “At Nikita it is important to be close to our consumers and in a way that benefits their habits and lifestyles. We like to hear and share their views, feedback and comments, that way we can directly take action, encourage participation and let our advocates know they are more than consumers; that they are brand collaborators. Nikita aims to use social media to share stories and ideas and form a collaborative community, rather than as a tool to simply market the brand and increase sales. We aim to “give” in the social sphere as much as possible in terms of content, ideas, inspiration, etc., without necessarily “asking” or “taking” from our fans and consumers.” So there you have it - choosing the right media channel, designing the right content and creating the right experience are all steps to winning over your female market.

When it comes to online communication, 71% of women use social media compared to 62% of men, spending on average 30% longer on social media networking sites.

big wig interview

RYAN HOLLIS MERVIN MFG In November 2013, the US company Mervin Manufacturing, home of Lib Tech, Gnu and Roxy snowboards, saw a change in ownership from Quiksilver Inc to Altamont capital partners (Altamont). In what was a tumultuous year for the snowboard industry, SOURCE spoke to Mervin’s CEO Ryan Hollis to discuss what the changes will mean. Interview by Remi Forsans

Ryan Hollis started his career with an internship at Quiksilver in 1998, back when Quiksilver was in a smaller office in Costa Mesa. He spent a few years there, building a foundation in marketing and sales. He then transferred to China and spent three years helping to set up a joint venture bringing the Quiksilver, Roxy, and DC brands to mainland China and Hong Kong. When he returned from China to Quiksilver’s California offices he worked for Bob McKnight on the corporate team. In 2009 he arrived in Seattle to implement an infrastructure for scalable growth at Mervin Manufacturing. In October 2013, the sale of Mervin to Altamont Capital Partners was looking like a very exciting development, Quiksilver had been an incredible partner for Mervin and for Hollis personally. Now Mervin Manufacturing and Hollis are looking forward to this next chapter.

that the team at Altamont would be ideal partners to help Mervin take the next steps to building our business around the world. They believe in our vision and are ready to support us in achieving our goals.

Can you explain the thinking behind Altamont Capital Partners entering into boardsports? Altamont has been looking at the action sports industry for several years. Having recently acquired Dakine from Billabong, they have been well informed with boardsports businesses. It was clear through the process

How will things progress now with the Quiksilver group, in particular Roxy? Mervin will continue designing and selling Roxy snowboards, bindings and skateboards under a license agreement with Quiksilver. The relationship with Roxy will be very similar to how it has worked in

What will be the group’s strategy towards Mervin brands; Lib Tech, Gnu and Bent Metal? We will continue to invest in technology. Innovation has been the cornerstone of Mervin since its inception over 30 years ago. We will further nurture each of our brands, creating distinctive products and marketing campaigns. For 14/15 we will be focusing on building on our incredible Lib Tech outerwear line, and will be introducing new categories in the years to come. We live these sports and want to make products that make them better.

“For 14/15 we will be focusing on building on our incredible Lib Tech outerwear line, and will be introducing new categories in the years to come. We live these sports and want to make products that make them better.”

big wig interview

“Our focus at Mervin is to build events that are more participant friendly. We want kids to get on the mountain and have a fun day riding and winning prizes. We will be rolling out events throughout the region that will do just that…encourage participation at your local mountain.”

the past, with Mervin designing and building the snowboards at our factory in Sequim, Washington. Will you upgrade the Sequim, WA plant? We are constantly striving to improve our factory and processes in Sequim. At the heart of Mervin’s industry revolutionizing board innovations is our Near Canada factory, which gives us the unique ability to take an idea and put it into a prototype within a day. From the beginning Mervin co-founders Mike Olson and Pete Saari have focused on sustainable manufacturing techniques, cutting edge processes and materials, and a healthy work environment for Mervin craftsmen. How do you see the future of snowboarding, both as an industry and a way of life/sport? Snowboarding is still in its infancy. The products continue to improve, making riding easier and more fun for riders of any ability. The athletes continue to push the limits and make it exciting to watch. We are looking forward to seeing where snowboarding will be in the next five to 10 years, and plan to be on the forefront, creating new technologies, and supporting riders that bring fresh perspectives to snowboarding. What do you make of the rising age of participants? Any ideas on how to attract new ones? Snowboarding is still a relatively new sport, with plenty of room for growth. It has typically captured the youth participation base, but now there has definitely been a rising age of participants as the original snowboarders grow up. We are seeing that generation now having kids start to participate and learn to snowboard, and as they grow will continue to influence new generations to participate and learn to snowboard. Mervin makes boards that support a spectrum of skill levels, riding styles, and terrain preferences. Should concerns be raised over an aging generation still doing something so gnarly? Snowboarding is as gnarly as you want to make it. Whether you are hitting huge kickers or just riding powder, it can be fun for anyone. It is natural to take it a bit more mellow as you get older, but not everybody wants to do that. Guys like Travis Rice will always be pushing his limits and that is what makes this sport so fun. Are there any major innovations that should be implemented to all snowboards, in your opinion? We know that Banana Tech and Magne-Traction make snowboarding more fun for everyone. Our staff work hard to get everyone to try one of our boards. We know that people will love them and want to buy one. That has been the premise for our technologies…. visible technologies that work! If skiers had to sit in the snow to close their binding straps, do you think the ski would still have many practitioners? Is it illusory to think that the step-in may represent a promising solution for maintaining and attracting practitioners in snowboarding? We are pretty happy with our binding programs…. traditional two straps and step in technologies. We feel that these work great.

What do you think of the current difficulties facing the action sports industry in general? The industry has been changing quickly over the last few years with the emergence of ecommerce, challenging winter weather and a tough economy. I think we will see strong results in the coming years as each of us learns to adapt. It is the tough times that make us stronger. Is the outdoor sports industry bringing you any answers to the crisis in the action sports industry? There is a natural cross over between snowboarding and the outdoor market. We are marketing our snowboards for any rider, including the outdoor enthusiast. We have seen great growth in split-boarding and backcountry boards. People want to get out and explore. What do you think of the recent withdrawal of Winter X Games from Europe? It is definitely unfortunate that they are pulling out of Europe. Our focus at Mervin is to build events that are more participant friendly. We want kids to get on the mountain and have a fun day riding and winning prizes. We will be rolling out events throughout the region that will do just that…encourage participation at your local mountain. Do you see the Winter Olympics as an opportunity or threat for snowboarding? It is good for our industry to have snowboarding on a global stage. Riding massive kickers and pipes might not be relatable to many snowboarders, but it still promotes the sport in good light. We have athletes participating in the Olympics and we do everything we can to support them. What projects are you working on for the European market? We are more excited than ever about Europe. This is our opportunity to work directly with our retail partners to build a healthy business. We will be focusing on sharing our innovative products and creating marketing campaigns that help sell through at retail. We will be working with each of our reps, agents and distributors to make sure that we are creating sales programs that are mutually beneficial. We will be setting up logistics that will ensure we deliver product on time. We expect to provide a level of service consistent with what we have done in the United States. What do you find challenging about our very alpine oriented market? The alpine oriented market is exciting for us. It is true to what our brands are all about. We are excited to work with all of our retailers and mountains throughout the region to build Mervin brands. Do you have any changes planned for Europe? Mervin will focus on the fundamentals that have made this company what it is today. We will design and manufacture high performance, environmentally friendly products that are relevant in Europe. We are now able to manage the business directly and work with each of our retailers to build a great business. We know that our products resonate and consumers are seeking us out. We want to nurture that demand and ensure we do everything we can to help sell through at retail. This is going to be fun!

photo: Dragon

trend preview

GOGGLE PREVIEW 2014/15 There’s no denying that we borrowed goggles from skiing. But whilst they wore them reluctantly as a stormy-day backup, we rocked goggles as everyday mountain gear from the start. Snowboarders wear goggles. We look good in them. If you snowboard, you need them. And if you choose to wear a helmet – well let’s just say you look a right plum with a pair of sunnies on. With those wise words in mind, let’s examine one of the healthiest categories in our sport, and take a look at the trends that’ll keep the goggle market afloat during 2014/15. Report By Tom Wilson-North. UNMISSABLE MODELS The category’s best growth has been higher-priced, frameless models. Oakley have a flagship for next year named the Flight Deck, with a stupendous field of view. There’s also an update to their iconic A Frame with improved peripheral and downward vision. From Quiksilver, you’ll find a beefed up Hubble RL with easy one-touch lens switching and rotating side clip for people rocking them underneath a lid. Little sister Roxy isn’t left out either, with a new frameless girls’ model called the Popscreen. Elsewhere, big cylindrical goggles are expanding in mainstream popularity after gaining traction on the pro scene. “Cylindrical was a slot that needed updating in our line”, says Smith’s Category Manager, Joe Snyder. “This led us to the new feature-packed Squad goggle, which ships with a free second lens.” Anon aren’t letting this one get past them either, with a thin-framed cylindrical OTG model called The Relapse. You’ll see an extra large Beefy from Von Zipper, creatively named the Beefy XL, whilst Dragon are going smaller with a pintsized NFX variation called the NFXs. We like cylindrical goggles. It removes the bug-eye look that big spherical goggles give you, and we’re

expecting this type of goggle to become more and more popular. Outriggers on goggles are another key trend. “Our new RIG cylindrical has outriggers,” muses Electric’s Jesse Dawber. “They send the pressure back onto the contact points of the face, not letting any outside elements into your goggle”. Smith’s new flagship I/O7 comes fitted with enhanced Dual Axis outriggers with plenty of vertical and horizontal adjustment to let you dial in a good fit. Elsewhere in goggles, there’s a high-volume, high-value model from Imperium called the Bowl, with triple-density memory foam padding and the nearly-obligatory-nowadays free second lens. Anon release a masterstroke – continuing their love affair with magnets, they’ll ship their new MIG with a matching neckwamer. The integrated magnets in the top of the neckwarmer connect to the bottom of the goggle frame, sealing you up tight and preventing cheektop windburn. AESTHETIC THEMES When you do your goggle buy, you’ll be looking for models that look good with your helmet brands. But don’t be afraid of pushing the boat out on some of the nuttier selections. It doesn’t have to be black 49

trend preview

“Goggles allow for a place of expression like beanies or colourful socks, and are an important accessory that allows a rider to show off their personality on the slopes,” Travis Tomczak, Spy. if it’s expensive – almost the opposite, as if someone who has just dropped serious coin on optics wants to show off their investment.

accessory that allows a rider to show off their personality on the slopes,” sums up Spy’s Travis Tomczak.

A trend we saw a lot of during our research was that of retro-futurism. Oakley’s Flight Series goggles are reminiscent of fighter pilot helmets from ‘80s flyboy movies like Top Gun and Iron Eagle. Giro have heavy industrial badging and futuristic interpretations of their logo. Finally, we’re digging the historical-meets-digital typography that Texan design house L A N D have used on their Smith collab. It’s the embodiment of a longed-for, but as yet unattained future. Heavy, man.

COLLABS A goggle buy wouldn’t be the same without a healthy dose of collabs, would it? Volcom and Electric, Spy and Airhole, Oakley and Recon, Tailgate Alaska and Dye, Stance and Von Zipper. The list is endless and constantly changing, a car-key swap of snowboard brands. We’re looking forward to seeing the Iris X that POC have developed with rider du jour Jeremy Jones, although Giro take things one step further with their collab with tripped-out, retro-futuristic artist Justin Krietemeyer. Every goggle in this collab colourway will ship with a print by the artist himself. Good value-add, guys.

O’Neill, who are débuting a goggle line for 2014/15, are sticking to what they know for the theme of this new range. “It’s probably best described as a mash-up and blend of retro whites, matte blacks and fluro brights, with asymmetrical colour blocking on some of the bolder styles. The colourways have been designed to co-ordinate and compliment the O’Neill snow collection,” explains the designer behind the line, Nick Youle. Round the back, there’s been plenty of development in the old elasticated strap, making them far less boring and more must-havey by the use of textures and touchy-feely relief. Both these things increase shelf appeal and evoke the curiosity of customers. Taking things a step further, Anon have got some bamboo-based strap material, Electric are using a real hemp strap and Quiksilver have raised, soft-touch strap bumps.

CONCLUSION There it is; there’s no denying that the buoyancy of this category is quite incredible, with decent margins and great sell-through every winter. Customers are going for frameless sphericals or big cylindricals, and outrigger models are an easy sell to the helmet crowd. There are some great new lens technologies, and things are looking good for the future. Now, if we could only figure out a way of displaying them without the frames getting scratched up...

On the frames themselves, Quik & Roxy have scored an Italian supplier who paints by hand. “He’s the only supplier in the world that paints like this,” gushes Roxy’s Stephanie Fontenille-Leuridan. “He paints the frames one at a time, and they all come out different with splatters, marbling and tie dye effects.” LENSES Lenses are easier to change than ever, with quick clips, magnets and clever pin-and-slot systems. But lens evolution is still happening. “We have introduced photochromic lenses - riders want to organically adapt to the conditions rather than battle through with different lenses,” explains Dirty Dog’s Sales Manager Corrie Williams. You’ll see a similar sort of thing at the top of the Dragon range. Their technology is called Transitions, which darken from 79% VLT during blizzard pow sessions to 33% VLT as blue skies break over sunny terraces at lunchtime.

PRICEPOINTS Gone are the days of customers compromising on features to keep the budget sensible. People don’t seem to be scared of spending money on goggles nowadays; whereas a 250€+ price tag seems extortionate to us bottom-feeder industry paupers, wealthy snowboarders seem to have no issue investing their kids’ inheritance into something as important as an on-mountain identity. “Goggles allow for a place of expression like beanies or colourful socks, and are an important 50

photo: Dragon

Basic lenses keep getting cleverer too. Marker’s Tri Acetate Cellulose lenses provide solid reflection-free performance, and Spy’s Happy Lens sunglasses tech moves over to goggles, claiming to let through unique sun rays that lift your mood and increase alertness. There’s a rose-tinted joke in there somewhere. Anyway, you’ll find those on a new model called the Bravo. Finally, looking at flat light lenses, Oakley have a new technology called PRIZM, which promises increased whiteout detail, and I/S have a new high performance flat light lens using Zeiss optics called the Defcon.

FIVE KEY GOGGLE TRENDS FRAMELESS CYLINDRICAL QUICK-SWITCH LENSES PHOTOCHROMIC LENSES RETRO-FUTURISM

pictorial

TITLE: PICTORIAL

PAGE: 1 OF 2

PRODUCT: GOGGLES SEASON: AW 2014/15

adidas

airblaster

anon

ashbury

dirty dog

dragon

dye

electric

giro

head

IS eyewear

pictorial

IS eyewear

nike

o’neill

oakley

poc

quiksilver

rip curl

roxy

shred

smith

spy

zeal

photo: O’Neill

trend preview

RETAILERS’ BLACK GOLD WETSUIT TRENDS AW 14/15 Coldwater surfing is becoming more and more prevalent throughout Europe. Neoprene products have grown in order to respond to expert consumers who want the ideal product for each season. Will this black gold derivative become shops’ most profitable product in the surf equipment section? Some surf shops don’t hide it, they can do without surf clothing, only keeping pure equipment (boards, wetsuits and accessories) and their shop would still turn a profit. This could seem surprising given the coefficients of margins taken (1.7 on average) compared to that of clothing (2.3 on average). However, this does not take into account the new and quite precise purchasing criteria of demanding consumers who no longer hesitate to invest, several times a year, in their perfect wetsuit.

they released the E-Bomb pro a year ago. Reactions from retailers were so good that the brand (equipment provider to the 2013 ASP world champion) has chosen to extend this innovation to the junior’s Flashbombs too. Consumers are extremely well informed these days and they want the best technical properties. The interest in top-of-therange products is considerable and it’s driving sales forward for the coldest four-five months of the year.

Indeed, following the model relating to each season in Europe- 2/2mm in summer, 3/2mm in autumn, 5/4mm in winter and 4/3mm in springthe wetsuit has become the most frequently renewed product in surf equipment. And it’s also a high-cost product. Contrary to boards, which are changed with less frequency (less than one board a year on average), neoprene has established itself as a ‘highlight purchase’ on which consumers splash out - even in times of necessity.

3-LAYER NEOPRENE Five-hour sessions in Scotland, Norway or Alaska are no longer just pipe dreams. The degree of consumer requirements in terms of comfort has clearly increased; we want to surf in colder water for longer without feeling imprisoned. In terms of warmth, the efficiency of the neoprene can be identified as having three layers: The exterior, repellent layer should make the water run off the wetsuit and minimise the sensation of cold brought on by the wind. The intermediate layer of neoprene and its honeycomb structure should allow you to retain the maximum amount of air to guarantee optimal insulation. Lastly the interior layer consists of a high-density water repellent,

Such a healthy craze has meant that flagship models such as the Infiniti Drylock from Xcel and the VaporX from Bodyglove have sold out even before the start of winter. The stock situation is the same for Rip Curl whose ‘zip free’ suits have caused a storm since

trend preview

“There is obviously a movement in the market towards less panels and seams to improve flexibility and reduce seam issues, so we tend to stick to the old adage less is more,” Tom Ellyatt, Osprey

quick-drying material that wicks moisture away from the skin to make way for a thin layer of air. For Mike Piekering at Gul, the real challenge of a winter wetsuit is to “create a thermal layer that contains a maximum amount of air while transporting moisture away to keep the wearer warm.” In reality, “the warmest wetsuits are those that are the driest, air being 20 times more insulating than water,” as Jonathan Cétran from Rip Curl reminds us. That’s where the importance and popularity of these revolutionary liners comes from. LINERS 2.0 Non-existent a couple of years ago, wetsuit liners have become an undeniable sales clincher. Proof of this is that sales of models with liners with magic properties have increased…Increasing and using body warmth is, and it goes without saying, the main advantage of these 2.0 liners. But Joe Turnbull, Product Manager at O’Neill Wetsuits Europe has alerted us to some trickery: “a soft liner can seem attractive in the shop but who wants to have it around their shoulders when it’s soaked with water?” So this foam needs to be able to stay light. This is achieved through capillary action where the body’s moisture is removed by fibres in the liner to then be expelled to the outside. On areas such as the chest and the back where heat is vital, all manufacturers have developed their own fibres with new properties. At Hurley, it’s a weave of hollow fibres that offer this extra warmth while expelling body moisture. At Bodyglove, it’s a latticework and at fabric front-runner Patagonia, it’s a real honeycomb structure that is woven in “a combination of chlorine-free merino wool and recycled polyester,” details Gabe Davies. Let’s not forget the O’Neill firewall that provides faultless drainage and very little water retention, and also Quiksilver’s Coconut charcoal infused polyester yarn that stops odour. PANEL ASSEMBLY Products at surf equipment giants are continually being rethought year after year and the function of each specific area of the wetsuit is re-examined. The size of the panel, the placement of a seam or where it opens… But logic dictates that when you change a part of the equation, the result will not be the same. That’s why “each element has to be reworked to obtain a design that’s functional above all” as explained by Mark Brown from C-Skins. By deciding to eliminate the closing zip on two new ranges, the designers at Rip Curl knew they’d have to rework each neoprene panel in order to ensure warmth and stretch. “We improved three new areas,” confides Product Manager Jonathan Cétran; “the zip free zone to create a bigger opening, reduced and redesigned knee pads to give more flexibility and finally the shin panel to facilitate heel entry.” This year the trend is toward minimalism and functionality. “There is obviously a movement in the market towards less panels and seams to improve flexibility and reduce seam issues, so we tend to stick to the old adage ‘less is more,” says Tom Ellyatt at Osprey. The perfect fit combines the minimum of seams with the maximum flexibility. With the Refle-X, Body Glove have developed an ergonomic panel in the shape of an X strategically positioned on the top part of 58

the back. So while paddling the user can reach further with every movement without encountering any resistance. The reaction was immediate: “From the moment I stitched the Vapor X I knew it was a hit and that it would cause a storm. I didn’t expect quite so much of a surge though,” says Mike Vavak, Body Glove Sales Manager. PURE PERFORMANCE, ZERO RESTRICTION At surf wetsuit manufacturers, the search for performance is as much a priority as keeping warm. Phil from Tiki Wetsuits wishes to develop the somewhat reductionist theory and “to remove the adverse restriction from the necessity of neoprene skin.” And so each seam and each panel of neoprene is conceived in view to offering the best performance and the least resistance possible. The most used areas during paddling such as shoulders and armpits are the most stretchy to minimise effort, as James Trevelyan from Circle One points out: “ Intelligent seam placement enables the neoprene to stretch where it is most needed during the paddling action.” In terms of comfort and elasticity, Rip Curl has placed the bar even higher with their zipless models that also guarantees they are lightweight and watertight. By patenting the «Future Fit» two years ago, C-Skins got it right. Since then retailers and consumers have approved it and the innovations for winter 2014-15 in terms of comfort and performance are highly anticipated…but remain top-secret for now. In the neck area, totally watertight anti-chafe areas are sealed to avoid the horrible abrasion marks that entry-level equipment leaves you with. As for quality, O’Neill aren’t making any compromises, “We won’t give your new winter wetsuit a butt-seam to save cost, and we do not add panels purely to add options for colour blocking.” A far cry from the simple old needle stitched seams, the new liquid polymers used to border seams are ultra thin. To counteract their constraints, their properties of elongation have to be as good as that of the neoprene panels between them. No friction should be felt on the skin. CONCLUSION Wetsuit manufacturers work tirelessly to constantly refine the market and with consumers being clued-up on the latest tech and trends, just make sure you have enough stock in your shop to meet the demand.

TOP FIVE WETSUIT TRENDS Minimize stiffness in seams and neoprene panels. Liners 2.0: warm and self-weight reducing. European seasons require four types of wetsuit during the year. Considerable importance of fit specific to each brand and to each individual i.e. the importance of having several brands on the racks. Trend for the top-of-the-range (watch out for stock running out).

Discover the new collection at ISPO # A1.205

photo: Head

trend preview

Within the extended family of outdoor sports we find “action sports.” Within “action sports” we find “boardsports” inside of which we find the 3 S’s, surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding. Of the three S’s, surfing and skateboarding have something in common being activities more practised in summer whereas snowboarding is almost exclusively practised in winter. With this is mind, snowboarding is distinguished from the other two sports as a lifestyle with its own identity. Unquestionably snowboarding makes the most revenue of the three, and with outerwear and the equipment, it carries expenses that are incomparable to surfing and skateboarding. But for how much longer? By Remi Forsans. Snowboarding has its own factories, its own brands, riders, media, events and has built unique legitimacy through its battle to affirm its values in the face of its big brother (and predator), skiing. This is an exclusive situation amongst the 3 S’s. Surfing and skateboarding don’t really have any enemies or competitors; these two sports are quite unique in their areas of expression. We can find some values close to that of surfing in boardsports like windsurfing, kitesurfing or wakesurfing. We often compare skateboarding with longboarding, roller-skating or inline skating, even though they are very different but we don’t set them against each other. Snowboarding’s history is littered with difficulty and malevolence. In the ‘70s/’80s when our three favourite sports were born and then expanding, bringing with them an entire generation in search of rebellion, irreverence and particularly “anti-establishment sentiments,” a solution for organising these sports had to be found given the numbers of new participants. The problem was that these sports, at the time called ‘emerging’ didn’t really fit into the right categories amongst other federative structures that our countries had developed after the war in an attempt to organise mass sporting participation. In other words, the 3 S’s only found their place within these institutions with great difficulty, mostly because there was no one in these organisations who understood the

sports or their participants and also because the aim of a federation is to organise sport into competition with the ultimate goal of competing in the Olympic Games. But the 3S’s were products of the hippy generation, disengaged from society’s values. Rather than compete, they were seeking to create a lifestyle that brought together elements as different as they were varied. This meant free participation without any constraints and was associated with music, clothing, fashion and community spirit with its own codes and values. Freeride/Freestyle was born! Media and advertising quickly understood the profits that could be drawn from such an opportunity. The federations didn’t get it and as a result surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding were considered sports without futures destined for backward, marginal adolescents. It was with this state of mind that riders took it upon themselves to create their own demonstration circuits and competitions with values diametrically opposed to that of the Olympics. Staying in the margins and keeping control were also objectives in themselves. At this time snowboards were produced by small artisan brands who lived and breathed their passion and distinguished themselves from skiing by bringing many innovations later adopted by the ski industry. Following the collapse of the skiing market in Japan in the ‘90s industrialists finally saw opportunity in snowboarding because 61

trend preview

The TTR World Tour quickly became the real world cup circuit, unofficial but the only one of any worth. At the same time the FIS was making a fool of itself by continuing to support the alpine strand of snowboarding, which represented no business for our industry and that did not correspond to the values held by riders.

of the potential sales volumes amongst 15-25 year olds. This age group didn’t have any form of relationship with traditional skiing. This was the moment when boards first appeared in CAP, the first gates in snowboard competitions popped up and then the FIS finally got its mitts on our sport, organising it according to its own methods and drawing the necessary and expected profits from it related to the decline in interest for skiing. It was in this conjecture that snowboarding became an Olympic sport in 1998. The heavyweights (the ski industry, ski federation, OIympic Committee, sports ministers…) then wanted to rule over a sport whose values escaped them and decided that the sport should be integrated into the ski federation. Huh? In their eyes they use the same playing field so therefore it should have the same federation, the same issues and the same rules and a gang of uncontrollable misfits will not stop us. Hang on! In reality it’s as if rugby had been integrated into the football federation… a load of nonsense basically. Riders then formed a resistance movement and sent the CIO, the FIS and their snowboarding-incongruent values to hell. A good example of this was Terje Haakonsen becoming the first guy to refuse to take part in the Olympic Games even though he was all but guaranteed the gold medal. Using this momentum a rebel circuit was set up by the riders themselves supported by specialised media that was read by the community. The TTR World Tour quickly became the real world cup circuit, unofficial but the only one of any worth. At the same time the FIS was making a fool of itself by continuing to support the alpine strand of snowboarding, which represented no business for our industry and that did not correspond to the values held by riders. So, pushed by their sponsors, thirsty for media-fuelled victory aiming at the masses, some riders decided to take part in the Olympic Games. A quest for glory, money, recognition, to get your name inscribed in to the Olympic medal Pantheon, it’s hard to say what attracted them. However you can’t really talk about profound dedication because apart from in Olympic years (every four years), riders participating in the FIS competitions were not necessarily the best in the world. Then becoming FIS world champion became a challenge and so allowed nations without mountains, more reputed for surfing, to boast one or more world snowboard champions. The upper crust of riders had made their choice. The sport was now in the media spotlight and events like X Games, Dew Tour, Arctic Challenge, the Air and Style etc have become a bucket list in the career of a champion. Shaun White has understood this and knows how to show it. The “Flying Tomato” is probably the highest paid and prominent in the public eye of any

winter sports athlete. He also competes in the Winter Olympic Games and that doesn’t please everyone. In fact the lack of recognition for our sport from European States (as opposed to the USA where our sport is treated with respect), under pressure from ski instructor unions and lobbies and the FIS itself is doing nothing to stop the FIS in its tracks. The snowboard sales market is down but by less than that of skiing. Skiing owes its redemption simply to its ability to copy the values and innovations of snowboarding. This is not to mention the FIS has not even managed to create a large-scale event to unite skiers around the world, but has stolen and copied that of snowboarding (FIS World Snow Day vs. World Snowboard Day), trampling the rules and laws of business. So all things considered, what does the future hold for snowboarding? Snowboarding will always be a different sport from skiing. Young riders don’t see the sport as a competitor of skiing but rather another way to express yourself. The steady decline of the ski market, sedated by the global crisis has brought restructuring and diversification that will end up making skiing marginal on the balance sheets of the industrial businesses that still own the big brands. The major trends are strengthening, allowing us to overcome the demographic shift and to preserve the clientele that were starting to desert a sport overly occupied by freestyle. I’m talking about touring, backcountry and splitboarding. The market coming back to the endemic brands seems like good news to me. The problem to solve still remains this ambiguous relationship with a federation that doesn’t like us and that is unscrupulously siphoning what they can off our sport without even wanting to play the promotion card for our sport. Some have never given up, I’m thinking of our friends at the WSF who almost voluntarily, without any widespread support from the industry, are trying to maintain the values of this sport. This fight is not in vain because more and more people are coming back to snowboarding. Skiing is on the back foot because there is a family feud and freeskiing is starting to suffer seriously. In search of an identity, this discipline wants autonomy but flying the roost is difficult and often turns into a struggle. Snowboarding continues to develop new manufacturing capabilities, new rider-owned brands are developing locally and incorporate local passion and dynamism. The sport is doing well, the number of participants increased between 2012 and 2013, sales only suffered because rentals were on the up and riders are changing equipment less frequently… because of the global crisis. Snowboarding remains a safe bet in the microcosm of “action sports” but with its scope widening it has become an “outdoor action sport,” attracting a much wider demographic than to begin with. Now we just have to develop equipment to suit everyone - that’s the next challenge for snowboarding.

Snowboarding continues to develop new manufacturing capabilities; new rider-owned brands are developing locally and incorporate local passion and dynamism. The sport is doing well, the number of participants increased between 2012 and 2013, sales only suffered because rentals were on the up and riders are changing equipment less frequently. 62

women in boardsports interview preview

DONNA CARPENTER BURTON SNOWBOARDS

photo: Gabe L’Heureux

Last September, SOURCE had the great pleasure of meeting, listening to and riding with Donna Carpenter, President of Burton Snowboards and one of the industry’s most influential leaders. Interview by Jade Persaud-Walters.

Donna, thanks so much for taking the time to speak to SOURCE. We first got to hear from you at the last Women in Boardsports conference focused around the theme, ‘How to Achieve your Goal’, which seems a good place to start. After the financial hit in 2009, you recognized the need for Burton to ‘go back to basics’ and identified some your key goals as: re-energizing the sport, rebuilding the brand and focusing on the core rider and retailer. How as a company have you tried to achieve these goals? I brought up those goals in the context of Japan. Things had really been declining there. They had a grey market problem, boards were being shipped there from the US and offered at a discount, so in Japan we really had to rebuild the brand and reenergise the sport. In the US, we told everyone, not just our riders, but our dealers, anybody that we touched, that we wanted to be the favourite brand again. We’re the biggest snowboard company and we’re arguably the best quality, but people had stopped rooting for us. One of the most important things that we had to do was to produce less product. The entire industry was guilty of over-producing so that too much product was being discounted at the end of the year. I think that the financial crisis had a way of shining a light on our mistakes as an industry. The other thing I did was really focus on our culture. I think we’ve

always had an incredibly wonderful, passionate employee culture, but the bigger you get the harder things are, the more you really have to be proactive and nurture it. You created the Burton Stance to help align your employees’ goals with your company’s vision, can you tell us a little bit more about what it is and how it came about? The Burton Stance came from feedback from employees who said, ‘we want to know where you’re going and why’. We just assumed people knew that, but I think as a company expands into more categories, it can get lost. The idea is to really have that vision of who we are. It’s about focusing on the rider. What it did was allow us to go beyond the ‘what’ - what do we do? We make snowboards. To why do we do what we do? It’s because of our passion for snowboarding. We also look at the world a little differently. We say we stand sideways. What you’re doing in the company can make sense to people because it’s not just about snowboarding, but it’s about looking at the world from a snowboarder’s point of view. We also rolled out something called the ‘Strategic Trail Map’. The Stance shows us where we want to go and the Trail Map shows people how we’re going to get there. It aligns individual goals to the

“The entire industry was guilty of over-producing so that too much product was being discounted at the end of the year. I think that the financial crisis had a way of shining a light on our mistakes as an industry.” 65

women in boardsports interview

photo: Jeff Curtes

“I would say that especially in Europe, one of the biggest issues is participation, which is something we’d all like to see growing. With young kids, there’s a misperception they have to be a certain age before they can snowboard, that they have to ski first.”

company’s so people have a sense of how they fit into our initiative. They understand that what they’re working toward has an end goal with the company.

on in Europe where 3-6 year olds get pulled along a mini course and experience snowboarding right there in a group setting. It’s amazing the sort of enthusiasm it’s created!

At WIB, you also spoke about Burton’s Women’s Leadership Initiative. What are your views on diversity in the work place? My views on diversity come down to two basic things. One is talent, and if you’re not pulling from the entire population you’re only working with half the talent out there, so I really think to get the best talent you’ve got to have diversity as a goal. The other piece of that is innovation. We consider ourselves a very innovative company in a lot of different ways. You cannot be innovative if everyone around the table has the same background and is coming at it from the same point of view. It’s also about driving the women’s business. I think it’s really important that you have strategic vision makers. And it’s as important for our company as it is for our sport.

Burton underwent a major restructuring in order to bring the brand back to its roots. How as a company do you maintain a balance between being ‘corporate’ and ‘anti-corporate’? ‘Mainstream’ and yet ‘core’? One of the best things about Burton is that we’re a privately held company. Jake and I are the only two shareholders, so I think that allows us to be less corporate in a way. It also allows us to take a longer-term view. We’re not looking at profits for the next quarter; we’re looking at the long-term health of the sport and the brand. As I said before, when you do get bigger you have to be more proactive in nurturing your culture and really go out of your way to make people feel part of a community. And that’s what attracts everyone to snowboarding right, it’s such a community. And you want to replicate that in your company, you want people to have a sense of belonging. We were also founded by an entrepreneur so we have a very entrepreneurial spirit and that’s rewarded in our culture. People are really encouraged to grow things and treat us like their own little business.

You come across as not only passionate about snowboarding but also about your employees. What other incentives/schemes have you put in place for engaging your team and making Burton ‘a better place to work’? My most important financial goal over the last four years has been to be able to hit our targets so that our employees receive their bonus. We’ve got a good bonus programme in place and we’ve been able to pay close to 100% the last three years, and that gets me up in the morning. Making sure they’re rewarded for their hard work. We have a lot of amazing grass roots initiatives – we have the Women’s Leadership Initiative which is all run by volunteers, sustainability groups that do things internally, as well as a mentoring network. Then there’s a lot of stoke. We have ride days, a lot of parties - we’re really good at giving parties! I always say you can bring your whole self to Burton, you can dress the way you want to, bring your dog to work, be informal. The other thing we’ve done in the last couple of years is instituted an internal Social Network, so that people can see what’s going on in different parts of the world. It’s really visual. You can see store windows, mock galleries and demos. What do you see as the biggest issues facing snowboarding today and how is Burton positioning themselves to deal with these issues? I would say that especially in Europe, one of the biggest issues is participation, which is something we’d all like to see growing. With young kids, there’s a misperception they have to be a certain age before they can snowboard, that they have to ski first. So we’re really working hard to try to overcome that. One of our big focus areas right now are our Riglet Parks – which are these small parks that you can set up in a ski area or in front of retail. There’s a whole tour going 66

And then there’s women’s participation. I was looking at women’s numbers for the US, and there was a slight decline in participation last year, but it hit about 25% the year before. So over the past few years there’s been some steady growth, at least in North America and I think that that’s critical. Women are the ones that decide where women go on vacation. We want mom to be deciding to take her kids snowboarding! We do a lot to encourage participation from our Learn To Ride centres to our progression parks. We don’t need to see huge participation growth, just slight participation growth. We’ve just got to keep selling the experience to young kids. So with you taking on a lot of the leadership responsibilities in the company, does Jake then pull his weight at home like you do in the business? Haha, yes he does, he more than pulls his weight. He’s been an incredibly active and engaged father. So yes! I would say he definitely pulls his weight at home. My last, and probably most important question on behalf of all the ladies from WIB 2013, how’s your longboarding shaping up? You know what, I had so much fun! I never thought I would longboard. Valeria (Kechichian) has such a wonderful way of getting us all to try it – that I’m hooked! It’s so empowering doing something you never thought you would do.

photo: O’Neill

trend preview

MENS OUTERWEAR PREVIEW 2014/15 Whether we’re teenage jibbers or mid-thirties backcountry explorers, snowboarders need outerwear. And although we’ll reluctantly dabble with outdoor brands if something catches our eye, we’ll first and foremost wear snowboard brands if we can. There’s just something deeply abrasive about rocking a Moncler jacket, Spider pants and Columbia gloves for going out shredding. Those brands are incompatible with our sport; once we’ve got that board on, we want our gear to say “snowboarder”. Next year’s outerwear market is full of choice; we’ve checked out the best of the mens’ collections that’ll get your customers drooling on the shop floor. By Tom Wilson-North.

OUTERWEAR THAT LOOKS LIKE STREETWEAR “Classic streetwear looks executed in technical fabrications is a huge trend right now,” says Burton’s Chief Product Officer John Lacy. “Pocketing is a little more pared down and there are new, fresh takes on fabric blocking.” Think soft-touch fabrics, muted colourblocks, off-centre vertical zip closures, tailored fits and clean exterior lines. These are still very much garments for snowboarding, but they’re inspired by what you wear everyday. This is the kind of niche outerwear that brands like Holden and L1 have been making for years. Now it’s tipping towards the mainstream with bigger players getting on board. Oxbow are using vintage cotton and woollen looks on their underlying technical fabrics, mixing in heavy gauge materials for that streetwear effect, and Billabong have a whole streetwear inspired

collection called Summit. Meanwhile, Quiksilver’s RidePlus line has new fits, so it goes on like streetwear and moves like outerwear. As part of their all-new, entirely revamped line; 686 have two streetwear inspired collabs; one from Diesel with some to-die-for jean pants, and one with Dickies that’s produced a collared and hooded shop jacket with eye-catching three-colour zip frontage. There’s a similar shaped piece from Lib called the Assistant Coach Jacket, all shirt style with a hood out back. It’s good to see Lib Tech outerwear back in the game after the 13/14 collection was pulled lastminute. Next up, Oakley’s Division Insulated jacket is a Thinsulate-filled piece with softshell hood – it looks like a thickish shirt when it’s on. And finishes become more familiar; Billabong’s Downtown Collection has metal ID patches featuring anti-silver and anti-brass, looking a little more like your go-to-work jacket. 69

trend preview

So, there’s the trend. Will it sell? Hopefully. Clients will at first be doubtful, but it’ll be the retailers job to explain the ‘technicity’ of the fabrics and highlight the mountain-friendly features.

RIDE

LIB TECH

PATAGONIA

3CS

NORTHFACE

DAKINE

BILLABONG

O’NEILL

BONFIRE

THE TECHNICAL TREND The antithesis of this streetwear-influenced outerwear is the really technical stuff, with high water column ratings, minimalist design, paper-thin fabrics, contrasting zippers and a high-science finish. And as the streetwear thing gains traction, people who consider themselves riders first and posers second will buy into this type of wear even more. That’ll probably make it an easier sell. “For many brands it’s all about the street vision, but we’re more about this outdoor style. And we are developing more and more products in this direction,” says founder Julien Durant of Picture Organic Clothing’s successful Expedition line. Durant isn’t alone in investing in this category. Nitro have developed a technical sub-collection called Pioneers and DaKine will be offering 3L Gore-Tex. 32 have added a new jacket called the Welkin to their topline, and CLWR have done the same, offering more 3L jackets and pants. Noronna, the Norwegian brand who started this whole direction in the first place, establish ownership with a relaunch of their core Lofoten concept, pushing their colour stories a step further and adding a new insulated jacket that uses Polartec’s latest Alpha material. That’s a lot of development. But remember: the people buying this stuff are grown-up first generation snowboarders, who have been riding for a good fifteen years and have decent jobs, decent houses and most importantly a decent amount of cash to spend on indulging their winter boardsport passion.

“Classic streetwear looks executed in technical fabrications is a huge trend right now,” says Burton’s Chief Product Officer John Lacy.

The danger of this trend, however, is that everyone is going to end up looking the same. “People are going to start wanting outerwear that doesn’t necessarily look technical, but has all the attributes that they would need to be out in extreme conditions,” say Holden. To keep things fresh, Analog have added unique rubber overlay taping to the exterior of their high end Gore-Tex pieces, and Sweet Protection have a new jacket and pant duo in 3L GoreTex called the Monkeywrench that they’re describing as ‘durable mountain workwear’. JACKETS & PANTS: THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT Let’s take a look at silhouette and fit. Contemporary fashion sees snowboarders kitting themselves out with a longish jacket up top and a slimmer, more fitted pant underneath. Though we saw a couple of shorter jackets in next year’s collections, like L1’s Fairmont, Billabong’s Bong Fit and Bonfire’s 4star collaboration, long jackets are here to stay, for now. 32 have worked on their long jackets, creating a new Slouch fit with a narrower body and off the shoulder seam – a good alternative.

trend preview

Anoraks, a key silhouette from the ‘90s, are set to make a comeback this season, with O’Neill spearheading the trend, team rider Seb Toots will be wearing his signature printed version at competitions and no doubt podiums this winter. Westbeach’s Fox Overhead jacket also fits the bill, which is inspired by neon/collage prints and pop colours and comes with 10K waterproofing, a powder skirt and good ventilation. You’ll find this Slouch fit in pants too. Analog have a slouch pant with a low crotch and plenty of ‘ergonomy’, not to mention room for low-hanging vegetables. Ergonomic fit is important; DC have worked on remapped fit patterns on their City Series, with improved knee articulation for full freedom of movement.

“People are going to start wanting outerwear that doesn’t necessarily look technical, but has all the attributes that they would need to be out in extreme conditions,” say Holden

NITRO

QUIKSILVER

VOLCOM

ANALOG

NORTHFACE

686

RIP CURL

BENCH

Also in pants, bibs are a rising trend. There’s the Sweet one, a DaKine one and Patagonia have a versatile variation called the Snowshot; the top bit zips off if you feel like rocking them without the braces. Bib pants are more popular than one-pieces, which are trending down; the only new onesie we saw on the market was Rip Curl’s drysuit-inspired backcountry model. It’s harness compatible and has a quick flap to help you get your transceiver out in case of a slide. CROSSOVER FASHION Whilst the big trend in outerwear is making jackets and pants that look like streetwear, brands are also investing in daily-wear fashion that’s also suitable for a bit of snowboarding. Analog have been doing it for years with their best-in-class ATF line; now Vans have done away with their technical outerwear line entirely and are just doing a collection of ‘on-mountain apparel’. It’s the same at Bench – they’ve refocused as a ‘multipurpose functional clothing’ brand. Meanwhile, 686 are doing a crossover micro-collection called Tech Goods, and We Live Different have a range of parkas for daily use with 10k waterproofing and breathability. It’s a tricky one. Buy carefully with this relatively new category. The potential for success is there, and if it doesn’t snow next winter, it’s much better to be stuck with a bunch of techy streetwear than it is a bunch of insulated Gore-Tex. If you’re going to give this one a shot, make sure your merchandising is correct and silent salesmen are well-done, and that this quite specific gear doesn’t get lost amongst the rest of your ‘normal’ streetwear. THE RETURN OF FLEECE The favoured material of tramps, Dads, joggers and geography teachers gets a firm kick up the backside next 72

trend preview

winter, and the new fleece technologies are being adopted by a couple of forward-thinking snowboard brands. PYUA are one of the first companies to use Primaloft’s new super warm, eco-friendly Recycled Fleece, and Protest have come up with new printing techniques to get incredibly detailed reproductions of heather and melange on their fleeces. And in an industry first, Analog have managed to make basic fleece as 3L stretch. They’re simple, affordable and great for all-condition riding, and you’ll find four different ATF styles using this material next year. LIGHT

CLWR

O’NEILL

IFOUND

PICTURE

VOLCOM

PENGUIN

SWEET

ANIMAL

Get a good mix of technical-looking outerwear, streetwear-inspired outerwear and a decent complement of crossover mountain apparel, and you won’t go far wrong.

NEW COLOUR STORIES Colours are simple next year; earth tones, earth tones, earth tones. “We still see that earth tones are still strong,” agrees 32’s Jelle Mul. “We have a wide choice – khaki, clove, stain black, clay, carbon and gold. But to spice it up we have added some neon to the collection, which makes the range wide and accessible for all sorts of consumers.” Earth tones are an easy sell, with inherent wearability. And you’ll find that colour palettes are naturally more grown up. Kelly green has become forest green, and the roadsign blues of last year have morphed into deep, murky, inky indigos. Urban Beach use a sort of autumnal palette with some fresh brights on top, and Oxbow have a funky aubergine colour that’s got a lot of character. In pops, Horsefeathers match their earths with lime green, firewater and bright blue, and Picture are showing some versatile new tones – lime, ultramarine and safety orange - that’ll mix easily with the rest of their range, especially with their new rainbow zippers. Otherwise, to complement earth tones, think muted pops - pumpkin, sulphur and coral. Of course, in the technical ranges, we’re still seeing primaries, brights and pop colourblocks all over. PRINTS FROM FOREST AND BEACH It’s really remarkable how after poo-pooing prints for years, all the outerwear brands we spoke to have gone bonkers for camouflage next winter. I suppose all it takes is for Bieber to rock an Army surplus piece, or Rihanna to show up to a party in a pair of camo pants, and it’s immediately all over Instagram, appearing a month or two later on haute couture catwalks, then touching down soon after on the pages of our outerwear catalogues. Anyway, however it happened... camouflage is back with a vengeance. The patterns themselves have a bit of variation. The usual suspects – L1, Billabong, adidas – play safe with fairly traditional camos, used sparingly. Contrastingly, you’ll find brighter Parillo-designed all-over tiger camo on Quiksilver’s Travis Rice gear, and a couple of alternative camo usages from The North Face, of all people. Apo keep their camo more discrete, only on linings, whilst 686 panel their woodland DPM-style camo with tobacco 74

trend preview

and heather tones. Darker, more subtle camos are about too; Oakley have a dark gradient fade-out camo on their Stale Sandbech jacket, Rhythm have a dark camo on their Scatter jacket and Patagonia are showing a black stormfront camo inspired by inclement weather. Camouflage isn’t the only print theme out there. There’s also a random mini-trend of tropical prints, whether it’s parrots from Vans, Aloha florals from Quiksilver, Hawaiian prints from Nitro and a nutty pineapple print from DaKine. DC combine the lot together, with a shark, coconut tree, weed leaf and tropical sunset hodgepodge mix designed by artist BIZMUT.

AIRBLASTER

BURTON

686

TREW

WESTBEACH

VANS

URBAN BEACH

APO

OAKLEY

PROTEST

The antithesis of this streetwearinfluenced outerwear is the really technical stuff, with high water column ratings, minimalist design, paper-thin fabrics, contrasting zippers and a high-science finish.

FABRIC & MATERIAL No outerwear preview would be complete without a look at the fabrics on offer next year; fortunately, there’s plenty of new stuff to keep things interesting. 686 use old-school taffeta on their Airflight quilted hoodie; it looks like something that you’ve already got in those dusty boxes right in the corner of the stockroom, brought refreshingly up-to-date. There’s high performance, high durability Ripstop Twill from Zimtstern with a nice matt surface look, and Bleed have a new 20K recycled herringbone fabric with Sympatex membrane in their new parka line. O’Neill roll out their Firewall to more styles in the line; the heat-mapping mix of Thinsulate and down is a proven performer. Perhaps we’re on the verge of a revolution in fabrics, thinks Bench’s Kim Scholze: “Nanotechnology has been around for a few years but in the future our clothes will become smarter with fibres adapting at a molecular level to the environment. Fabrics will have the ability to become waterproof with increased humidity and fibres will pull together for increased insulation in cold temperatures. Antibacterial fabrics will help defend us against disease. It all sounds a bit space age now but these are developments which leading fabric mills are working on today.” We can’t wait, and sincerely hope our jackets of the future will be able to change colour and brand to match our new pants. For now, though, the coolest use of fabrics has been pioneered by The North Face. Their Fuseform construction weaves two materials together into a single fabric, preventing the need for stitching and tape. That means that the garment just gets thicker in high abrasion areas like the butt, knees or heels. And the lack of stitching means lighter, less bulky, way stronger and far more clean-looking gear. Finally, there’s good news from Patagonia who have 76

trend preview

made the admirable step of shifting their entire feather supply chain to their “Traceable Down” standard, which ensures that the birdie in question had a decent life before ending up inside your jacket. It’s a cool initiative, which ensures nasty things like force-feeding and live plucking don’t happen to the waterfowl that keep you warm. We hope and expect other outerwear brands that use down to adopt this standard very soon. CONCLUSION So, from here it looks like there’s going to be more of a consolidation of existing market trends than a complete reinvention, which can only be a good thing. “We’ve seen trends moving away from bright colours, loud prints and crazy colour-blocking”, confirms Ride’s Senior Product Developer Emily Kaelin. She’s right. Refined fabrics, clean cutlines, and ergonomic shapes are what you ought to be buying next year. Get a good mix of technicallooking outerwear, streetwear-inspired outerwear and a decent complement of crossover mountain apparel, and you won’t go far wrong. Just stay away from Spider and Moncler, perhaps.

RIPZONE

URBAN BEACH

QUIKSILVER

ADIDAS

BRUNOTTI

ZIMTSTERN

BATALEON

HORSEFEATHERS

PROTEST

PYUA

KEY NEW TRENDS STREETWEAR-INSPIRED OUTERWEAR. MINIMALIST TECHNICAL OUTERWEAR. ANORAKS. SLOUCH FITS. CAMOUFLAGE. MUTED COLOURBLOCKS.

RIP CURL

LIB TECH

WOMENS OUTERWEAR PREVIEW 14/15 Women’s outerwear is a complicated game right now; plenty of off-price inventory out there is dissuading full-price purchases, and the killer pieces with immediate sell out are few and far between. Fear no longer, though; we’ve examined the best parts of next year’s collections in painstaking detail to identify the best brands, hottest looks and key pieces; read on for our 2014/15 Women’s Outerwear Preview. By Tom Wilson-North. KEY TRENDS Well, the workwear thing that we identified last year didn’t really pan out at retail – apparently girls don’t like looking like carpenters or steelworkers when they’re on the hill. Next year’s collections play much safer, less dressier, drawing inspiration from the urban outdoor scene, vintage military apparel and classical mountaineering. But the overwhelming women’s outerwear trend is in the direction of streetwear, with echoes of 1970s Americana.

fur-lined parka, whilst their take on the wax denim pant is worth checking out. Waxed denim is trending hard and is an easy and interesting alternative to grey or black; L1 use the wax finish on their Heartbreaker Premium pant, and you’ll see the texture in a couple of pieces from Burton. Fabric mixes are fundamental in this streetwear trend, such as herringbone matched with canvas, or wool and rope handfeels mixed together.

Long-hemmed varsity jackets play a particularly important role. “Varsity offers a more ‘rider’ fit” explains Billabong’s David Pitschi. “The jackets are longer and looser, made for those who love to ride and love to look good.” There is a nice one from Zimtstern with a real collegey feel and nice trimmings, and varsity or coach jackets from most brands we spoke to.

Another mini-trend we’ve seen emerging is fantasy. There’s Forest Bailey’s 686 collection, and heavy hitters Volcom are going all arcane on us with a mystical outdoor print. Protest take a step further with a full microline called Optical Illusion, which is very surrealist in its blurred portrayal of the random. Not the easiest sell perhaps, but something that’ll certainly make a talking point.

DC’s outerwear has always had a street feel, and their Research Mountain capsule has some brilliant little pieces. We saw a long and fitted down jacket in mini ripstop and a

Finally, keep an eye on the emerging ‘young old fashioned’ trend. We’re seeing some 18-24 year old snowboarders wearing gear that you’d more likely see on old ladies;

photo: Head

trend preview

chunky knits, handweaves, carrot-cut pants, textured soft-touch yarns and fussy accessorizing. One to watch, especially for spring riding and late-season sales. LIFESTYLE CROSSOVER So, streetwear is the big direction in outerwear, that’s clear. But we’ve also seen brands going one step further and mixing apparel and outerwear lines, creating crossover collections. Well, if the streetwear market buys into the snowboard thing again, that’ll open up a whole new retail playground. We’re sceptical; whilst a snowboard jacket is fine for cycling to work, your cycling-to-work jacket won’t cut it for more than the most gentle, vanilla day-out snowboarding. But hey; capitalist pigs that we are, if it lets the clothes sell better, we’re all for it. Brand du jour Picture Organic Clothing do crossover particularly well, insisting on quality and eco cred in their extended Adventure line. They call it ‘urban adventurer’. We Live Different are going to be marketing their parkas for daily use with handy 10Kwaterproofing, whilst Ride add some new fits for crossover appeal. There are plenty of midlayers appearing in next year’s outerwear catalogues; light quilted removable downs that either come on their own or together with a 3in1 style jacket.

686

OAKLEY

SWEET

PYUA

ZIMSTERN

APO

URBAN BEACH

LIGHT

BURTON

RIDE

It’s also a value thing, thinks Volcom’s Carolyn Simons Campos. “In this economy, we know our target market cannot afford to buy several jackets each season, which is why we create our garments to be highly versatile from backcountry to ski hill to street, through styling and functionality.” JACKET TRENDS No great changes in jackets; so long as they are longish, slim and sleek, they ought to sell OK. That said, it’s important that the jackets you buy have decent articulation; no one wants tight fitting clothes to hinder the steeze of their lofty backside ones. There are some good alternatives out there; Burton have bombers and trenches, Billabong have modern shirt-style jackets and CLWR have a line of nice, well-tailored parkas. You’ll see pullover jackets making a return too. Roxy have one in a micro-print blocking colourway, Oakley have a Gretchen Bleiler pullover jacket and both O’Neill and Westbeach pulled pullovers out as an expanding future trend. Anoraks for life. NEW PANT CUTS Having a pimping selection of jackets is great, but now that people are buying full outfits as much as separates, it’s good to offer a well-cut matching pant to finish the look and score the extra margin. The universal trend in pants is still narrow and straight, to sit below long, slim jackets. There are variations out there, though. Apo’s pants are a little looser, with a crowd-pleasing bootcut fit, and DC and Horsefeathers both have slouch pants with low waists and low crotches. Bib pants for girls are trending up too. adidas have one that’ll score big points, there’s a Gore-Tex Pro model from The North Face and Patagonia have a similar one called the PowSlayer with feminine fit and wellthought-out pocket placement. The over-the-shoulder 83

trend preview

thing is a big plus for spring touring, not to mention deep snow and colder days.

RIDE

BENCH

ZIMSTERN

PATAGONIA

KEEP WARM Speaking of which, it’s a well-known fact that girls feel the cold way more than boys. Although the layering potential of shell jackets is nice on paper, the reality on the shop floor is that girls generally prefer quilted or padded jackets. Noronna have a nice one using Polartec’s new Alpha insulation, and Nitro mix Primaloft faux down with a Cocona 2.5 outer layer to make a warm, breathable piece. PYUA are using a futuristic material called EtaProof, which has plenty of tech and an organic cotton type handfeel, and Roxy are showing a new shape with 2L Gore-Tex outer and 70/30 down interior. We’ve also seen Burton go line-wide with their proprietary Dryride Durashell material and O’Neill bring in Thinsulate insulation across their whole snow range. Horsefeathers have some cosy-looking heavily padded jackets to keep the January chill out, and Bonfire have taken their Mystic Heat heat-retention system a step further. Just remember that though all this extra warmth is good, no-one is going to buy a jacket whose cut makes her look like the Michelin woman, so keep an eye on overall bulk, particularly around the unflattering waistline area.

Things grow up a little from the burgundy and tan of last year; purples morph into inky dark blues, teals become mints or clovers, darker leather becomes lighter suede. VOLCOM

ADIDAS

TECHNICAL Technical looks remain on-trend; the wafer-thin, hightech, surgical feel of the top Gore-Tex fabrics exude backcountry credibility, with heavy use of contrasting zippers, kevlar reinforcement and visible venting. The key players in this field aren’t going anywhere – Sweet Protection, Patagonia, Noronna – but there are some notable additions next year too. Da Kine are offering a 2L Gore-Tex jacket and a pair of insulated pants with a shimmery matt effect, and Volcom are offering a Rip Curlesque technical stretch line in their premium range.

APO

NIKITA

CLWR

PWDR ROOM

COLOURS Last year’s colour stories were all about muted primaries and wearable autumnals. And there’s not a ton of difference for 2014/15. Things grow up a little from the burgundy and tan of last year; purples morph into inky dark blues, teals become mints or clovers, darker leather becomes lighter suede. The alternative to straight black is anthracite, and in pop colours there’s ultramarine, the ubiquitous hot pink and seaglass (translation: powdery blue). There’s a return to sporty primaries from certain brands; adidas pick into their red, white and blue heritage and Holden – believe it or not – stray from their darker themes to a more primary palette. Picture Organic keep

trend preview

it colourful too, with two brand new fluoro stories in the line, complemented by their iconic printed zippers. O’Neill inform that they are opting for unexpected colour combinations – with teal/grey/pink and red/chino/pink being two examples. Nature remains a key inspiration for brands; whether it’s Bleed or Apo’s outdoor colourways or Nikita’s souly colourmix inspired by the Icelandic landscapes. They’ve turned this into a palette of tropical greens and Moroccan blues as seen in the Northern Lights, and gingerbread, nasturtium and wine found in dormant volcanoes. It’s trippy and different, and like most things Nikita, we like it.

LIGHT

DAKINE

686

RIP CURL

AIRBLASTER

WESTBEACH

PROTEST

NITRO

PICTURE

BILLANBONG

Furthermore, evolution not revolution in colours is good news for your carryover stock; any inventory that hangs around from this year will have a good chance at clearing pretty early, avoiding the need to deep discount.

Waxed denim is trending hard and is an easy and interesting alternative to grey or black;

PRINTS CHARMING Prints aren’t as scary as they used to be; the aztec/inca/ native trend we’ve seen on catwalks and the high streets has made people a little more receptive to prints, it seems. Most brands have at least one fairly strong print in their range, from adidas’ fun cactus collage to Patagonia’s unlikely-sounding mint-green owl camo. Animal prints stay hot – mostly leopards, cheetahs and snakes, as seen at L1 & DC – and Nitro have a funky print of hand drawn cats. Yes, cats. There’s a traditional camo from 686 and Swedish camo from CLWR, while Billabong play safe, using camo prints more subtlely, hidden away in the linings and on their zips. DaKine tie their outerwear linings back into their bags, and Apo are printing their snowboard graphics onto goggle bags included in their jacket pockets. These prints are all engineered to be worn pretty boldly, with a sombre jacket making a printed pant pop out, or vice versa. RIDERS We are firmly of the opinion that clothes will sell if they look good and the brand has a good story behind it. So, are teamriders still relevant to the outerwear market, or are they just an expensive cost-centre in the marketing budget? “Absolutely not,” counters Oakley’s Susanne Wuttke. “We involve our pro athletes more and more in tech outerwear development and field testing. We trust that products are good enough for everybody if they are good enough for the best athletes in the world. It´s not only the name of the athlete, it´s their knowledge that helps us to sell our products.” Furthermore, Volcom told us that female snowboarders are building their careers out sideways, becoming parts of eco movements and charities, growing their audiences and setting their examples via social media channels. “Team riders act as a kind of guarantee or endorsement to 86

trend preview

customers, showing that the products are fit for purpose and can perform to the far limits of what the end customer aspires to do,” concludes Urban Beach’s Tom Ellyatt. 686 RELAUNCH It’s not often an established brand chucks their rule book out the window and starts over. So we’re very excited about the reboot that’s happened at 686 for FW14. “Basically the brand took a pretty big chance and completely evolved. It wasn’t a reaction, as things were going well, but it was a cognitive action to make a change for the better,” explained Director of Marketing Brent Sandor. Whilst some of the key 686 technologies (Smarty layering, Thermagraph heat mapping and their proprietary infiDRY material) remain, the new line breaks down into four different parts, from technical (GLCR) through crossover (Parklan) and classic (Authentic) to fantasy (Forest Bailey’s Cosmic Collection). The drive here is really on end-use rather than price-pointing, and this approach has created one of the best women’s outerwear collections we have ever seen. CONCLUSION Even though there’s not been a huge step forward in trends, there’s been changes in approach to the women’s outerwear market from key brands, from internal restructuring to expanding into crossover terrain. Expect the 2014/15 lines to be brighter, tighter and more concise than ever before, with long, slim, sleek silhouettes and decent handfeels range-wide. Keep your buy away from oversized or boxy fits and overwhelmingly obnoxious colours and you won’t go far wrong. Snowboarding’s place in a modern lifestyle is about indulging in a passion and having fun. Today’s snowboarding girl wants to look as good on the hill as she does while shopping, having drinks or on a night out – the “look at me, I’m the crazy snowboard chick, and I’m totally mental!!!!” look is clichéd, played out and definitely uncool.

BONFIRE

PICTURE

HORSEFEATHERS

PROTEST

ANIMAL

ROXY

NORTHFACE

BRUNOTTI

NITRO

Expect the 2014 / 15 lines to be brighter, tighter and more concise than ever before, with long, slim, sleek silhouettes and decent handfeels

KEY NEW TRENDS STREETWEAR-INSPIRED OUTERWEAR. CROSSOVER COLLECTIONS. PULLOVER JACKETS (AKA ANORAKS). QUILTED AND PADDED GARMENTS. ALLOVER PRINTS (SORT OF). AUTUMNAL COLOURS WITH COLOUR POPS.

interview

INTRODUCING:

VISSLA & D’BLANC 2014 is a year of change. Step forward a new brand in surf clothing, one that surmises freshness, innovation and creativity, brought to you from global industry veteran Paul Naude. In a European exclusive, SOURCE sits down with Derek O’Neill, Vissla and D’Blanc license holder. By Iker Aguirre. Known for being at the head of Billabong USA, Paul Naude’s name has resonated across the boardsport world during takeover attempts that supplemented the Australian brand’s recent saga. After all this turmoil, his objectives have changed with the creation of his new brands called Vissla (surf fashion) and D’Blanc (sunglasses and accessories). “This company is not about being the biggest. It is about being happy with the level of business we want to do. It’s about maintaining a level of control and discipline in the business but at the same time working with people that we want to work with. We want to work with people that understand the boardsports space. It’s not a sell sell sell approach,” describes Derek O’Neill, former CEO of the Billabong group who founded and ran Billabong Europe from 1992 until 2003. Derek describes the context first: “The industry is going through a lot of change, the hardgoods side of surfing has a lot of energy. More and more you see young shapers creating a point of difference, particularly in Southern California you see young guys surfing boards that five years ago would have been laughed off the beach. Throughout the brand we want to embrace those creators and innovators, like all these small shapers creating their art by hand. For us it’s a surf everything, ride anything mentality.” He goes on to describe the brands: “Vissla is a Californian surf brand, aimed at the youth surf market, primarily around 12-25 year old. We want to be a fun company, starting small and going from there.” D’Blanc will be the eyewear and accessories version of this positioning with top-of-the-range ‘fashion forward’ unisex products made in Italy. A new girls brand will launch mid 2014.” As for the product: “It will start around boardshorts and tees, with a full line to follow, with an understanding of what Europe needs climate wise. Some great product people have joined our team. But since the industry has lost some of its innocence, let’s talk margins and distribution strategies: “Our goal is having a healthy margin for the retailer and as close as possible to a pan-European price structure. We want to have a level playing field, whether in e-commerce or core stores.” “We understand how tough it is going to be. Past success is no guarantee. The product has to earn its place. Finding the balance for the right type of terms, so it can be a win-win situation for both of us, is going to be one of the main goals in the next six months. Overall, it’s about respecting what key core retailers can bring and remaining close to them with distribution. Because as a private company we only have to answer to ourselves. As for controlling the brand and stock levels: “ Our goal is to be doing the right levels of business for the market, without trying to push it. Our expectations businesswise 90

are quite small, we are not going to overbuy product. The days of buying what you think you can sell in a market are over. Overbuying and losing control of your product is not something that we want to have moving forward.” Where you sell is as important as ever. The new HQ will be in Hossegor, France and the first collections will be available from April / May 2014 for immediate delivery. The manufacturing, centralised for the world and based on a global design, allows for intelligent stock management to help restocks and maximising the sales potential of this first year (Winter 2015 will work on the same basis). In Europe, some countries are dealt with directly, such as France, Spain, U.K. and Germany. Other countries are via distributors and some are still open. Once the fundamentals have been established (product, service, distribution) then comes the Holy Saint, i.e. marketing. “The digital media side opens up a lot of possibilities. We will develop that side a lot. We are soon to announce a couple of team riders too. We are also getting our creative team to work with a lot of the underground shapers. While small we will start a marketing push through the first six months to create awareness.” But what we like most is a bit of refreshing optimism! “It’s time for the good news. Frankly, I believe there are going to be a lot of new brands starting. It is time for the creatives to come back. It’s became very corporate in the last four or five years. People say ‘Why do you want to go into the surf market at this time?’ Frankly, I don’t think there has been a better time for a while.” Want more info? Write to europeinfo@stoke-house.com. www.vissla.com / www.dblanc.com A longer version of this interview is available on www.boardsportsource.com

industry insight

fig1.

RIDER EXPOSURE: GEOGRAPHIC SPLIT, JANUARY – JUNE 2013 (PRINT / SNOWBOARD / EUROPE) MARKUS KELLER, EXPOSURE GEO SPLIT.

JESSICA KIMURA, EXPOSURE GEO SPLIT.

Germany (37%) France (11%) UK (9%) Italy (9%)

UK (66%)

Spain (9%)

Germany (20%)

Switzerland (7%)

France (4%)

Austria (4%)

Spain (3%)

Netherlands (3%)

Austria (2%)

Belgium (2%)

Switzerland (2%)

Others (9%)

Others (3%)

RIDE O’METER BOARDSPORTS EXPOSURE ANALYSIS Starting from January 2014, our collaboration with Ride O’meter will bring you the latest insights and analysis of the boardsports industry’s media performance. With their coverage of four media types; print, websites, social networks and online videos, the system tracks, values, analyses and benchmarks the exposure of brands, products, riders and events in the boardsports media across Europe. In each issue we will highlight the different aspects that achieved outstanding media results. fig2.

RIDER EXPOSURE VALUE (€), JANUARY – JUNE 2013 (PRINT / SNOWBOARD / EUROPE) MENS RIDERS TOP 5.

WOMENS RIDERS TOP 5.

1. Marcus Keller

1. Jessica Kimura

2. Bode Merrill

2. Spencer O’Brien

3. Xavier DeLeRue

3. G. C. Maiden

4. Shaun White

4. Cheryl Maas

5. Danny Kass

5. Helen Schettini 0

EDITORIAL

50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

, 120 000

ADVERTISING

See fig1. for top male/female exposure geo split.

“Corks off for Markus Keller, the man who can truly ride it all! In 2013, Markus obviously had one of his best seasons to date. Even before his signature movie “Chamäleon” was released in September he was topping the RIDE O’METER ranking! Thanks for ruining my incentives budget…” Jan Prokes - Volcom Snow Division Manager Europe 92

industry insight

fig3.

TEAM EXPOSURE VALUE (€), JANUARY – JUNE 2013 (PRINT / SNOWBOARD / EUROPE) OUTERWEAR TOP 5.

SNOWBOARDS TOP 5.

1. VOLCOM

1. BURTON

2. NIKE

2. NITRO

3. BURTON

3. SALOMON

4. BONFIRE

4. K2

5. DC

5. ROME 0

EDITORIAL

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

ADVERTISING*

*Team advertising value includes advertising by the brand and advertising by other sponsors (example: a Smith advert with a Burton rider) fig 4.

ONLINE VIDEO ANALYTICS, JANUARY – JUNE 2013 In January 2013 Ride O’meter added video coverage to its portfolio of measuring tools and is the first company to offer metrics on this media out to the industry, using data based on tracking and analysing up to 800 videos per month, totalling around 100 hours of playing time. This is scanned by their team of experts (surf, skate & snowboard) and cut into parts for each rider, event, brand or product featured in the video. New videos are identified from video galleries of the best core websites (Ride O’meter has 150 websites in their media database) and brands & events channels on Youtube and Vimeo. Each video has one or more embed players coming from either the three most popular players Youtube, Vimeo and Dailymotion and/or the three main core players Mpora, Surfline& Zapiks. Ride O’meter’s automated analysis system gathers and follows number of views, number of likes, shares, and ultimately the cumulated audience for each brand or rider (number of views x length of part in time for each video). This methodology enables them to monitor and benchmark the performance of brands, riders, events and products over a period of time in terms of video exposure. ONLINE VIDEO, TOP 5 MEN (SNOWBOARD) Global ranking

Euro ranking

Name

Number of Videos

Total Views

Cumulated Audience

Average Views

Total part minutes

Shaun White

744,020

143,668 hrs

12,611