SOURCE 75 (feb/march) ENGLISH VERSION

ISSUE #075. FEBRUARY / MARCH 2015. €5

BOARDSPORT

JULIEN DURANT – PICTURE ORGANIC CLOTHING SNOWBOARD RENTAL IS THE NEW BLACK BEATING THE WINTER SKATE SLUMP

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

TREND REPORTS: SNOWBOARDS, GOGGLES, OUTERWEAR & WETSUITS

TRADESHOW PREVIEWS & MUCH MORE

US

HELLO #75

Editor Harry Mitchell Thompson harry@boardsportsource.com

Snow finally began to fall on Boxing Day and ground the Alps to a halt. A mass of snow providing much-needed hope for the snowsports industry across Europe, after an unseasonably warm start to the 14/15 winter.

Notice the use of snowsports in that last sentence, and not just snowboarding. That’s because this winter has been tough, not just for snowboarding, but also for anyone who depends upon snow for their chosen vocation.

In general, boardsports are in good shape as we start 2015 with opportunities for growth in skate, surf and SUP. The next stage of the regeneration is in full flow with many new brands beginning to pop up and smaller brands pushing boundaries. It’s been hard to miss the meteoric rise of French ecoouterwear label Picture Organic Clothing, and for #75’s Big Wig interview, Snowboard Editor, Rémi Forsans quizzes co-founder Julien Durant on just how three young Frenchmen created this dynamic brand.

Surf & French Editor Iker Aguirre iker@boardsportsource.com Snowboard Editor Rémi Forsans remi@boardsportsource.com Skate Editor Dirk Vogel dirk@boardsportsource.com German Editor Anna Langer anna@boardsportsource.com Design & Art Direction Owen Tozer owen@boardsportsource.com Design Assistant Roddy Bow production@boardsportsource.com Web Media Manager Denis Houillé denis@boardsportsource.com Market Intel Manager Chelsea van der Merwe chelsea@boardsportsource.com Proofreaders Insa Muth, Marie-Laure Ducos, Chelsea van der Merwe Contributors Stefan Dongus, Asier Zabarte, Benoît Brecq, Gordon Way, Fabien Grisel, Franz Holler, Miriam Deller, Jade Persaud-Walters, Daisy Maddinson, William Maddinson, Samuel Peek, Marta Malysz, Tom Wilson-North

We’ll dive deeper into outerwear with our FW15/16 trend report, telling you what’s new in cuts, colours, fabrics and tech. FW15/16’s snowboard lines will turn heads, with many cosmic shapes on both tip and tail and Tom Wilson-North’s trend report helps you cut

through the white noise and gives you a succinct overview of what the market has to offer. We have all that’s new in goggles for the FW15/16 season, and as the cold water surf market is starting to grow legs, Denis Houillé takes a look at what wetsuit brands are doing to convince customers that a winter wetty is a staple for FW15/16.

Anna Langer addresses the stigma previously associated with the snowboard rental market, talking to snowboard brands and shops across Europe to see why ‘Snowboard Rental Is The New Black’. Anna also speaks with the ladies behind Nikita, to see where this all-girl brand is positioning themselves in the 2015 boardsports market.

For this issue’s Buyer Science interview we speak with Mr. UK Snowboarding, Jeremy Sladen to see what a brand has to do to tick his order form boxes, and for more pearls of wisdom to boot. Additionally we have profiles from four smaller brands making their mark: Afends, Pally’Hi, Jimmy’Z and Airboard.

Enjoy the issue, and see you at the shows.

Harry Mitchell Thompson Editor

CONTENT 15: NEWS

84: WOMEN’S OUTERWEAR TREND REPORT

19: TRADESHOW PREVIEWS

92: NIKITA INTERVIEW

Advertising & Marketing clive@boardsportsource.com

23: RETAILER PROFILE – BOARD ROOM

95: SNOWBOARD RENTAL IS THE NEW BLACK

25: FW15/16 SNOWBOARD TREND REPORT

99: BRAND PROFILE: JIMMY’Z

Accounts Manager accounts@boardsportsource.com

43: SEVEN STRATEGIES FOR LONGBOARD RETAIL

101: BRAND PROFILE: AFENDS

46: BIG WIG INTERVIEW: JUILEN DURANT

103: BRAND PROFILE: PALLY’HI

To Subscribe www.boardsportsource.com subs@boardsportsource.com

49: BRAND RETAIL MARKETING ACTIVITIES

105: BRAND PROFILE: AIRBOARD

51: GOGGLE TREND REPORT

106: GREENROOMVOICE

59: BUYER SCIENCE: JEREMY SLADEN

109: NEW PRODUCTS

63: WETSUIT TREND REPORT

112: MARKET INTELLIGENCE

69: BEATING THE WINTER SKATE SLUMP

124: EVENTS

72: MEN’S OUTERWEAR TREND REPORT

126: ONE EYED MONSTER

Publisher clive@boardsportsource.com Published by ESB, 22 Friars Street, Sudbury, Suffolk, UK CO10 2AA Boardsport SOURCE is published bi-monthly © ESB. All Rights Reserved www.boardsportsource.com

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

13

INDUSTRY NEWS

#75

ALTAMONT CAPITAL ACQUIRE FOX HEAD, AND PETE FOX RETURNS AS CCO

QUIKSILVER COMPLETES SALE OF SURFDOME FOR $16 MILLION

Pete Fox is re-joining Fox Head in the newly created role of Chief Creative Officer, as the company enters into a new financing partnership with Altamont Capital Partners. Pete Fox was formerly President and CEO of the brand, and returns in an executive management capacity, overseeing creative direction of the brand. CFO Bill Bussiere will leave the company as will CEO Nick Adcock, who makes way for Altamont’s Scott Olivet. Olivet has a wealth of industry experience, previously working as VP of Nike Subsidiaries where he oversaw the acquisitions of Hurely and Converse. Scott also served as CEO of Oakley and is currently a director of Skullcandy. He is also an Operating Partner at Altamont Capital Partners and serves as Chairman of the Board of Dakine, Mervin, HUF and Brixton.

Quiksilver has completed the sale of Surfdome to SurfStitch for roughly $16 million. Surfdome will continue to carry Quiksilver, Roxy and DC under a two-year deal. Surfdome generated sales of approximately (US)$60 million for the trailing twelve months ended October 2014. This completes the company’s exit from all non-strategic businesses, which have included Mervin Manufacturing, Hawk Designs, VSTR, Summer Teeth and Moskova.

SURFSTITCH STOCK MARKET DEBUT The IPO valued the Australian-based retailer at $214 million. SurfStitch, which was founded in 2007 made losses of $6.5 million and $8.1 million in 2013 and 2014 respectively, but expects to make a tiny profit of $100,000 in 2015. Revenue more than doubled between 2012 and 2014 and is expected to reach $199 million next year.

SECTOR 9 HAS A NEW AGENT TEAM FOR THE UK Phil Stanier will be the new front man for Sector 9 in the UK. With 20 years experience Phil was the obvious choice to bring much needed stability to the Sector 9 brand. He will be working directly with Sector 9 Europe in Hossegor, France. The back office and customer service will be handled by Chris Curran who will help structure and direct the brand in the right direction.

SHRED OPTICS AND SLYTECH PROTECTION HAVE NEW GERMAN DISTRIBUTOR The Anomaly Action Sports brands have gone through an explosive growth the past few years. Along with that growth comes expansion, and they have now partnered with Falkenschuh Schnake GmbH to undertake German distribution.

ROXY & BIOTHERM COLLAB: JACKETS & SCARVES PROTECT SKIN & NOURISH For the first time, a sports brand dedicated to women, Roxy, has joined up with a cosmetics brand, Biotherm, to create jackets and neck warmers infused with a formula that protects the face and neck from the cold while nourishing the skin.

INDOOR FREESTYLE CENTRE OPENING IN MUNICH, AUTUMN 2015 An indoor freestyle area named the GravityLab is to open near Munich’s Central Station East. The facility will provide a year-round freestyle sport area for all ages and abilities; housing trampolines, foam pits, and ramp with airbags capability.

BREAD AND BUTTER NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE Bread & Butter recently cancelled their January 2015 show in Berlin due to a lack of interest from exhibitors. Now news coming from the fashion trade show company is that they have filed for insolvency in order to return to profitability. More news coming from founder Karl-Heinz Müller is that they will be launching an alternative concept sometime soon.

ALDER STRENGTHENS EUROPEAN DISTRIBUTION The UK based surf brand Alder has rationalized its European distribution network for Spring 2015, this means the UK office will be dealing directly with its sales team throughout France, Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands and handling all shipping directly to retailers throughout Europe. Alder was started in the 60s by surfer Bob Westlake and has a line of core hardwear products including: wetsuits, neoprene accessories, and surfboard brands Hawaiian Soul and Cortez.

NIKE REBRANDS NIKE ACG TO NIKELAB ACG Nike has renamed its ACG division as NikeLab ACG. The rebranding sees NikeLab ACG shift towards a more urban outerwear/footwear/ portable storage offering, with the company striving to meet the modern consumer’s ever-increasing need for technical apparel to deal with anything their day may throw at them.

ELEMENT OPENS RETAIL SPACE IN LONDON The store operates over three floors, with skate hardgoods on the lower floor, menswear on the ground floor and Element’s Eden collection for women on the first floor. The shop will be a communication point, with space for artists to give them a platform to bring their work to London. It also allows Element to give something back to artists, so intrinsic with skate culture.

FINISTERRE OPENS LONDON STORE UK cold water surfing brand Finisterre have been making waves of late in surf media, with the launch of their CWS line. The St Agnesbased company have successfully opened an impressive looking store in central London. As well as showcasing the full Finisterre clothing range, the two-level, 1500 square foot store carries the finest cold water surf goods from around the world and features a stand alone coffee shop serving Small Batch coffee from 8am each day.

15

INDUSTRY NEWS

NEW ERA LAUNCHES TECHNICAL WINTER KNITS COLLECTION New Era are entering the winter knit market with a line committed to uncompromised fit, versatile functionality and seasonal style, featuring various technical attributes including Outlast technology, Dri-Release and Durable Water Repellency (DWR). New Era have a newly formed team of some of Europe’s most promising snowboarders and skaters, and have also appointed Laurence Joslin as New Era Marketing Director EMEA.

CHIEMSEE PUSH FURTHER INTO KIDSWEAR FOR AUTUMN/WINTER 15/16 Chiemsee are making a solid push into the kidswear market for 15/16 with technical gear and also the appointment of Dirk Bettenhausen as Key Account Manager. Bettenhausen has extensive knowledge of the kidswear market, having previously held roles at Moncler and Levi’s in this sector.

WSL ANNOUNCES 2015 TOUR SCHEDULE In September the ASP announced the name of the World Championship Tour will be changed to the World Surfing Tour in 2015. They have now released the dates for both men’s and women’s tours. The notable change is the omission of the women’s US Open of surfing. Bells Beach and the Margaret River Pro have swapped dates in order to give Bells its traditional Easter weekend finish. Looking at Europe, the Quiksilver Pro France moves later than in previous years, with the waiting period beginning six days into October.

PASSENGER UNDER NEW DISTRIBUTION WITH PORTUGUESE SURF COMPANY MINDLX English surfing apparel company Passenger have signed on with Midlx from Portugal in a distribution deal that will allow the brand to grow throughout Europe.

VANS APPOINTS NEIL SCHAMBRA STEVENS AS EMEA VP OF MARKETING Vans have appointed Neil Schambra Stevens as their new EMEA VP of Marketing. Stevens replaces Jeremy De Maillard, who recently moved across to VF brand The North Face. Stevens most recently served as Global Director for Brand & Content Creation at tech giant Lenovo.

Previous to this he worked at Converse & Asics, giving Schambra extensive knowledge in the sneaker business.

ELEMENT APPOINTS INDUSTRY VETS AS NEW VP OF GLOBAL DESIGN AND VP OF GLOBAL MARKETING. Element continues to evolve as a global brand with the appointment of Reynald Gautier and Julien Duval to the organization’s executive management team. These two skateboarders bring a depth of creativity and strategic experience to their newly created roles. Gautier joins the company as the VP of global design and Duval has been promoted to VP of global marketing.

16

#75

KELLY SLATER APPOINTS HOST OF INDUSTRY VETS IN SENIOR POSITIONS AT OUTERKNOWN Kelly Slater has appointed a whole host of industry vets to help him run his new clothing venture, Outerknown. These appointments include GQ Best New Menswear Designer John Moore as Creative Director, Julie Gilhart - a fashion consultant and former Barney’s New York Fashion Director, Stella Ishii who successfully launched brands including Alexander Wang, Phillip Lim 3.1 and The Row and will serve as Sales Director for Americas, Europe and Asia. Shelly Gottschamer joins as Director of Supply Chain and Sustainability and has spent the past five years as sportswear sourcing manager at Patagonia. Outerknown will come to market in Autumn 2015.

NEW UK-DISTRIBUTOR FOR THE ARBOR COLLECTIVE OPEN OCEAN Sports GmbH, the European Distributor for the ARBOR Collective, with its product categories, snowboards, skateboards and apparel has announced Ultra Sport Europe as the new distribution partner for the UK. Ultra Sport also have a new Brand Manager for the brand (Skate and Snow) - Lyndsay McLaren who has been working with them for a year as Marketing Coordinator and is now taking on responsibility for Arbor.

GOOD QUESTION TO REPRESENT & DISTRIBUTE STEPCHILD SNOWBOARDS IN FRANCE, GERMANY, AUSTRIA, FINLAND & ANDORRA StepChild Snowboards has announced a new European partner, Good Question Supplies. Good Question will exclusively represent & distribute StepChild Snowboards in France, Germany, Austria, Finland & Andorra, focusing on building the brand and growing our European market share.

AMPLID CELEBRATES TWO ANNIVERSARIES

Amplid have two anniversaries, the first being 30 years since founder Peter Bauer first strapped in and the second being 10 years since the brand’s inception. To celebrate, the company is releasing a limited edition line of skis and snowboards.

GOPRO TO DELIVER DRONES TO MARKET

BY END OF 2015 GoPro are to introduce drones to the consumer market by the end of 2015, according to a story on the Wall Street Journal. GoPro are said to be releasing Multirotor Helicopters With High-Definition Cameras somewhere in the $500-$1000 price range.

K2 & RIDE OPEN FACTORY Under the Jarden umbrella, K2 & Ride have opened the world’s most modern, largest, most eco-friendly and high tech winter sports factory in the north of China. Both companies have spent the last three years building the facility “from the ground up”, and this is one of the largest investments in snowboard manufacturing in at least the past decade

TRADESHOW PREVIEWS ISPO / MUNICH, GERMANY / 5-8 FEBRUARY 2015 / WWW.MUNICH.ISPO.COM 2015 sees ISPO returning to its traditional early February date, giving winter brands and retailers more time to plan out their strategies for next season. This year’s show promises to be as successful as last January’s which attracted more than 80,000 attendees from 110 countries, with as always, over half the visitors expected from overseas, most of them from France UK Italy, Austria and Switzerland. The show is still by far the biggest winter sports trade show in Europe, if not the world and continues to offer an international flavour that no other show can match show.

More than 2,500 exhibitors from over 50 countries will exhibit with a considerable increase in exhibitors in the health & fitness segment and the outdoor segments which has more than 40 new exhibitors and almost 100 new outdoor brands.

Boardsports will continue to dominate halls A1, A2 and A3 but within the halls a number of changes have taken place, with the themed platforms bringing a sharper focus to what is on offer and enabling ISPO to develop new market areas.

In A1 the number of snowboard brands has declined in line with the tougher economic environment that snowboarding has been facing over the last few years. But the show still remains the only one in Europe where the snowboard industry can truly demonstrate that it is still a force to be reckoned with. ISPO gives the snowboard business the opportunity to demonstrate to both retailers and the industry at large that there is still good business to be done and this is becoming more and more important as retailers are now driven more by economics than their passion for sports. Within the hall the snowboarding freeride platform, Tailgate Munich continues to grow, representing many of the new brands that are looking to make a mark in the growing backcountry market and its educational clinics are well worth attending. Also in the hall The ISPO INSPIRE project combining Brands For Good’s corporate social responsibility with the ecological responsibility platform GreenRoomVoice, continue to push the benefits of doing the right thing. For the first time the ISPO Brandnew Village occupies the back third of the hall, previewing the top 50 sports industry newcomers.

In A2 the outerwear and optical brands continue to dominate the exhibitor area but the longboard embassy has continued to grow alongside the Volcom ramp and ISPO CWS, a whole new themed platform for cold water surfing that is being launched. The hardgoods side of skate fits well under ISPO’s technical sports banner and this is the only show in Europe that offers skate retailers a large number of brands to visit. Now the Longboard embassy (organized by 40inch Longboard Magazine) hosts the largest collection of longboard brands ever assembled in Europe and with longboarding a fast growing practice across Europe, retailers should make their way to the embassy to see how they can get involved.

ISPO’s Cold Water Surfing platform is being launched in collaboration with Eurosima and Carve magazine. Though the market for cold water surfing products and services is almost as old as surfing itself, what this new platform does is provide an axis around which the companies who offer these products and services can come together and present this exciting movement to a larger retail audience. Brands including Billabong, Finisterre, Fomento Donostia, GlassyPro, Holysports, Patagonia, Rareform, Rip Curl, Seawag, Surflogic, Ocean, O’Neill and Xcel will be on site. The platform will provide retailers with an opportunity to evaluate the market potential and introduce them to specialist products dedicated to providing solutions to the challenges of cold water surfing. With much of Europe’s coastline fitting into the CWS category there are real benefits for retailers to stock dedicated CWS products, providing new opportunities for growth and profit and additional sales during the winter months. Elsewhere in the hall, the project Onehundred presented by Sneakerfreaker shows the historic developments of sneakers from the beginning to the latest trends within the athletic shoe business and the Intoxicated Demons will offer up their Monokrom City exhibition.

In hall A3 following the highly successful launch of the ISPO FREESKI Summit last year, the Distillery crew are back with their platform representing the most dynamic sector of the ski market. Located in the centre of the hall, the summit contains exhibiting brands, a bar and relaxation area and a very interesting activity program consisting of interviews and discussions with exhibitors, a retailers program from ISPO Academy and a Mips technology workshop.

Also in the same hall PADDLExpo is organising the platform for the SUP market. With consumer demand for SUP products continuing to grow retailers would be wise to spend time at the SUP platform evaluating both the products on show but also the potential of the market itself. With the sport popular both on the coast and on inland lakes and waterways, opportunities in the SUP market exist for retailers wherever they are based.

The ISPO TEXTRENDS FORUM in hall C2 offers manufacturers, designers and product managers a platform for sourcing and networking. This is where visitors will discover the latest fabrics, insulation materials, components and accessories for sports and outdoor apparel. Each day, there will also be four conferences on the current issues affecting the textile industry. The special “Wool Street” exhibit in the north section of hall B3 (intersection B2/B3/C3) presents the entire bandwidth and unique characteristics of technical wool products.

So with the show now presenting an even stronger skate and surfing offering on top of its strengths in the winter sports markets, action sports retailers no matter what their specialization should make the trip to Munich to keep themselves at the forefront of market developments.

19

TRADESHOW PREVIEWS SLIDE / TELFORD, UK / 27-29 JANUARY 2015 / WWW.SLIDE.CO.UK As reported in Source’s last issue, winter sports in the UK is undergoing a renaissance and Slide is no exception to the trend. The show is fully sold out even after a significant increase in floor space was added after very encouraging early uptake, so the show will be bigger than in the last two years. The earlier dates of the show bring it into a timescale that works better for some exhibitors as it brings the show to within their order deadlines. Also as Slide is now being held ahead of ISPO, retailers will get their first view of the latest product before flying to Munich.

Around 250 brands will be at the UK’s biggest winter sport tradeshow which 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.

New and returning exhibitors include: Falke, Kymira, Penguin Clothing, Marchon Eyewear, Peak Performance, Planks, Love Inc. Snowboarding, Thule HarnutZ, Handsmith, Sinner, Columbia, O’Neill (both eyewear and apparel), SkinSki, Charlie McLeod, PrAna, Nutcase Kastle and Vans.

On the first night of the show the plan is to arrange some healthy

competition in an informal and relaxed atmosphere, so a trip to the nearby bowling alley is being arranged. On the second evening the SIGB AGM will be held. The formalities will be short, but there will then be a presentation of the synopsis of SIGB’s work over the past year and its future plans, including an update on SIGB’s support for Snow-Camp charity: Snow-Camp is an innovative charity that uses a unique combination of skiing, snowboarding and life-skills programs to support inner-city young people.

Slide Awards will, as always, present the hottest products and most talked about products at the show, in three categories: hardware, software and accessories. There will be a display of all the finalists on show throughout Slide and retailers, media and industry experts will vote for winners, which will be announced at the SIGB AGM on Wednesday evening.

The Telford location offers on-site hotels meaning visitors and exhibitors can walk the few metres from hotel to show; 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 centre, helping make the trip a painless one.

JACKET REQUIRED / LONDON, UK / 4-5 FEBRUARY 2015 / WWW.JACKET-REQUIRED.COM Jacket Required - the menswear tradeshow, showcasing premium menswear casuals over two floors at The Old Truman Brewery, in London’s East End - home of fashion and hipsters, for its eighth edition. The show’s bare white walls, and the provision of two simple hanger-rails per stall allows for buyers and brands to get back to basics - the product. Brands from around our universe, amongst the 225 labels at the show include Addict, Deus Ex Machina, Dickies, Element, Globe, Herschal Supply Co, Lightening Bolt, MakeMake, Mipac, Navitas, Nixon, Polar Stuff, Raen Optics, RVCA, Santa Cruz, Stance, Uppercut Deluxe, Volcom and WESC. A

slight overlap with ISPO will see the more technically orientated retailers away in Munich. However 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 its convenient central London location, it’s easily reachable by tube, rail, bus or foot. Shoreditch High Street Station, Liverpool Street Station, Aldgate East Station and Old Street Station are all within walking distance.

SPORT ACHAT / LYON, FRANCE / 9-11 MARCH 2015 / WWW.SPORTAIR.FR Now in its fourteenth year, the show is designed to work along with Sport Air’s other business-to-business events Snow Avant Premiere (the On Snow demo test for snowboarding) and ASAP (a clothing specific event held in Annecy). 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, filling 18,000 square metres of floor space and by the time the show closed its doors 1530 shops had attended amongst the 3966 visitors.

Snowboards brands that have already booked a booth include: Dakine, 20

Drake, Dupraz, Electric, Flow, Giro, Jones, K2, Lib Tech, Nitro, Nidecker, Oakley, Picture, POC, Smith, Ride, Yes and outerwear brands include Bench, Nikita, Bonfire, Pull-in, Picture, Patagonia, The North Face, Columbia, Norrona, Dolomite, Sun Valley, Helly Hansen, Millet, Eider, Fusalp and Brunotti. Sport-Achat is a must visit for the French winter sports industry as the vast selection of products and brands makes the show an effective, fast and efficient use of time.

Daily seminars are planned for retailers. As always there is the Sport Achat networking party on Monday evening.

22

retailer profile

BOARD ROOM Board Room is a snowboard and skate shop based in the Polish capital of Warsaw. Run by skaters and snowboarders, Board Room claim this issue’s Retailer Profile spot thanks to their unfaltering commitment to their local scene. Find out how Board Room go the extra mile to ensure their customers receive the best service.

What are the benefits of having a physical shop over simply having an online store?

Firstly people can recognise your real connection with the skate/snow community, not being just another online skate-shop, probably run by some guys in suits. Every winter we set up a little snowpark on a little hill just five minutes down the street from our local shop and every now and then there are local contests; just to keep the local snowboard scene going. The most important aspect of having a physical shop is that you offer faceto-face customer experiences, which would never happen with an online store. You don’t have great customer service online, simply because the salesman can’t say anything more about certain products than just regular written specifications from a catalogue. Face-to-face interaction is also very important for older people, because they are used to a more traditional approach when it comes to shopping and prefer to have a demo when buying new snowboards, bindings, boots etc. Customers prefer to touch products and experience them somewhere before they buy it.

snow jumpsuits, then baggy skate-style pants and jackets. Now we can see the trend of regular fit or even slim fit pants and classic parkastyle jackets or classic jackets based on good old M51-military jackets, instead of screaming colours. Style in snowboarding is becoming more and more like skateboarding street style. Denim pants, jackets resembling lumberjack shirts and every new line has its must have products so you have to mix them every season to please customers.

What are your secrets for selling high-end products?

It’s no secret secret that it’s easier to sell a high-end product in a physical store than on an online shop. Customers can touch and see the product before purchasing and get all the information and technical details on the product. Good looking products, with great technical features and that are specially picked by ourselves gives the customer a great selection. If someone wants to buy this kind of high-end product, he will definitely find it in our shop!

What makes your store different and in what ways does your store excel beyond your competition?

We like to think of our store as a core shop run by guys who have been skating and snowboarding since 1998. We provide customers with the best atmosphere possible because we have passion for snowboarding and we love to talk about it. This is what customers should have in a real snowboard or skate shop; a good laid back atmosphere coupled with solid customer service.

Are new lines important to your product mix?

New lines usually feature new technical details, which are important.

For example in snowboard outerwear, the gear is getting lighter and better insulated with higher breathability. There is always something new and better every season and if you want what’s best for your customer, you have to provide them with that gear.

Does your store sponsor athletes, competitions, etc? If so, what are the benefits to the store and to the boardsports community?

We try to support the local snowboarding scene as best we can and when a good competition is going on we support it with prizes. We also support Warsaw young bloods, they’re pushing it hard and they will be great snowboarders soon. It’s important to support your local snowboarders and events because it works both ways. When people see that you are involved in making progress and keeping the snowboard scene alive, they respect and support you.

New lines represent new trends – there’s always something new: the market is constantly changing. First we had crazy colourful old-school

Did your store sales increase or decrease over last year?

Sales did increase over the last year for sure as well as over the previous years. More new customers have discovered the shop and tell their friends. Word of mouth-marketing has definitely worked for us.

We are trying to explain to customers the value of the local snow/skate shop, where they can have a good conversation and learn lots of useful information. The good thing is, people are starting to understand all of this and they’re supporting our local shop.

BOARD ROOM, WARSAW, POLAND, WWW.BOARDROOM.PL 23

photo: Burton

trend report

SNOWBOARD TREND REPORT 2015/2016 The way snowboards are designed and sold has changed more in the last three years than in the last twenty. Brands large and small are selling direct, consumers are more and more clued-up and demanding, and the commoditisation of some parts of the market has led to off-price sales being the rule rather than the exception. In short, you’ve not got an atmosphere conducive to big orders and strong sell-throughs. Report by Tom Wilson-North.

But forget the hate and look closer into this sport of ours.

Snowboarding still prevails and is thriving in certain categories. The passion, energy and thick soul of a snowboard still pulls at strings of hearts and wallets; the edits still get watched and the best riders attain the same hero-status as before, albeit through Vimeo and Mpora rather than Absinthe and Mack Dawg. The bottom line is that snowboarding is fun as hell, here to stay, and of course - snowboards still sell.

2015/16 sees some eyebrow-raising changes. There’s a huge leap forward in shaping, leaving behind the classic, bluntish, roundish snowboard shape for striking new noses, tails and even bases. There’s new tech in cores, lots of movement in the affordable splitboards market and a surprisingly buoyant all mountain freestyle scene. Read on, and let’s see what the future holds.

KEY NEW MODELS De Marchi, Solberg and DCP’s YES brand have two new boards that are set to somewhat revolutionise modern snowboarding; the true twin 20/20 Powderfoil, which we’ll talk about later and the new Pick Your Line. The PYL has trick new multi-radius sidecut technology

called Tapered Underbite, which creates an aggressive freeride board that doesn’t wash out as the turn ends. Over at Burton, the Custom celebrates its 20-year anniversary, spawning a split version and superlight Mystery Custom.

The all-mountain-freestyle trend is strong, and we’ll look at it in greater detail shortly. From K2 the big news is their hard-charging JoyDriver, developed with Lucas Debari. Similarly, Ride have a brand new Berzerker that’s the culmination of a three-year project with Jake Blauvelt. Slash have a premium directional zero-camber rocker made with Manuel Diaz’s input called the Nahual, and Never Summer have added a pair of all-American guns called the Funslinger and the West.

Salomon’s new AMF board is the Super8, with directional camber, a bit of extra width and a penchant for powder and cruising. Volkl’s AFC ticks the all-mountain powder box and Bataleon’s gorgeous Magic Carpet is a true twin do-it-all powder stick built off the WhiteGold PROTO XIV/V chassis.

Big mountain boards are still trending thanks to several media releases and the fact they tend to be great fun to ride fast on the piste.

The Mountain Division from Rome is a return to freeride form with 25

trend report

“Shapes have received a firm kick to the posterior, and it’s in powder boards that the envelope of plausibility has been pushed the hardest”

photo: Ride

making them at GST. “We aim to make our boards easy to ride in every terrain, with the focus on freeriding in powder and on groomers”, explains Wolken. They’ve got white tops, pointy noses and red bases, and we can’t wait to try them.

camber, a big floaty nose and a grippy tail. Likewise, Borealis have a remixed high-tech Arcane, and Robin Van Gyn’s Roxy Banana Smoothie gets a pointy overhaul to become something of an all-terrain bullet.

Palmer have a new premium Platinum, and over at Light Boardcorp the all-new Trooper features a long blunt nose, camber and carbon for instantaneous acceleration.

Shapes have received a firm kick to the posterior, and it’s in powder boards that the envelope of plausibility has been pushed the hardest.

Travis Rice’s new Firepower board is a sumptuous retro-funk platform with diagonal nose profile and a kicked-in v-tail – it’s ridden a lot in his new Brain Farm film project, out in the autumn. Nitro’s Quiver Series sees a 183 Cannon swallow and a brand new Mountain with a wide snubnose. There’s an addition to the Jones pow line too; the Storm Chaser is a short, wide swallow inspired by surfboards.

Venture’s Euphoria gets an overhaul with a regular sidecut for better control in variable snow, and Ride’s Hanna Beaman-inspired OMG has an asym heelside sidecut.

Also on your ISPO shopping list should be West, who slam into their second year with a collaboration with Swiss fashion label Prism, and Verdad’s high-end Blaze Of Glory board which has a brand new fibre mix.

UTTERLY MENTAL NEW SHAPES We’re confident that winter 2015/16 will be known as the one where all snowboards stopped looking alike, and brands started asserting their identity using unconventional nose, tail and base shapes. Earlyadopter consumers will be keen to try out these weird-looking new decks.

We think this trend has legs. It was love at first sight for the new line of asym swallow and bat-tails developed by veteran riders Jerry Niedermeier & Stephan Maurer under the watchful eye of brand manager Nicholas Wolken. Their brand is called Korua, and they are 26

Gnu take the prize for creativity with their trapeze-shaped Zoid board.

“It’s an unreal directional asymmetric model with a trapezoidal contact footprint that comes in regular and goofy foot options”, slobbers Mervin’s Pete Saari. “The board rides great in both directions, looks cool and pushes easy riding asymmetric snowboard design concepts to a new level”. It is a thing of beauty and was a clear early favourite in the tests. Meanwhile, stablemates Lib Tech have a new tech called DUH! that’s been doing the Insta-rounds over the last few months. It stands for Deeper Understanding Hypothesis, and consists of a central lowered platform in the middle of the base with a detuned, straight-ish sidecut which provides more leverage for the turn.

Next year design cues abound from surfboard shaping. Lib have a collab with surf shapers Lost called the Mayhem, and Jones build on their partnership with Chris Christenson on the Storm Chaser pow board. And as for Yes’s 20/20 Powderfoil, well... “it just has to be seen to be believed”, says Brand Director Alex Warburton. “It’s a true twin with two distinct rocker lines that blend together, creating a pronounced base concave in the nose and tail. At the leading end, the concave draws air under the board, causing lift and floatation. As the snow moves across the base it releases off the tail, making the tail drop downward. This twin rides through deep snow with the same planing angle that we get with directional shapes and set-back. On hard-pack it’s just short, wide, and super fun.”

Conventional boards are also becoming wider and shorter. Amplid have got a name for it - Jekyll and Hyde Geometry – and the best example of it is on their Pillow Talk. Salomon’s Rocket Science achieves a similar goal, and Drake’s Guerriglia powder board is blunt, agile and extra wide. Extra width also helps us shop guys to fit bigger feet onto boards, and we all know consumer’s feet just keep getting bigger.

Finally, you’d have to be living under a rock to have missed the cutit-yourself trend; Lib Tech’s MC Blank, Lobsters Nose Job, Yes’s Clark and DWD’s Genovese offer amateur shapers the chance to get busy and come up with their own shapes themselves.

BACK TO THE OLD SCHOOL There is also a vintage reissue trend going on. Reissues appeal to late30s riders with a bit of disposable cash who want to show their roots, on the wall or on the snow. The reissue market has worked brilliantly in skate, and we’re expecting the trend to stick here. It might take some pressure off those vintage snowboard collector guys, if nothing else. Gnu’s Swallow Tail is a reworking of their original early-80’s ground-breaking swallow. It’s an old design that doesn’t look old, and will work all over. Likewise, Arbor’s Zygote Twin is a high-five to their Venice, CA roots, offering twin performance, an asym shape and a soft flex. Technine’s Bradshaw Snakebite is a modern interpretation of the Burt Lamar Trick Stick shape, Santa Cruz have a hammerhead

photo: Head

trend report

“Beware of filling your shop with wood-topsheet boards and making the place look like some kind of sauna” snubnose retro board called the SRX and the Lib Tech Pool Skater reissue is sure to please, featured on next year’s MC Kink. Now, if they’d only reissue some Wintersticks...

MATERIALS & INTERNALS The core of the board is the very essence of its personality, and we’re finding that end users are starting to look more closely at what’s under the hood. So instead of simply being satisfied that a snowboard has a wood core, people are equally interested in what kind of wood, how it’s laid up, and what else there is in there.

“We are currently focussing on some issues that are less sexy, but equally as important, say Nitro. “All our boards have received an upgrade in base material quality, and we have been working with a leading composite supplier to develop a high-strength fibreglass.

The result is simple - ALL our snowboards are 20% stronger and more responsive than ever before”. Fighting talk. Next up, Head are using Graphene, borrowed from the boffins in their tennis and alpine divisions. It’s strong and extremely lightweight and has the ability to transfer energy with little debit. The 2D Graphene in their Libra women’s board is one of the thinnest, lightest and strongest materials ever made. Although only an atom thick, it is tougher than a diamond and up to 300 times stronger than steel.

Traditional carbon isn’t going anywhere. But it’s being used in some different ways that piqued our interest. Yes wrap bamboo stringers in carbon and slot them into milled channels in their core running parallel to the sidecut. Salomon’s Slingshot Sidewalls see the material inserted directly into the sidewall underfoot, and Jones upgrade the carbon line to Textreme carbon fibre, which has seen success in

Formula One and on Felt Tour de France bikes. Light Boardcorp have sourced a new carbon supplier with thinner rovings, letting them have greater adjustability to fine-tune torsion more effectively. There’s forged carbon diamond packs in Capita’s Spring Break boards, and Slash use non-crimping NCF carbon biax in the Aurora, which has an enviable load capacity and feather-like weight.

There are a couple of new approaches we’ve seen for next year we like too. Loaded’s Algernon uses an edge-to-edge, sidewall-free bamboo core, which they’ve built themselves with skate pioneer Ernie DeLost in California. You’ll also see a new vulcan material layer from Goodboards. Meanwhile, Roxy have a new bio fibre called Silky Smooth for dampening; Rome are using Zylon as a laminate enhancer, Bataleon have a four-way Kevlar fleece that’s being dropped in under the insert packs, and on the weight side, things just keep getting lighter. Burton have just finished an internal project called Core Weight Reduction to lighten every board in their line by at least 10%.

ALL MOUNTAIN FREESTYLE Whilst the easiest selling boards for the last few years have undoubtedly been stiff freeride decks, many brands we spoke to indicate a revival in demand for medium-flex, twin directional all mountain boards. The quiver of one makes economic sense. Either that or people are feeling silly cruising blue runs on Carbon Flagships.

Nitro’s Good Times is an easy going new freestyle twin, and Vimana have a stiff Motherbrain with forgiving rocker profile. From Voelkl there’s a new directional, easy-turning and floaty all-mountatin freestyle board inspired by Michi Stanschitz and Mario Kaeppeli, and Rome have a Mountain Collection focussed on piste, park and powder

“The quiver of one makes economic sense. Either that or people are feeling silly cruising blue runs on Carbon Flagships” 28

trend report

“You’d have to be living under a rock to have missed the cut-it-yourself trend”

versatility; it’s headed up by the redesigned Agent. “We have definitely seen the market trending towards more freestyle boards that are soft but not noodles”, confirms Academy’s Jason Martin.

SPLITBOARD STUFF There’s been plenty of movement in the crowded splitboard market; the segment remains active, with a growing participation base. Riders seem to have finally understood that skinning performance (ie grip) is really of vital importance, so all the splitboards that work best feature a variation of classic camber and s-rocker for maximum skin-to-snow contact.

Despite the affordable split thing, the premium part of the market is still the biggest chunk. Gnu’s Beauty and Beast C3 splits have splendid Pendleton Blankets collaborations, and Voelkl’s new Xsight Split gets a powergun shape drawn from their Alright solid. Nitro have a new premium split called the Doppleganger with Hiking Pods for extra skintrack traction, and Jones have at last produced the long-awaited Aviator Split.

GRAPHICS No surprises in aesthetics; there’s minimalism and visible tech at one end, a wide spectrum of inoffensive and fairly neutral boards in the middle, and screaming techno-barf at the other end. A mix of each will be in your buy, although beware of filling your shop with woodtopsheet boards and making the place look like some kind of sauna.

Light Boardcorp have a tight line of high-gloss and mixed-finish detailing. Meanwhile, Norweigan rippers Vimana have a super tidy range curated by artist du jour Peter-John de Villiers aka The Shallowtree. He’s the high-detail guy who is also responsible for Yes’ Greats series. Lib’s Travis Rice graphic is mellower than usual, a Parillo-designed Supercreature animal mélange, and Drake use clean lines of Italian street artists like Aloha Project and Thunderbeard to create their prettiest series in years.

On the flipside, Eiki Helgason’s new Lobster pro model features a trippy graphic with glow-in-the-dark topsheet, which ought to look fairly eye-catching, particularly when mounted with Switchback’s glow-in-the-dark bindings. In collabs, Endeavor partner with Kurt Cobain and Wu-Tang - which look awesome – and Capita soldier on with their Volcom co-creations.

CONCLUSION So despite the naysayers, the boards of 2015/16 are staying fresh and the brands are trying their hardest. Trickled-down tech is getting 30

photo: Burton

Things are finally becoming more affordable this year in splitboards. Bataleon’s Fun.Kink Split promises to be the cheapest on the market, Nitro’s Nomad offers sensational bang for buck and Amplid’s price point model lifts from the all-new Creamer shape. Burton have identified this sub-trend too. “Next year we are offering a Custom Split that builds from 20 years of board development and offers a unique split ride at an affordable price”, says Category Manager Chris Fidler.

more accessible, and real genuine camber is trending hard again.

Then there’s freeride, which is still showing growth - partly because it’s a segment of snowboarding that is aspirational but not completely unattainable. After all, even the chubbiest mid-forties dude on his annual holiday can fancy himself a bit of a Jeremy when he’s just off of the side of the piste.

So what about you and next year’s board buy? Well, why not make 2015/16 the year for an overhaul? Dump the boards and brands that are mediocre and lacklustre. Replace them with product sold by people who are ready to go further than just filling in the order form; who are ready to listen to what you need and help you out with your sell through. Buy at least a few boards that’ll blow your clients’ minds and get them drooling in the shop. Embrace the new shapes, buy a few vintage reissues and go hard into that all mountain freestyle segment.

And cross your fingers that it snows earlier next year.

HIGHLIGHTS - WEIRD NEW SHAPES - FREERIDE STILL STRONG - THE RETURN OF ALL MOUNTAIN FREESTYLE - AFFORDABLE SPLITBOARDS - VINTAGE REISSUES

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2015/2016

ACADEMY

propacamba / team / tempo

ARBOR

AMPLLID

hifi / milligram / pillow talk

BATALEON

cadence/ element / shreddy krueger

shred / omni / jam

CAPITA

COALITION SNOW

doa / mercury / supermacho

myth / myth / queen bee

APO

eero niemela / sage kotsenburg / selekta

BURTON

custom / mug fish / high spirit

DC

supernatant / mediablitz / tone 33

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2015/2016

DINASOURS WILL DIE bogart / larson / wizard stick

FANATIC

ftc / un ltd / ftc twin cbc

GOODBOARDS

apikal / Prima doublerocker / wooden 34

DRAKE

df1 / guerrilla / urban

FLOW

era / maverick / solitude

HEAD

instinct / hope / faith

ENDEAVOR

clout / ktv / new standard

GNU

spacecase / retro swallow tail / zoid

JONES

aviator-split / explorer / flagship

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2015/2016

K2

carveair / coolbean / ultradream

LIGHT BOARD

timeless freeride / bright / trooper

NICHE

aether / minx / sonnet 36

KORUA

tranny finder / asytoni / puzzle

LOBSTER

eiki pro model / halldor pro model / youth board

NIDECKER

escape / ultralight / platinum

LIBTECH

Jamie lynn rat tail / matt cummins kink / swiss knife

NEVER SUMMER

funslinger / prospector / raven

NITRO

chuck / one-off elias elhardt / quiver cannon

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2015/2016

PALMER

platinum / pro / burn

ROUGH

blank / foundation / powder dagger

SANTA CRUZ

pure / shred / screaming hand 30th anniv

38

RIDE

burnout / helix / omg

ROXY

banna smoothie / torah bright / jewel

SLASH

packshot / aurora / spectrum

ROME

agent / lo-fi / mod

SALOMON

sabotage / super 8 / the villain

SMOKIN

big wig / bucks / kt22

preview

SNOWBOARD PRODUCT PREVIEW 2015/2016

STEPCHILD

VENTURE

dirt bag / mai thai / latchkey

VIMANA

conti black / conti red / vufo

blaze of glory / buccaneer / don v estate

VOLKL

WEST SNOWBOARDING

afc / squad prime / xsight

WHITEGOLD

north / proto / shaka

40

VERDAD

euphoria / odin / storm

prism / la hache / valhalla

YES

2020 / clarks / greats

photo: Arbor

retailer help

7 STRATEGIES

FOR SUCCESSFUL LONGBOARD RETAIL This issue’s Retailer Help column has the short and skinny on selling longboards. By Dirk Vogel Hate it or love it, but skateboarding’s public image today is far broader and diverse than a mere five years ago. “The trend skateboarding sees right now with cruisers and longboards is exactly what’s at the heart of skateboarding – simple rolling and cruising pleasure. The simple pleasure of skateboarding is being rediscovered,” said Christian Roth at German-based hardgoods brand MOB Skateboards.

Longboards are still picking up speed, even after a massive surge in 2012, when sales went up 70% according to Christophe Terneu at Imperium Longboards. Growth trajectories, although less steep, continued throughout 2014 with all major brands reporting double-digit growth of at least 15%, with the majority at 35%, and some breakouts at 50% and beyond.

“We will probably see even more people buying a longboard or a cruiser. Real skateboarding has become so sophisticated in the last few years that the frustration barrier is very low. Too many kids gave up as they thought they could never reach the skill level they want – or think they have to want. Longboarding is a lot more rewarding to the participant. It’s like snowboarding. You don’t need to be a pro to have fun!” said Jörg Ludewig, co-owner at Urban Supplies distribution in Germany.

With that said, store owners can have fun – and increase their bottom

line – with the longboard category as well. Here are seven strategies for playing the long(board) game: 1. DEDICATION: ALL OR NOTHING Stocking a few random longboards from popsicle brands is not going to make any difference. Only dedicating floor space and energy with a whole-hearted commitment will turn longboards into a revenue driver for your store. As Chris Brunstetter, marketing director at the Goldcoast Skateboard Co sums it up: “Educate, merchandise, and focus on the category. Our retailers that do those three things are seeing a lot of success with it.”

Ideally, retailers should cover all bases from beginner-friendly completes to premium constructions, said Bernd Pösl, European brand manager at Arbor: “It’s important to have a wide range of price options. Because the skate customer is so diverse, it’s never certain whether they will be looking for entry-priced gear or higher-end components.” Retailers should visit the Longboard Embassy at ISPO for a broad sweep of relevant brands. But keep in mind: With over 250 longboard brands out there, picking a tight selection for the store – and building dedicated relationships – is a winning strategy.

“Stores need to partner up with reliable suppliers who will help them make hardgoods a profitable and significant part of their business.

This means finding a supplier who will offer competitive price points 43

retailer help

“Stores need to respect the brand’s logic in terms of product presentation. Wild mixing confuses and kills every brand’s magic!” Andreas ‘Maui’ Maurmeir at Sector 9 Europe

and good margins, in-store support, and decent stock so if the retailer gets on a roll with certain key styles, they have stock to be able to help the retailer capitalise on this,” said Matt Wong, President of Globe’s product division.

2. EXPERTISE: KNOW THE LEDGE At first sight, longboards may appear just that – “long” skateboards.

But powered by a wave of longboard-specific brands throwing new technologies, accessories, and board constructions being added into the mix, the category has evolved into a whole different beast altogether. “Similar to snowboard design you will see a lot of different woods being used for core material and reinforced with fiberglass or carbon skins. Pre-milled cores, custom fiberglass skins and jet powered hover panels are becoming the future in longboard design,” said Pablo Castro at Loaded Boards.

Dedicated longboard retailers such as Concretewave in Cologne get the message. “The main thing is you have to know your products and you need a good wide selection of different longboards and brands.

There is so much difference between longboards nowadays, you really have to tell people what they need and what they don’t need,” notes Heiko Schöller. Product flyers, white papers and the occasional visit to longboard websites such as silverfishlongboarding.com offer valuable insights. But ultimately, nothing beats walking the walk, says Heiko: “Some of our employees are really good downhill skaters so they know what works well and what doesn’t.” Nate Schumacher from Landyachtz adds: “It is key to educate floor staff on the variety of shapes and sizes available. New customers in the longboard world have a lot of questions on the different technical aspects of board design and an educated staff can make the purchase decision easy for a customer.”

3. DISPLAYS: NICE RACK! With the longboard category’s focus on complete boards, specialized racks offer a nice opportunity for elegant in-store presentation.

Leading manufacturers provide branded displays with upscale finishes, while shops get crafty with DIY-designs, including Concretewave: “We just built a special wheel rack where we can show around 400 sets of different wheels. This looks really cool and presents our huge selection of hardware even more. And this year we sold a lot more cheap completes that we present in special board racks for longboards.”

Meanwhile, keeping an eye on brand identity is important, said Andreas “Maui” Maurmeir at Sector 9 Europe: “Stores need to respect the brand’s logic in terms of product presentation. Wild mixing confuses and kills every brand’s magic!” Savvy retailers can also enlist their staff as walking displays: “Something as simple as having brand clothing on the shop workers can help people buy into brands and gain simple exposure for brands,” said Ali Crichton at Mindless.

4. SAFETY: BRO-TECTION The flip side of longboarding’s rapidly surging popularity lies with injuries – some of them fatal, headline-making accidents – that have given the category a bad rep in some cities. A recent U.S. study in Utah Valley concluded that out of all skateboard-related injuries between 2006 and 2011, over 57% involved longboards with a much higher prevalence of serious head injuries.

Steering the sales conversations towards safety gear should be a no-brainer. Core retailers such as Concretewave offer a selection 44

of specific downhill longboard helmets, similar in construction to motorbike helmets with full-face coverage including TSG’s “Pass” fullface helmet, and the Triple8 “T8 Racer” model. Other popular helmet choices include the vert skate-style helmet with visor shields that also nicely cross over into sports such as hiking and cycling. Wrist guards and knee and elbow pads are a must, while die-hard riders also embrace other wearable protectors.

5. TRY-OUTS: SHOWING IS BETTER THAN TELLING Stationary retail is where products come to life in a hands-on matter. “Another good thing for shops is having a wide range of test boards. Customers can feel the difference between a drop through, flex or hard downhill board by testing in front of the shop,” Heiko at Concretewave confirms. Retailers who organize board tests and races – or a combination of both – will provide a welcome opportunity for customers to find their perfect set-up.

“I feel people just need to go out and ride and figure out what they like. Ride your friend’s set up, ride your friend’s friend’s set up and see what you like. It’s skateboarding so just go out and do it, you’ll find out what you like. You don’t need someone to tell you, chances are they’re gonna push who they like or ride for, not what YOU necessarily want,” warns Kevin Kennedy at Gravity Skateboards. Showing longboard videos at the store, including Arbor Skateboards’ latest release, Grade, also helps people get the idea of the sheer amount of fun and danger to be experienced on a longboard.

6. ACCESSORIES: ONE MORE THING Compared to regular street skating, the longboard category offers a wealth of accessories, ranging from innovative to obscure, to exotic.

“We carry everything from downhill helmets, slide gloves, all types of wheels, and some CNC-machined trucks and parts,” said Heiko at Concretewave. Slide gloves especially make sense after seeing a high-octane downhill video (see 5.), and so will slide pucks by manufacturers with illustrious names such as Brainfukker.

Ideally, your accessories section offers the right amount of high and low price points: From inexpensive “slide soles” – adding extra shoe life to foot braking on downhills – all the way to helmet-mounted €400 GoPro cameras for capturing that epic 60km/h downhill run in highdefinition. Totally worth the investment!

7. CULTURE: LONG LIVE THE BOARD As longboarding keeps winning new converts, core stores are the ones preaching the gospel. “For physical retailers it is important to have a presence in the local scene by getting involved with ‘local heroes’, local competitions and just becoming the ‘go to’ place for longboards,” said Ali at Mindless. Whether shop owners organize trips to World Championship events such as Peyragudes, Kosakoff, and Almabtrieb, or stage their own downhill races or fun cruises – this category is the most fun when it gets rolling.

In the bigger picture, everybody – brands as much as retailers – can play a part in shaping the future of the category. “We believe that the ‘rising tide raises all ships’ and think that there’s a lot more collective effort to be done to continue to grow the longboard community, including regional events and collective media emphasis,” said Pablo at Loaded. Ultimately, the first step on this journey lies right on your doorstep. “Get the people skating out on the street. The street is the perfect communication hot spot. Be there and you win!” said Maui at Sector 9.

BIG WIG INTERVIEW

PICTURE ORGANIC CLOTHING THE SUCCESS STORY Picture Organic Clothing is a story of three young guys who believed in their destiny. Proof, if you need it, that you don’t have to be from California to launch a business from your garage! The story started in Clermont Ferrand in the middle of France before expanding to Annecy, the capital of the Outdoor Sports Valley in the heart of the Alps.

Behind Picture Organic Clothing is the story of three pals: Julien Durant, Jérémy Rochette and Vincent André. At the beginning Julien started off in marketing, Jérémy in an architect’s office and Vincent was a young, non-conformist graduate. They were winter sports enthusiasts and compelled by the idea of creating a brand that would be a vehicle for their values, they founded Picture Organic Clothing in 2008 close to Clermont Ferrand, France. Since its creation the brand has developed around core values linked to the environment and the conservation of resources. They started to brighten up the shelves of France and Switzerland in 2009. Picture Organic Clothing had launched their first outerwear collection manufactured from recycled PET products. Taking part in the Munich ISPO trade fair for the first time opened the doors to a merciless expansion throughout the rest of Europe.

In 2011 an innovative concept was introduced: manufacturing jacket linings from fabric offcuts. This was when sales took off in 10 countries with around 400 retailers. Their first introduction to the USA was in 2012 via the SIA trade fair in Denver. In 2013 and 2014 Picture Organic Clothing received two awards at the ISPO trade fair for their first 100% recycled jacket and for their ‘Rethink’ backpack.

These days the three companions have combined the essential values that brought them together: to offer innovative design and deliver a new philosophy on the conservation of environment and resources.

For this issue’s Big Wig interview, Source’s Snowboard Editor Rémi 46

Forsans spoke with Marketing Manager Julien Durant.

Interview: How did the three of you meet?

We grew up together in the town’s skateparks and we quickly started to share a passion for snowboarding. We had a snowboard crew called SESSION 63, which inspired and encouraged us to retain a spirit focussed around ‘friends’, ‘the ride’ and ‘respect’.

What are your respective roles in the business?

Each of us has a very well defined section; Jérémy is in charge of all the design and manufacturing projects. Vincent is in charge of all the back-office stuff, by that I mean administration, logistics and finance.

Personally I am in charge of all the marketing and the distribution side. We work based on areas of expertise and we don’t step on each other’s toes, we advance together as a team, not individuals, that’s one of the keys to our success.

What is the brand’s DNA? Our values are reflected in all our communication: Ride-Protect-Share.

Riding is the raison d’être of the brand and of our lives in general.

Protection is essential because it’s time to think about tomorrow instead of continuing to stuff ourselves without considering the consequences of over consumption. Sharing is important because all those life moments have no meaning if they aren’t shared with those who you love.

“We are not ecological extremists either, we haven’t stopped taking the chairlift or driving cars, you have to live with the times. But you can respect certain fundamental values and still make a living; this will allow our children to live what we have lived and what pushed us to create Picture Organic Clothing”

How do you yourself live out your environmental commitments?

It’s all a question of heightened awareness. After developing organic products, visiting factories and measuring the consequences of unconsidered large-scale mass production, we buy differently. We are not ecological extremists either, we haven’t stopped taking the chairlift or driving cars, you have to live with the times. But you can respect certain fundamental values and still make a living; this will allow our children to live what we have lived and what pushed us to create Picture Organic Clothing.

What do you do to bring these values to your clientele?

We have developed loads of awareness raising programmes. Firstly, all our Facebook advertising and communication highlights environmental conservation and healthy consumerism. We post the reduction of our carbon footprint in relation to KM travelled by car; this allows the consumer to better understand the immediate impact. Thanks to a fun tool called ‘PICTURE YOUR IMPACT’ we explain the impact that our actions have on the product (washing, drying..). In 2013 we created the 100% recycled ‘Welcome’ jacket. Today, with the help of our retailers we have reached the next stage with the launch of a recycling programme and solutions for reusing all clothing products. Lastly, we raise retailers’ awareness, encouraging them to return advertising banners to us to be recycled into bags that we send back out to participating shops.

What is your target market?

We have three collections that target three different groups. The freeride orientated ‘Expedition’ line targets 25-45 year olds. The freestyle orientated ‘Friends’ line targets 15-35 year olds. Finally the ‘Adventure’ line composed of technical urban products is aimed at the urban adventurer between 15 and 55 years old.

How do you approach international markets as a French brand?

We have been internationally focussed since the beginning and our desire has always been to become a global brand. In our marketing strategy we invest similar budgets throughout the world.

How do foreigners perceive a brand of French origin?

Our generation of consumers want to buy cool, quality products that facilitate our lives. As for the geographic origin of the brand, clients make fun of it but what’s important is what the product brings them.

Our product is different in its design, philosophy and intrinsic value; the brand is extremely community-based and to buy Picture Organic Clothing is to join a movement that means something to the consumer.

What are you doing to increase your presence abroad?

Right now I’m spending six months of the year in shops, spreading the story and the values of the brand. Retailers are our main prophets so it’s important that they know our history and our values. Basically to answer your question it’s ‘work in the field’.

How do you see the brand in 10 years?

We are working at becoming a key player in the global Outdoor Action industry.

We think we can become a benchmark in terms of committed brands.

How did you finance your development?

It was practically all financed with the help of the bank. Our growth is very healthy and we want to continue calmly, just as we did at the start.

How will you approach your evolution towards the Action Outdoor markets?

The groundwork has already been done with the separation of the ranges, which we completed three years ago. The ‘Expedition’ range is more technical but still respects the codes of the action sports world.

It is already very popular and holds the most potential for growth. Also, summer collections are taking a direction particularly aimed at surf camps and camping with friends with more technical products for the Outdoors and a cool look.

How do you explain the craze for your products and how are they different from others?

I’m going to repeat myself but our difference is our greatest strength.

The brand is highly community based because to buy PICTURE ORGANIC CLOTHING is to become part of a vision, a philosophy.

PICTURE ORGANIC CLOTHING gives meaning to your purchase because we share values and an ideology of life...and also we are doing good for the planet and so for yourself at the same time.

In your opinion, how do your competitors see you?

Some of our competitors subscribe to our approach, others are jealous sometimes but all of them generally respect us because we are sincere and we do not ‘greenwash’.

What advice would you give to future entrepreneurs for whom you might serve as an example?

Take your ideas and dreams as far as they’ll go, there will always be someone to help you out if you are wholehearted and your project is worth it. Never give up, even at times of difficulty.

What were your greatest difficulties?

I think that the greatest difficulty for my associates and I is separating our private lives from our brand. It’s not always easy for our loved ones. You might think that the business side is the great difficulty but in reality it’s knowing how to manage your private life and the success of a business at the same time that’s the most complicated.

What has made you the most happy?

Having this experience with friends and succeeding in launching a project that stands for us without compromise. This brand represents us, working with friends on a daily basis and making sure our teams feel at home in a well humoured, friendly environment. For now we seem to be facing up to the challenge.

What is your next challenge?

Our next challenge is to continue to expand Picture Organic Clothing globally and to find time to continue to ride together. We mustn’t lose what has always brought us together even if our involvement has to be more and more intense to match our ambition.

“Our product is different in its design, philosophy and intrinsic value; the brand is extremely communitybased and to buy Picture Organic Clothing is to join a movement that means something to the consumer” 47

retailer help

THE BENEFITS OF BRAND RETAIL MARKETING ACTIVITIES It’s all about selling products, whether you are a brand manager, a distributor or a shop owner. With the internet providing such readily available information, German action sports retail marketing experts Vivamo have outlined the benefit of in-store marketing for creating better relationships between brand, retailer and consumer.

Sascha Kracht, Vivamo’s head of design explains.

After a long period of growth, the boardsports sector is currently facing a massive shake-up. The relatively weak or unessential brands are in danger of extinction, and many labels are concentrating on their core business. The market is highly competitive and brands need to be persistent and inventive to survive the next season. Some brands continually do it right and they are able to hold their market share or even grow.

What we have observed over the last few years is that brands are tending to directly address the end consumers instead of pleasing distributors and retailers with expensive tradeshow stands and luxurious sales meeting performances.

Concentrating directly on the consumer’s purchasing power is not new, but it seems to have become more important. Selling products just by advertising them in between other identical looking brands does not work in these times of market saturation and weakening demand. The customer still wants to be up to date but is confused by the fast development of trends and products. They do not want to risk making mistakes when buying, which means we must make it easy for them to trust the brands’ guidance, otherwise they simply won’t buy.

Most competitive companies have developed comprehensive marketing strategies for print and web. But we need to create a strong identification with the brand’s image and its values at the point of sale.

The moment a customer enters the store he must start breathing the brand’s spirit, and that is what we try to achieve at Vivamo. We try to turn brands into an experience, visually and emotionally, searching for the perfect balance.

So what makes a good brand retail concept? Design follows function but function should follow needs. Displays need to be specially made for products and must be able to cover quantity changes in a functional way. Often too much of the brand image is sacrificed for a high functionality performance which is not utilized by the retailers. A lousy merchandiser can easily destroy the impact of a perfect retail system.

reinvented the brand message, the display seems overdone and the products look somehow misplaced. May be in the wrong shape, materials that don’t match or bare the desperate call for the seldomreached authenticity. Instead it must simply be the literal translation of the existing brand image; this is essential. Making a good POS is like composing the perfect soundtrack for the brand: understanding the plot, knowing each film sequence and emphasizing the story line without ever showing off.

A brand able to place an adequate ‘shop in shop’ concept or a professional POS system in a multi-brand-store, will experience a significant rise in sales. But most retailers will not be able or willing to afford such a branded corner. This is why many brands take the costs on at their own expense, mostly committing the display donation with a certain order quantity. Creating a store concept costs a lot of money and time, and a 100% return of this investment won’t always be reached in the short term by the increased turnover. This discourages many brands from such POS and SIS activities, but in our opinion the money is not lost, but well invested.

It will be much easier for brands to grab a few metres of desired wall space in a store when they offer good looking and functional displays that create a certain ambiance. The products won’t vanish amongst other brands, nor will the displays be used for other brands. Also, the relationship between retailer and the brand is strengthened and having a brand corner means retailers will not switch brands so easily according to sudden sales fluctuations.

The most important benefit is the sustainable marketing impact and we think that brands needs to re-think the call for immediate and complete return of investment. They spend large amounts on marketing, such as magazines, team riders and sponsoring events but hesitate when an individually created product display has its price.

By having a custom-made corner concept you show market strength, you create a communication platform for your brand and you build a strong image.

Also, you can find costly brand areas where the designer has 49

photo: Dragon

trend report

GOGGLES 15/16 TREND REPORT Much more than just a fashion accessory, nowadays goggles benefit from NASA-esque technology that brings with it hefty price tags. From filtering out unwanted light waves to equalizing pressure, the new models are designed to enhance any experience you might have in the mountains – including your looks. Our 15/16 Goggle Trend Report tells you just why stocking high quality goggles pays off in the long run. Report by Anna Langer.

Continuing on from last year, trends in the goggle market are all about “wide view, better sight, less frame”, as Sinner sum it up in six little words. Melon even state “maximising field of vision” as “the most important thing for us when we create a goggle”. Approaches to address this are a plenty, from lens-technology to frames that vary between super thin and none at all.

FRAMES Dragon pioneered the frameless look years ago with their APX series, enabling them to significantly stock up their range, “while others are coming out with their first frameless goggle to go up against our original” says Dragon’s Director of Product, Mike Tobia. Oakley, Electric, Bern, Spy, VonZipper, TSG, Zeal, Quiksilver, Roxy, Brunotti, and POC continue their frameless lines from last season, adding more models for 15/16, while Gloryfy took frameless design “one step further” with a goggle that “literally have no frame.” United under the Marchon umbrella, Nike Vision “utilized the frameless bracket system from Dragon as the foundation of technology but then evolved it by having a thin frame enclosure and integrated ventilation within the bracket system.” Next to

continue in their frameless designs, Dirty Dog blend a fusion of frame and no-frame models “to deliver new semi-frameless options”, similar to the new semi-frameless Bollé Scarlett, that is “specifically designed for women and features a great field of vision, superior fit as well as helmet compatibility”. Sinner also go for an “ultra-thin” goggle frame with their new Mohawk and Snowstar models and Giro extend their Expansion View Technology, as “incorporating EXV technology parts with a reduction in the frame, which offers a greater field-of-view than simply reducing the frame”. Shred and Melon also argue that frameless models are actually “restricting the view compared to framed goggles” (Melon) as to “still have definitive structural integrity, the frame gets put under the lens closer to the eye” (Shred).

LENSES With or without frames, spherical lenses that mimic the curve of the eyeball and offer “less distorted visual perception” (Spektrum) as well as “maximum vertical and peripheral vision” (POC) uphold their dominance in the ranges of all brands we interviewed. Zeal, TSG and Melon only work with this lens type, most other collections apply them to top-notch 51

trend report

“Colours for frames and bands are staying pretty similar to previous seasons too, with a little bit of everything for everyone”

models, as they “seem to target the higher end market” (Carve).

At the same time, there is a “resurgence in cylindrical goggles” according to Dragon and Smith. This trend has built up over the last couple of seasons, Spy think, as “athletes have been sporting them for a few seasons now, which means it’s in the cycle of finding it in the more mass markets” as these shapes address “different user needs, price targets” (Bollé) and “design preferences” (Oakley).

Besides lower price points, this more flat shape also offers a “mellow, cool, retro and understated” look, “but with the full-on ‘under-thehood’ tech, function and features ”(Giro). This “clean and simple design aesthetic, that ties nicely into the current trend and feeling of minimalist design” (Smith) is available at a lower price point, making it a great choice for entry-level models. Bern even believe them to be the “future of optics for the winter sports market and allows us to push the envelope of the helmet/goggle relationship.”

Shred pair their cylindrical shapes with their Carved Lens technology for the Amazify, “that has a lens with tapered thickness that compensates loss in vision power as eyes track side to side.” True innovation in 15/16 is happening behind or rather inside the lenses.

Oakley already debuted their revolutionary PRIZM technology last year, that “allows you to see snow in a completely new light, literally” by selectively elevating certain light waves while reducing others” and add more Iridium coated variations for next year. But they’re are not the only ones enhancing contrast. The new Bollé Modulator™ Light Control lenses “adapt instantly to changing light while reducing distracting glare” and the new POC NXT lenses with “colour visionboosting filter called HCD (High Chromatic Definition)” have extreme contrast enhancing effects as well, as does Spy Happy Lense Technology and POC’s patent-pending Sonar Technology from Zeiss, that enhances “contrast perception, high brilliance of colours and contours, especially at high speed and in changing light conditions.”

Giro implement Zeiss lenses as well, that are “engineered to be tapercorrect to eliminate prismatic distortion and deliver the ultimate in crisp, clear, superior vision.” Shred follow a similar and yet unique approach with their NODISTORTION™ lenses, “which allow for pressure equalization between double lenses as altitude changes occur.”

In general, there is a larger range of photochromic (Dragon, Smith, Dirty Dog, Bollé, Zeal) and polarized lenses (Smith, Sinner, Spektrum, Bollé) on offer than ever before, with Zeal making polarized “the new standard” for 2015/16, introducing the lightest of its kind with their photochromic, polarized Automatic Lens for stormy days.

TINTS & COLOURS Lens tints however have not changed much, only yellow and green lenses seem to be having a low-light-comeback with Giro and Electric, the latter offering a green bonus lens with all models. Colours for frames and bands are staying pretty similar to previous seasons too, with a little bit of everything for everyone. Bold, bright colours are staying strong by themselves (Brunotti), as colour blocks (Oakley), paired with darker shades (Shred), neons (Quiksilver and Zeal), “inline with outerwear outfits” (Roxy), “fun patterns” (Electric), “daring full frame graphics” (Smith), or “all over geometrical prints” (Sinner). Dragon contrast “organic imagery and shapes with hard-edged elements” while Spektrum, Sinner and Bollé stick to the blue side of the colour palette, Sinner have “transparent frosted” frames and Melon goggles sport matte finishes that were popular with sunglasses collections in Summer.

At the same time, colour-ways are calming down a bit too, with lots 52

of earthy, toned-down shades like army and navy from Sinner, Zeal, Gloryfy, Spektrum, VonZipper, Brunotti, and Quiksilver, some teamed up with old-school style patches (Dragon, Zeal, Quiksilver), culminating in the camouflage numbers from Oakley, Brunotti and Nike Vision.

The latter also work with “tasteful colour accents” and Smith promote “clean, understated and refined designs.” And for the first time, there is also quite a choice in monochrome and black and white styles from O’Neill, Carve, Spektrum, VonZipper, TSG, Brunotti, and Gloryfy.

Melon on the other hand leaves it up to their customers to decide on the colours used for their designated model, offering a total of 450 different combinations – per model. And in case that’s not quite enough choice yet, you can quickly change the strap thanks to their “SwitchFast strap system, allowing the user to change the look of their goggles to suit their mood.”

TECHNOLOGIES & MATERIALS Being able to adapt visual properties to surroundings is becoming more and more sought after and goggles brands are stepping up to the challenge. This includes Electric’s Press Seal Technology, Dragon’s swift lock technology, the Smith I/O quick lens change system, Quiksilver’s quick change system, the Shred NO BS™ lens replacement system, the new Magnetic Interchange Lens System with self-locating magnets from Giro and the 1-Click interchangeable lens system from Bollé.

There is also little news when it comes to new materials, besides Bern’s light weight Plus Foam, their new eco-friendly recycled material, Spy’s playmate material, that makes their products completely decomposable and Zeal’s new “proprietary foam that wicks moisture three times better, allowing us to reduce the depth of our goggles’ fit.” However there is a lot to mention when it comes to material treatments. VonZipper report three innovations at once: “the Glaricade Lens Coatings against fog and reflection, the Shinerblok internal glare deduction technique and an internal light-dampening texture inside the frame to further assist in glare reduction.” Shred implement hydro-repellent NOCLOG treatments for their vent foams, “keeping the top vent foam with its pores open so that the hot/cold air flow can reduce the temperature build up and keep the lenses free from fogging throughout the stormy days, when regular goggles usually accumulate enough snow/water that clogs all the pores and make you ride in the dark.” Dragon “armour” their vents as well, preventing “the vent foam from icing and fogging up your goggle” as does the Bollé Equalizer™ technology that delivers a “fog-free view by allowing dual direction airflow to maintain ideal air pressure and precision optics between the sealed double lens”.

The Smith Goggle AirEvac even incorporates two zones within the perimeter of the goggle, “with different porosity of foam to increase air circulation and reduce fogging.”

Looks like a bright new world out there.

HIGHLIGHTS - LENS COATINGS TO ENHANCE CONTRAST & REDUCE FOG AND GLARE - QUICK-CHANGE SYSTEMS - EARTH TONES, MONOCHROME, CAMOUFLAGE - FRAMELESS & SEMI-FRAMELESS FRAMES

preview

GOGGLES PRODUCT PREVIEW 15/16

54

bern

bern

bern

bolle

bolle

bolle

brunotti

brunotti

brunotti

carve

carve

carve

dirty dog

dirty dog

dirty dog

dragon

dragon

dragon

electric

electric

electric

giro

giro

giro

melon

melon

melon

nike

nike

nike

o’neill

o’neill

preview

56

o’neill

oakley

oakley

oakley

poc

poc

poc

quiksilver

quiksliver

quiksilver

roxy

roxy

roxy

shred

shred

shred

sinner

sinner

sinner

smith

smith

smith

spektrum

spektrum

spektrum

spy

spy

spy

tsg

tsg

tsg

von zipper

von zipper

von zipper

zeal

zeal

photo: Tom Kingsnorth

buyer science

BUYER SCIENCE Last issue’s ‘UK Snowboarding: A Thriving Market’ was sparked by a chat with The Snowboard Asylum’s Jeremy Sladen.

For this issue’s Science of Buying interview, Jez lets us know what a brand has to do to catch and keep his attention and he also tells brands how to make the most of their retail partners.

How long have you been a buyer for your store and how did you end up in this position?

I started with TSA back in 1995, before that I worked on the distribution side of the industry brand managing brands such as Sims, Nitro and Palmer for the UK. I got involved with Ellis Brigham our parent company back in the late 1980’s where I spent a lot of time with the owners trying to show them that snowboarding wasn’t just a fad and would be a good business to be in. Thankfully they agreed and committed to snowboarding. Some years later they asked me to come on board and manage the snowboard side of the business.

Which brands are doing it right at the moment?

I really think the Nidecker group brands are bang on the mark at the moment. Jones, YES, Slash, NOW and even Nidecker have really found their place and have really woken the market up. We also do great business with Bataleon. All of these brands have worked on getting organic growth over the years so we know we can commit to big numbers with them as they get their growth through their existing dealer network rather than flooding the market by opening lots of new doors.

If you could ask brands for support - what would it be for?

Staff training and incentives for shop kids. The kid on the shop floor is the key link in the chain for any brand, if they are stoked then they will push it in store. It’s pretty much the one thing that the majority of brands get wrong and it’s the main thing that will determine the success or failure of your brand.

What’s your opinion on the current state of snowboarding?

Luckily for us the UK market seems to be coming back. Last season we saw healthy growth mainly coming from an older demographic buying

high end boards, this was great news after the past three to four years of decline. Although this was great we still didn’t see much recovery in the entry-level market so this was some cause for concern going forward. Thankfully, because of the success of UK snowboarders in the Olympics combined with the peak time viewing slot and the off the scale commentary of Ed Leigh, Tim Warwood and Aimee Fuller snowboarding got a boost that even in our wildest dreams we couldn’t have foreseen.

We have seen an unprecedented take up of the sport since February, which has fully reinvigorated the entry level market.

What’s your process for finding new brands for your stores?

Finding new brands has always been a really important part of what we are about. I really concentrate on brand stories as this is what people want to buy into. It’s far easier to sell something on the shop floor if you have a story to sell and if that story is connected to legendary riders or class leading innovative technology.

Do you have any advice to upcoming brands on how to be attractive to retail buyers?

I think the most important thing brands can do is work with you as a retailer. Support your retailers that support you, do staff training, motivate the kids on the shop floor and don’t be greedy. Supplying the shop two streets away from the shop that has supported you for years is a shitty thing to do and it will always back fire.

Which tradeshows do you attend?

ISPO is really important for us for finalizing our range. The fact you can see everything together and really put it all into place makes such a difference and really makes it easier for us to put our range and orders together. I’m concerned that a lot of key brands won’t be going this year.

I think it will definitely backfire on them and will also harm the market.

59

photo: Rip Curl

trend report

WETSUITS 2015/16 TREND REPORT Even the harshest of European winters aren’t enough to put surfers off the swells that are set to come rolling in this season.

Surfing in cold water - Cold Water Surfing - has never been so popular or accessible. The black gold still seems to have some good years left in it and nothing seems to be phasing the enthusiasm of consumers who are allocating more and more budget to their winter gear at all costs. A report by Denis Houillé.

C.W.S. These three letters seem to appear in any publication with anything remotely to do with surfing in cold water. A new concept or simple marketing gimmick? One thing is for sure, looking around the top 90 surf spots in Europe, it seems like there have never been so many people in the line up whatever the season.

At O’Neill, they are enjoying a recent resurgence for “what they have been doing for over 60 years,” muses European Product Manager Joe Turnbull. Sales have never been so high and “in reality the demand has just kept increasing since we started to make products for cold water in 1952!” he adds. This rising market will have its own area at the next ISPO where brands, designers, athletes and bloggers can share ideas about the new frontiers of surfing.

It even goes beyond just surfing equipment and Tom Elyatt, Osprey Marketing Manager states that there is “a growing number of consumers who find appealing, the values and lifestyle associated with cold water surfing such as adventure, hardship, durability and functionality. ” Will surfing alone or just with your friends become a luxury? Surely

not considering the miles of European coastline still to be explored.

Like they say at ION Wetsuits “cold means nothing”. The difficulty in accessing spots and the commitment required are matched only by the technical properties of the winter products.

UNDER CONSTANT DEVELOPMENT Product innovation often starts with the base material itself. By 2016, neoprene rubber will prove even lighter, stretchier and carry improved thermal properties. The constant improvements to this foam pushes manufacturers to adapt each panel, each thickness in order to guarantee optimal final performance. Once you’ve changed one or more factors in the equation, modifications become essential to ending up with the same result. As Joe Turnbull, O’Neill European Product Manager reminds us “Panel construction, pattern making and fit checking are the dark arts of wetsuit manufacture.”

Before considering the inside of the wetsuit (see SACRED LINERS section), you must first think about the external covering, the neoprene coating in other words. Wind remains a factor that can bring about wide-ranging temperature variations on its own (wind chill).

To minimise its effects, a neoprene coating seems indispensable.

63

trend report

“There is a push for value over hype or price. (...) the buyer is savvy, they understand the product and can see through the bullshit.” Phil Bridges TIKI’s designer

Furthermore, this is where we can improve the performance of products in the years to come as Paulo Green at ONDA Wetsuits declares: “The great secret will be finding and developing more and better coatings (warmer) that are associated to less thicker rubbers, to allow the maximum performance to surfers”.

In terms of texture, we can see some unique designs (notably on the O’Neill Technobutter and the Quiksilver Shark Skin) that will minimise water absorption: being chequered on the outside and striped on the inside “adds to the depth of colour and gives a premium look when compared to other fluoro materials” explains Joe Turnbull, European Product Manager.

We can but celebrate the fact that biological neoprene has become a reality on our market and especially because the two brands behind its development (Patagonia & Yulex) have decided to put its formula at the disposal of the rest of the industry. “We aren’t keeping the recipe secret!” insists Gabriel Davies, Patagonia. Surfing and ecodesign have always been linked and after many years of testing, the first models guaranteed to not impact the planet have made their first appearance on surfshop racks. All we have to do now is wait for production volumes to increase so the prices fall and convince all markets and manufacturers about the benefits of this green rubber.

Air remains the cornerstone of insulation. Inside, the honeycomb structure of the neoprene foam traps a maximum amount of air to warm up each of its cells. But on the outside, the air of a strong wind can become thermal insulation’s worst enemy. Although warmth remains a predominant criterion in 2016’s collections (available September 2015), comfort is also just as crucial.

COMFORT While you may tend to forget, the first thing that the customer will feel before warmth, durability and the technical features of the product is comfort, particularly when trying it on. At Madness, Benoit Brecq, head of marketing, underlines that a deciding factor when purchasing a wetsuit is “how easy it is to get in and out of it in the changing room.”

Faced with the perseverance of front zips, there is a strong trend towards zipless models with asymmetric cuts that Rip Curl were the first to sell. No more risk of chafing or bruising from zips. No more salt or sand getting stuck in there, just impressive ergonomics and ease of use. Once again, the first attempt will be the decider.

To optimise a wetsuit’s fit and therefore comfort, each year designers are modifying the position and size of the various neoprene panels; by enlarging them, the stretch zones most used for paddling are increased. Not many brands have patterns made for each size and style they sell and so most manufacturers abuse their outsourcing and leave it up to their factories. That’s why it’s a good idea to trust in the neoprene pioneers.

Between the panels, the seams and silicone being used are becoming thinner to improve stretch and the product’s overall look. The magic formula of these seams (urethane/silicone) is reworked season after season for better stretch, durability and reduced weight. At ION, the Sweep cut (designed to eliminate the seam behind the shoulder) is a formidable innovation that has produced outstanding results by increasing reach in the paddling zone explains Carlo Rauen, Neoprene Product Manager.

Numerous “little details” will also be factored in to ergonomics and 64

the general comfort of the product. Starting with the openings at the wrist, ankles and neck. The crucial zones where any rubbing should be eliminated sometimes seem to be neglected but it’s right here that can act to improve ergonomics, minimise water entry and prevent any risk of abrasion or irritation. Additional jointing, different materials, reinforced seaming: all good stuff. The neckline is actually one part that O’Neill has managed to perfect over time by adjusting the height, tapering and the materials used.

“What’s the point in having a wetsuit that fits perfectly if you are cold or if it falls apart after three sessions?” asks Mark Brown from C-skins. Durability is often the price to pay for staying warm, no matter what the wind, water or air temperature. Tests carried out by the British brand in a wind tunnel bear witness to this.

SACRED LINERS While liners play an essential role in the thermal insulation of wetsuits, we are learning that it often goes far beyond that. Manufacturers are focussing all their attention on them, that’s how significant drying properties, insulation and heat reflection - all compounded by the liner - have become as purchase criteria. Incredibly gentle on the skin, often in attractive colours: this is what the consumer will see and feel first of all. And if they don’t think about this, feel free to turn the product inside out to maximise the effect.

On a technical level, the “fuzzy” texture you often find provides quicker drying when in contact with the skin and reflects and optimises the body’s heat distribution (infrared technology) while minimising heat loss. These liners are most often made from recycled polyester and sometimes complemented by a layer of aluminium like at C-Skins or merino wool at Patagonia. By patenting their respective systems, like at O’Neill with their thermal “Firewall Technobutter 2” liner, brands are protecting themselves and establishing unprecedented standards in terms of lightness, anti water-absorption and warmth without contraction.

Year after year, these internal jerseys are becoming more and more versatile so don’t be surprised to see their prevalence increase here and there on the inside of wetsuits. It also must be said that these liners, as beneficial as they are, should be treated with an antisepticas is the case at most specialists- to protect the product from bad smells and irritation for the most sensitive skin.

THEMES & COLOURS Even though explosive new colours are settling in here and there, it’s no surprise that black is still the timeless, benchmark colour of wetsuits. The red, blue and orange liners will brighten up the landscape but only once they are turned inside out…

Rip Curl are identifying three looks as Borja Torres, Rip Curl’s European Wetsuit product manager explains: “This is the 3rd generation of surfers in Europe, meaning that you need to cover three different markets”; a veteran, classic look with gentle colours, some flashy yet discreet details for the 80’s generation and an array of fluoro for the young generation.

At Alder, they say that there is not really a theme as such and that the colours used range from dark steel to bright. As for the aesthetic of Osprey products; futuristic, high-tech aspects are brought forth, with tones going from navy blue to metallic silver against the standard black background. Derevko are concentrating more on organic tones

trend report

photo: C-Skins

“We have the bio rubber technology open and available for the entire surf industry to use.

We aren’t keeping the recipe secret!” Gabriel Davies, Patagonia

(blends of brown and green) as opposed to fluoro.

Also, the personalisation or customisation of wetsuits is now on the agenda. Here we can note the efforts of designers Sen No Sen, who offer customers a choice in the colour and thickness of each neoprene panel.

More generally, as is the case on the high street, solid or blank colours are all the rage right now with an often simple, discreet detail as a contrast (stripe, cuff or branding). Quiksilver are also opting for a “low profile” look by offering a bit more eccentricity on certain models.

You can see that most brands are coming back to minimalist logos and retracting the over-flashy panels for a more retro look. An elegant, respectable sobriety in the line-up.

The mid and entry-levels also seem to have found their targets easily.

Gul, true cold water specialists, continue to equip surf schools in Scandinavia with their high performance 6mm Viper cagoule model that “strives to push the limits and invite more people to surf in cold water” affirms Mike Pickering. Madness, whose price positioning is one of the most aggressive on the market, is also proving popular with schools and the rental market.

HIGHLIGHTS LINERS: warm, comfortable, quick drying and bright colours, they will be a selling point in their own right.

Finally, the various neoprene panels must be harmonious with each other to present an elegant outline as opposed to an imbalanced outfit that exaggerates the size of certain parts of the body. We are living in a time where people are really preoccupied with their image and we have realised that technical sporting goods seem, more often that not, to follow the codes and principles of fashion.

PRICE BRACKETS Kitting yourself out with higher performance products has pretty much become an inescapable cost for regular or serious surfers.

Also, the top-of-the-range doesn’t seem to be scaring anyone off and at Alder we can see that “the demand for the most technical products continues to surpass the forecasts year after year.” We can see that over the last three years the level of higher prices has increased in relation to how technical products are. This is basically technological inflation that doesn’t seem to bother hardened consumers as Phil Bridges, designer at TIKI notes, “There is a push for value over hype or price. (...) the buyer is savvy, they understand the product and can see through the bullshit.”

66

COMFORT: comfort and ease of use while paddling and getting in and out of zipless closing is steadily gaining on the frontzip.

COLD WATER SURFING: emphasis on top-of-the-range equipment and associated clothing lines. Strong values attract new participants and open new surfing frontiers.

LOOK: A return to minimalism with discreet branding and details.

Fashion codes are followed with solid colours and balanced outlines.

BIOLOGICAL NEOPRENE or YULEX: the greatest innovation in the history of the wetsuit, which the surf industry is preparing to adopt in coming years. No compromise in terms of performance and no impact on the planet.

photo: Afends

skateboard retail

BEATING THE WINTER SKATE SLUMP The last leg of the winter season, from February to late March, traditionally marks an ‘off time’ for skateboard retail in Europe. But frosty temperatures are no reason to let retail business freeze up. Just the opposite: Off-season is the perfect time for shops to keep their scenes stoked, analyse performance metrics, perhaps even do some Spring cleaning along the way. The following five strategies will get you through the winter break. By Dirk Vogel 1. SWOT ANALYSIS: COVER ALL ANGLES The late winter lull is a good time for a thorough assessment with a SWOT analysis; short for the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in your retail operation. You can download a fourgrid SWOT matrix for free on the Web and get visibility on all four dimensions. As a rule of thumb, strengths and weaknesses are internal business factors such as your location, know-how, and reputation. Opportunities and threats are external factors beyond your control, including trends, competitors, and supplier policies. In that light, being the only core skate shop in an area is a strength, but online vendors offering better prices or choices constitute a threat. Do some soul-searching and use your SWOT profile as the starting point for planning your next moves.

2. STORE STRUCTURE: GET YOUR DECKS IN A ROW When was the last overhaul of your sales floor layout? Perhaps you identified the longboard category as an opportunity in step 1, so you decide to dedicate more floor space. You can also harness the power of contextual marketing – giving items extra strength through integration into a bigger picture. Get yourself a “gifts” section going by taking those three random old-school reissue decks, the two copies of that art book, the chicken bone curb wax, beer cooler, portable bluetooth speaker, the GoPro cameras and Nixon watches – and boom! These items gain context and identity labelled as “gifts”. Put them next to the checkout counter so mums and girlfriends find them. Also use the floor re-design to identify overstock and slow-moving items for the next step – cleaning up shop.

3. SPRING CLEANING: OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW Ask around about the single biggest challenge we are facing collectively right now, and the honest folks in our industry will tell you: too much flipping product on the market. Some brands report selling less than half of their product at full price these days. Overstock and the ongoing inventory bubble in some areas, especially softgoods, are

the main culprits – and change won’t happen over night. The only way forward is to separate dead stock into two groups: “must go”, and “sell later”. Then get the red pen out around the last weekend of February for an end-of-season sale, and consider the latest weapon in the arsenal: The Mystery Box. Assemble “blind” deal packages for fixed amounts of cash – for instance “4 tees & mystery gift = 50 euro” – and watch the element of surprise do the rest.

4. TAKE A WALK: COMPETITOR ANALYSIS Put your warm coat on and visit competitors in town – both direct, and indirect (fast fashion chains, flagship stores) – and also browse the biggest online retailers in your country. This simple exercise offers invaluable clues about how unique your store’s position and brand line-up really are. What brands and products are they pushing? How are stock levels? How many brands are identical to yours? How much of what’s on sale here is full-price at your store? If two or more of your key brands are here and on special, it’s time to make some phone calls. Perhaps a few hot new brands aren’t available in your region yet (opportunities), while others are giving extra favours to the highest bidder (threat).

5. STOKE THE SCENE: KEEP THE FLAME BURNING Skate shops are the music makers, the dreamers of dreams for their scene. Even when the streets freeze over, it’s up to you to keep enthusiasm levels blazing hot: Get an indoor mini ramp going or organize trips to the nearest indoor park. Heck, even go “crosstraining” on a snowboard trip with all the skaters. Host video premieres, art shows, skate trivia nights, or karaoke contests at the store to stay relevant. And as digital media knows no seasons, run a skate photo/video contest on Instagram or Facebook. The grand prize: One Mega Mystery Box (see 3.) And once the new product arrivals for spring start rolling in, go full blast on social media to step into the sunny season wiser, stronger, and better positioned than before.

69

preview

DETAILS, LEFT - RIGHT FROM TOP ROW: 32, 686, AIRBLASTER, BENCH, BILLABONG, BONFIRE, BRUNOTTI, BURTON, COLOURWEAR, DC, HORSEFEATHERS, LIBTECH, NORRONA, O’NEILL, PATAGONIA, PICTURE, PROTEST, HOLDEN, RIDE, TEMPLETON.

72

preview

MEN’S OUTERWEAR PREVIEW 2015/16 As soon as you start looking at the 2015/16 outerwear lines you’ll wonder how they’ve managed to make the stuff look so modern – and how the 14/15 gear that’s only a few months old is slowly fading into obsolescence. But the brightly-lit showrooms belie a darker secret; technical outerwear is a tough sell, and a significant proportion of the samples you’re looking at will never make it to a shop floor anywhere. Being just another generic outerwear brand won’t cut it anymore.

2015/16 is all about the story; something needs to bite, to stand out. The marketing needs to be reduced to a clear message to be heard above the other things clamouring for our attention nowadays. Whether it’s a focus on one market need, an overhaul of price points or the comprehensive adoption of a current trend, it feels like a new approach is being taken to the making and marketing of on-mountain wear. Read on for a redux of the most important, most influential and most ridiculous trends in our 2015/16 men’s outerwear preview. Report by Tom Wilson-North.

INSPIRATIONS The successful running, sportswear and athletics industries have affected general snowboard gear heavily, particularly the collections from Picture Organic and Nitro. Streetwear and workwear continue to trend hard, as they have since day one in snowboarding, and we noted several military details from CLWR and Ride. We also spotted some throwback Americana references from Protest and Neff.

Brand heritage plays a big part in inspiration too; Billabong’s line is a reinterpretation of their boardshorts collection, and Brunotti are inspired by founder Claudio Brunotti’s love for freeride paradise Cervinia. Meanwhile, Dakine gaze out of their windows, taking design cues from the Pacific Northwest range in their new Peter Linedeveloped collection. Patagonia and Noronna base a large part of their new collections on skitouring and splitboarding, with a focus on breathability and lightweight. The 90s show a resurgence at Airblaster, and the vintage mountaineering trend is still knocking around, seeing traction from outerwear designers at DC, Neff and CLWR. The uber-technical trend of contrasted zips and surgical tailoring is trending less next year despite its current popularity at retail, and some commentators announced the complete death of the colourblock.

Again.

KEY NEW PIECES Let’s take a look at the most important new products to get an idea of how the market is developing. Burton’s Dune Jacket is the culmination of two years working to create a unique pigment-washed GORE-TEX® fabric. “We are using this fabric in a design that is totally fresh. It is a denim style jacket, with a longer split tail and removable hood. Beyond it’s amazing aesthetics, the jacket also features our new Living Lining technology, so you are still getting all of the technical benefits needed

for total comfort”, explains Burton’s Andrew Burke. Urban Beach’s vintage Biker Jacket will be high on our Christmas list; it’s available in corduroy or denim finishes. And Horsefeathers’ Patrol jacket is a modern classic, with banging colourblocking, recycled polyester story and a 20k/20k membrane package. We also absolutely loved Light Boardcorp’s Gringo Jacket, which has a mélange fabric, 18k waterproofing, taped seams and lands at a ridiculously aggressive MSRP of ¤169. It’s about time that good quality gear didn’t need a second mortgage to buy – thanks, Light.

There’s a ton of buzz around Lib Tech’s brand new Storm Factory outerwear, which has finally started to match the quality of their board line. The line starts at 20k, every piece has a recycled story and the top end goes up to a mind-boggling 45k. It’s outerwear with function put first, with a focus on features, durability and their techy Sympatex membrane. Established Mervin artists handle the aesthetics, colours and prints.

Of course no preview would be complete without a sneak peak at market leader Picture Organic’s big new innovation. Their Eno jacket is a minimal seam, multidensity piece dreamt up to have minimal stitching for best-in-class breathability. They’ve developed a way of changing the fabric densities in the same swathe, putting higher densities in high-wear areas. The piece is made using the Dupont Active Membrane and 50% recycled polyester, so remains true to their eco-ethos.

Billabong’s Bode jacket will be a crowd pleaser; Bode Merrill’s signature piece is a 20K/20K 3L with vintage mountaineering inspiration. We are also liking Dakine’s Intruder jacket, a durable streetwear-style top designed with Louif Paradis with extra insulation for cold, late-night rail sessions. Also in pro-models, 32 celebrate 73

preview

“€169. It’s about time that good quality gear didn’t need a second mortgage to buy” Light Boardcorp’s Gringo Jacket

32

BURTON

20 years in the business with a banging boot line and 90s-styled Scott Stevens Blythe jacket. On the same theme, 686’s Forest Baily Fun Pant is old school meets new with colourblocked knees and seats.

The top end of the market remains buoyant. Sweet Protecton will show a redesigned Supernaut Gore-Tex jacket, which is more backpack-compatible and lightweight than before. Patagonia’s Reconnaissance jacket and pant combo is part of their touring line and are fully taped, fully stretch and have additional wear pads on high-use zones.

Meanwhile, Noronna’s røldal pants see a fine-tune; after seeing one of their snowboard ambassadors cutting out the Primaloft insulation for a springtime booter session, they turned it into a 3L insulation-free model with the same cut as the classic.

RIDE

VOLCOM

SWEET

686

NON-OUTERWEAR OUTERWEAR “There are so many kids who just don’t like to wear jackets anymore”, asserts Technine’s Cole Taylor. It’s true; if you sell to a freestyle clientele then you know this already. Every pro rail rider is wearing mixedmaterial fleece, outershirts or a hoody in their Vimeo part this year. Don’t miss this trend – a good place to start could be the made-in-the-UK outershirts from Mountain White, which are more tailored than usual and have Harris Tweed weather protection. McNair Shirts have made a big impression on the market, offering a merino shirt to snowboard in (3 inches longer at cuff and waist to prevent snow entry), and at the higher end of the price spectrum, have become a must-have garment for those with a bit of coin.

MIDLAYERS It’s only since they started wearing high-tech shell jackets that snowboarders realized they were actually pretty cold, so went looking for a mid-layer. In doing so we stumbled onto a market dominated by ski and mountaineering brands, all of whom were shifting lots of very crossoverfriendly product.

DAKINE

NEFF

Fortunately snowboard brands are on midlayers now, developing them into their lines and pushing things forward. “Traditional insulation, whether down or low denier synthetic, is not very breathable due to the fibre-proof materials required to keep the insulation from coming out”, says Ride’s Diane Egnatz. “We’ve engineered a face fabric that has four way stretch and works in conjunction with CloMax Move-Free stretch insulation. Combining that with our 37.5 Cocona lining, our layering jacket is one of the most breathable, stretchy, and comfortable jackets on the market – perfect for backcountry, resort or round town”.

Nitro are using a 37.5 Cocona-blended polyester yarn in their midlayers too, and Neff have added a line of inexpensive insulators designed to work with their new

NITRO

74

O’NEILL

preview

“There are so many kids who just don’t like to wear jackets anymore” Cole Taylor, Technine

QUIKSILVER

LIB TECH

first layer short, modelled after a performance basketball short. Another welcome bit of news is Burton, who revamp all their [ak] fleeces and mids with Polartec, and Rip Curl who are shipping a removable bomber midlayer with their Nils jacket.

Our advice? Make some room on the shop floor for this exciting new category, which offers easy complementary sales as well as year-round income potential.

CHIEMSEE

URBAN BEACH

PROTEST

DC

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT There is some promising new tech in outerwear. The North Face’s Steep Series jacket is engineered with award-winning FuseForm™ construction, which allows the fabric to transition seamlessly from Codura® to 2-way stretch where required. Dakine have a brand new onehanded hood drawcord system that makes it fast and easy to adjust everything while wearing gloves.

Bench are using Polygiene – an antimicrobial, antibacterial treatment which will leave you stink-free and ought to up your chances at après ski – in their linings and midlayers, and O’Neill use Schoeller® c_changeTM fabric in their Jeremy Jones line. Protest make the laudable switch to 3M™ Thinsulate™ Featherless Insulation . “We are happy to announce that we will stop the use of natural down and switch 100% to the new fill. It’s designed to closely mimic the look and performance of natural down – it’s just as lightweight, highly breathable and provides intense warmth. But it has twice the loft when wet and of course, no allergens”, says Protest’s Joffrey Delfgaauw. It’s great news for your pet duck and waterfowl worldwide, and we hope to see industry-wide adoption of this stuff for 2016/17.

Burton have upgrades to their linings too. Living Lining is a thermo regulating system that provides comfort across any activity level; the lining material, insulation, and shell membrane all work together to keep you comfortable. Finally, there’s a new fabric that Quiksilver have developed with Gore-Tex called C-Knit, and a new laminated membrane by Picture Organic called R-PET.

76

BRUNOTTI

PATAGONIA

NORRONA

BILLABONG

PRICEPOINTS & AFFORDABILITY Whilst price points have by and large remained static or dropped very slightly at the bottom end, we’ve identified a focus on affordability. Eroded market share by verticallyintegrated high street companies is definitely starting to bite at bottom lines. We already looked at the outrageous value Light offer, and we’ve also seen a price drop from Bonfire’s premium, lifetime-warranty Platinum collection.

Volcom’s prices are softening a little too. Burton are offering a ¤300 Gore-Tex called the Radial, and there’s an affordable Gore from Quiksilver which looks fantastic.

And 686’s Smarty Network jacket comes with a bonus 250g polyfill insulated liner jacket included in the price.

Remember through, that price hikes aren’t always the brand’s fault. “Internationally, currency fluctuations are

preview

“ Airblaster are very pleased with their Dinoflage camo which is exactly what it sounds like”

BONFIRE

COLOURWEAR

RIP CURL

TEMPLETON

actually the biggest factor affecting price changes. We try to soften the blow when prices are naturally increasing because of this, but the scenario is mostly out of our hands”, laments Airblaster’s Jesse Grandkoski.

GOD DAMN HIPSTERS The look of beard, work boots and flannel shirt is one you’ll encounter not just in forests and construction sites but coffee shops, snowboard shops and trendy nightclubs worldwide. Bonfire have a brilliant term for these guys – lumbersexuals – and are set up to appeal strongly them, given their deep roots in flannel-heavy PNW outdoor culture. Love it or hate it, hipster fashion is undeniably compatible with snowboard culture, although we’re not all driving refurbished Mark 1 Golfs to the mountain just yet, thankfully. But hipster fashion rubs off, be it in flannel shirts or more indirect influence such as that seen on Brunotti’s “snow hipster” Milwau jacket with mélange dark green jungle print.

COLOURS Earth tones still prevail next year, but it’s a more tone-ontone than before. Raglan inspired dark tonal colourblocking is hot – we saw loads of new combinations like burgundy with heather blue, or sand with charcoal. “We’re seeing an increased shift to more natural & classic colours”, agree Ride. “Layering different shades of the same colour looks fresh and will be a key trend going forward”.

HOLDEN

PICTURE

BENCH

HORSEFEATHERS

Horizontal panelling is pretty popular, with fewer diagonals than last year which will mean snowboarders ought to stop looking like misprinted Marlboro packets.

Heather and mélange tones are popular too, not just on first layers but on technical fleeces, jackets and pants – these type of tones notably increase a garment’s offmountain wearability.

As a counterpoint, Chiemsee are going brighter and more modern; they have a focus on different shades of blue (light, turquoise, denim and dress) combined with an intense red colour hit. Holden also add to their brights palette; soft yellow, electric indigo and emerald are a pleasing uplift to a classically muted collection, especially when combined with the neon colour pops in the detailing.

White is an eyebrow-raising trend that a few different people mentioned; CLWR have a great pure white jacket, and even Noronna, generally known for their bright acid tones are going white on their røldal line.

PRINTS CHARMING It seems like prints are set for something of a comeback; after dying a death three seasons ago, the momentum behind camo gave brands justification to experiment with more modern prints again. CLWR keep things classy with a navy and fine dot print that they found in Scandinavian fashion, and Bench use fabric texture and geometric line

LIGHT

78

ZIMTSTERN

preview

“...some commentators announced the complete death of the colourblock. Again”

prints. Nitro’s black on black reflective geometric print will be excellent for night riding, and there is a black camo and smoke olive print coming from Oakley.

686

QUIKSILVER

If your clients are still into camo, you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s going nowhere. Picture have a unique animal camo and Airblaster are very pleased with their Dinoflage camo which is exactly what it sounds like. Ride use camo on a textured ripstop fabric and Holden have a distressed English Denison camo which is minimal and classy.

Wild prints are coming back too, with Neff leading the charge with polygonal camo, a neon palm frond print and even a pancakes print. Quiksilver have created a print in partnership with music video maestro Alex Courtes, whilst labelmates DC have two great looking prints - a geometric-heavy one on their Torstein Horgmo signature collection and a fly fishing print developed with Biznut.

RIDE

BURTON

COVER UP It’s nice to see one-piece suits coming back after becoming something of a rarity last year. Holden have a pair of these, developed in partnership with boardshaper du jour Corey Smith and his brand Spring Break. They’re timeless designs made to fit and move, and ought to be popular at retail. Also worth mentioning is the nowubiquitous bib pant; Billabong’s is a 20K 3L, Ride’s is made of 37.5 by Cocona and DaKine’s has a 420 pocket on the chest bib. There’s even a model with removable speakers from, you guessed it, Technine.

CONCLUSION Well, there it is. Some cool new stuff going on but definitely a year which is more about refinement and consolidation than innovation. It’s good to see the prices dropping and the focus shifting to function. The colours look good and the prints...well, they speak for themselves.

Messages are becoming clearer and brand identities are getting stronger, which might make the outerwear game an easier one to make a buck from next year.

AIRBLASTER

VOLCOM

HIGHLIGHTS RUNNING, SPORTSWEAR AND ATHLETICS TONE-ON-TONE COLOURBLOCKING 37.5 BY COCONNA WHITE JACKETS NON-JACKET JACKETS MIDLAYERS FEATHERLESS DOWN INSULATION DC

80

NITRO

preview

DETAILS, LEFT - RIGHT FROM TOP ROW: 686, KARI TRAI, ROXY, NIKITA, NITRO, CHIEMSEE, COLOURWEAR, RIP CURL, BRUNOTTI, HORSEFEATHERS, AIRBLASTER, HOLDEN, DAKINE, BENCH, BONFIRE, BURTON, RIDE, O’NEILL, NEFF, NORTHFACE.

84

WOMEN’S OUTERWEAR PREVIEW 2015/16 There’s no secret that in our industry, shop’s buyers are predominantly guys. Sorting the women’s outerwear purchase is thus a source of sleepless nights and frequent fretting. And that’s part of the reason it’s often done so badly. It’s not that the clothes are weak or the clients aren’t there; on the contrary, women’s outerwear is designed by very switched-on girls, and bought by the same. It’s just the out-of-touch male buyer in the middle that’s the weak link. But fret no longer; our women’s outerwear trend report is here to save the day, help your buyer and, hopefully, snag you some more of that precious and hard-to-come-by commodity...margin. By Tom Wilson-North.

TREND ANALYSIS OK, let’s look at the basics. The gear you see at ISPO has been designed the previous summer, and designers working then are heavily influenced by catwalk shows and haute couture collections.

Therein, some key looks, garment styles and cuts are compatible with our scene, which arrive as outerwear trends. Next year the most visual one is the ethnic prints and patterns thing, which is an evolution of the tribal print pattern we’ve seen for the last two winter seasons.

Ride’s Inca prints in cement grey is a key pattern that works great on jackets or pants. There are Himalayan geometrics, especially in white and black, and Protest have a print inspired by Native American blankets. You’ll see these type of prints cropping up over and over again from almost everyone.

Mixed-fabric pieces are another big story; this trend hit on midlayers and fleeces at the tail end of the 14/15 product year. Whether it’s quilting mixed with fleece, or mélange with canvas, mixed materials and textures are un-ignorable next year.

We also noted a welcome return to femininity with a resurgence of tailored-fit shapes away from more common straight skinny or straight baggy. “More chic girls will wear these more feminine shapes and fabrics”, explains Brunotti’s Lonneke Mulder. “Our collection is showing a fashionable but technical look with pleats and tailoring”. Dakine’s Countour Fit is another easy-to-read example of this simple and elegant shaping trend, which is also, importantly, very form-flattering. Look out for soft-touch fabrics, thick fur and girly colours here.

Conversely, the ‘used’ look popular in men’s outerwear is porting over to women’s; Chiemsee’s combinations of waxed fabrics, allover prints and solid colours create an aesthetic which is more ‘worn in’ than vintage or distressed, almost like you picked up your gear in a thrift store on the way to the mountain.

The last strong trend is that of motorbikes, transport, road trips and old Americana – this hodgepodge mostly translates into metal zips, durable waxed fabrics and fake-leather finishes. You’ll see biker inspired looks from Bonfire and a whole capsule collection on this theme by Urban Beach called Remode. This trend is likely a spin-off of the 1990s, grungey tomboy look popular with 15-25 year old urban

girls around town; black leather jackets, Doc Martens, skinny jeans and slicked back hair.

KEY NEW PIECES The most popular pieces you’ll see in the ads and on the Instagrams over the coming months are nearly exclusively crossover; snowboard outerwear that is equally as valid when used as streetwear, and brings a street aesthetic to snow shred sessions. Picture Organic are showing a Scandinavian-inspired 10K/10K Wyoma Jacket, which has a longer and taller fit than normal, with a full technical package and a 100% streetwear look. Nikita are using a slub weave in one of their jackets and a jacquard in another, both providing a streetwear vibe, and Billabong’s Evannah jacket won’t draw any weird looks around town with thick fur, a mixed canvas fabric and a ethnic-print hood.

On the softer side, Roxy are proud of their Torah Bright Crystalized jacket, which they’re claiming is “the most beautiful jacket we have ever done. It’s super feminine and sophisticated, very lightweight and soft”, according to Global Product Manager Thomas Bourgault.

Zimtstern’s Maha is equally feminine, with soft handfeel, beautiful mélange structure and pale rosé metallic finishes. Urban Beach’s Honey Hush Parka has a gypsy floral lining and an all-over micro polka dot print, which is lifted from this season’s Scandinavian fashion – you’ll also see this print in navy and white on some of CLWR’s pieces.

Roxy also have a new skin nourishing jacket and scarf line to boast about. They have joined up with cosmetics brand, Biotherm, to create jackets and neck warmers infused with a formula that protects the face and neck from the cold while nourishing the skin.

But it’s not just townies and princesses that you’ll encounter on the mountain next year. Classic snowboard outerwear designed for the hill has never looked better. Kari Traa’s Acro Jacket is a techy piece with a classic snowboard cut, 3L fabric and a cunning ventilation system. Over at Nikita, founder Heida Birgisdottir’s signature Sif jacket features a unique watercolour ‘Expressionist’ print with a classic loose fit and satin lining, wrapped up in a 15K/10K package.

686’s best-selling Runway Jacket – with faux-fur hood and mixed insulation package – is back for another year with an extended range of colourways. There’s a new freeride-friendly 3L shell from Picture 85

preview

“3M Featherless Down is the biggest and best news...we’re assuming it doesn’t smell of a poultry farm after a few seasons either”

called the Xena, and Bonfire’s Frances jacket is their top end piece with full mechanical stretch and all the technical trimmings.

NORRONA

RIP CURL

686

AIRBLASTER

PROTEST

CHIEMSEE

Meanwhile, CLWR have the first signature style in their women’s line, by Austrian teamrider Christine “Isy” Szumovski. Another eye-catching, rider-driven piece is Rip Curl’s Ultimate Gum W Search Suit onesie. “The impact of our Men Search Suit on the market was successful and the demand for the girl version grew.

Then, here is the sexy, girl version of a Rip Curl One piece outerwear! Performance, comfy and sexy…”, exclaims their product manager Christophe.

Technical is all well and good, but at the entry level and the mid-range, there’s an active market with emphasis on packing in value. Bench’s 10K/10K Abiding jacket has great canvas fabric and plenty of tech, and Burton’s opening Jet Set jacket gets a full rework with metal trim, embossed liner and salvaged denim taping.

PARKAS AND THE REST In jackets, parkas are still undeniably the most popular look. The longer, ergonomic cuts, oversized hood and dropped, split or fish tail are bang on trend and deserve to be somewhere in your women’s buy, if not a major part of it. Ride’s new Madison Jacket has Aquapel DWR on the face-fabric, diamond quilting, and double needle stitching, while the removable fur hood allows you to rock an even more ‘streety’ look. Neff are investing heavily in their women’s line, doubling the SKU count of the range.

Of those the Nicole jacket is our favourite; it’s a clean, performance parka for the ripper who just happens to be a girl. And Volcom have extended their longer cuts to their Gore-Tex line, which means no more having to buy a size up just to get that longer look.

Protest’s Emily parka works well here too; the all-over print looks nice, as does the one on Horsefeathers’ Julia parka, which boasts visible Metaluxe YKK zippers and printed neoprene cuffs. The hood and back of this jacket are lined with polyester teddy knit – it’s warmer than a regular lining, breathable and quick drying.

NITRO

O’NEILL

Elsewhere, we saw cagoule style pullovers and snood-style necklines from Bench, and drape-style hangs from Burton with open armholes. The open-armhole thing is a trend we can’t quite place but are into; Chiemsee’s open-arm down jacket looks clean and modern. A final trend to keep an eye on in jackets is the layered look, as seen from Aussie women’s brand Rojo. They’re using different textures across one piece to create depth of field and interest.

NEW PANT CUTS No pant is worth buying if it is unstructured and unflattering; luckily, brands are all-too-aware of the importance of this. We loved Holden’s new Tailored fit, which is bit more straight through the hip and has a slight taper toward the pant bottom. Regular low-crotch,

RIDE

86

BILLABONG

preview

“But it’s not just townies and princesses that you’ll encounter on the mountain next year. Classic snowboard outerwear designed for the mountains has never looked better ”.

KARI TRAI

BENCH

structured-loose snowboard fits appear from everybody, and we were surprised to see an increase in popularity of the super skinny softshell. Rojo’s Secret Agent Pant is a 10K/10K example and ought to have good traction at retail, even if they aren’t an immediately obvious outerwear choice for most clients.

FRESH TECHNICAL STORIES The 4-way mechanical stretch story has been done to death and now you’ll often see customers checking the stretch properties of a piece along with the handfeel, before they decide if it’s worth trying on. It’s the snowboard retail equivalent of a quick tyre-kick on a second-hand car. For next year, focus in innovation has shifted away from stretch to the equally important fields of garment insulation and membranes.

URBAN BEACH

SWEET

As in men’s outerwear, 3M Featherless Down is the biggest and best news. The tech is seeing use from Bench, Roxy, Protest and others. This futuristic material is a synthetic alternative to feathers, offering the same warmth, better damp performance and no weird allergens.

It’s fully breathable and, of course, animal-friendly. We’re assuming it doesn’t smell of a poultry farm after a few seasons either.

In membranes, Oakley launch a new tech called FN Dry, available as a 10K or 15K version. Picture are very happy with equally acronymic but also eco-friendly R-PET recyclable membrane, which runs to nearly half a million holes per square inch.

DAKINE

NORTHFACE

The Coconna story keeps on truckin’ with broad crossbrand uptake of their super-soft and quick-drying 37.5 material. Rip Curl have popped it into their base layer onepiece, and Nitro’s Pioneers collection uses stretch 37.5 in almost everything for a full skin-to-surface, uberbreathable experience. Meanwhile, Ride’s Vine jacket, beloved of pro-rider Hana Beaman, has unique neck gusseting, updated cuff closures and integrates a thick wodge of 37.5.

BRUNOTTI

ROXY

KEEPING WARM Keeping female riders warm is something of a priority for outerwear designers; it’s no secret that girls feel the cold more than guys. Neff’s Mallory jacket is their first-ever women’s puffy, with a flattering fit and synthetic down, promising serious warmth. Three-in-one jackets are still out there too and a good choice for colder climes; Billabong’s Helen Schettini pro model ships with a black and cherry light nylon down inner with detachable sleeves.

It’s in the linings that the warmth really happens though.

Oakley’s Hemocks Gore-Tex uses their proprietary Biozone stretch panel insulation, whereas Burton’s brand new Living Lining tech promises to keeps riders comfortable during any activity, be it splitting up to shredding down to waiting for the ski-bus.

NEFF

88

BURTON

preview

Noronna’s new Lyngen Alpha line deserves a shout here too. They’ve made an insulator vest and three-quarter zipoff pant midlayer for extra cold days. Whilst breathable, the focus is definitely on heat – in fact, you’ll be so toasty that you’ll want to keep them on long after you get off the hill.

HORSEFEATHERS

COLOURWEAR

BONFIRE

NIKITA

COLOURS Next year’s technical and mountain-orientated jackets continue to use bold, bright and striking colour palettes.

Zimtstern have Atoll, Tangerine, Pink and Sulphur; from Urban Beach there’s bright Neon Yellow and Deep Electric Red on their Sava jacket; whereas Ride go down the route of flashy monochromes. “Monochrome and monochrome with just one statement colour are important women’s trends. We love our colour palette this year with Raspberry adding some femininity, Melon providing a bright pop, and shades of green or blue layering together for a fresh look”, explains Category Manager Diane Egnatz.

Urban and crossover jackets are naturally a little more subdued for maximum wearability. CLWR have a delicious earthy Clay colour, which goes well with other earth tones, and Horsefeathers use Deep Blue, Red and Grape on their crossover pieces. Brunotti have a refreshing natural palette for theirs, which can be woken up a bit more when combined with colourblock pants on the mountain.

Prints for girls remain popular too. Roxy integrate prints into colour blocks and on their jacquard draw cords, and Neff have some true-to-form banging florals and tie-dies.

The monogramming trend is one we saw dotted around, and Dakine have a sumptuous floral camo called Ripley.

PICTURE

VOLCOM

HOLDEN

ZIMTSTERN

You’ll see plenty of blue next year and it’s an important colour trend. Layering different shades of blue is very much a focus and done particularly well at Chiemsee, who offer Blue Palace with Limoges Vintage Denim. Bench are lighter, offering Pastel Blue and Vapour Blue. Blues look good with white too, creating an evolution of last year’s nautical sub trend.

CONCLUSION There it is. There’s a lot going on in women’s outerwear, with styling cues obviously drawn heavily from the worlds of high fashion. The parka jacket and tailored pant look requires an investment, but make sure that there are some classic structured-baggy snow pants in there to appeal to fuller figures as well as taller girls who don’t want to look too stork-y. Don’t be afraid to experiment with louder colours, stick with the brands that work best for you and who knows...the women’s outerwear buy might not turn out to be such a scary process after all.

HIGHLIGHTS ETHNIC PRINTS MIXED FABRIC PIECES THE RETURN OF SOFTER, FEMININE LOOKS 3M FEATHERLESS DOWN CROSSOVER, “WEAR-ANYWHERE” SNOWBOARD JACKETS BONFIRE

90

BURTON

BLUES, BLUES AND BLUES!

interview

NIKITAVIEW

The saying that “the only constant in life is change” could not be more true in our ever evolving business and the challenging surrounding circumstances. And seasoned veterans as they are, Nikita are adjusting their canvases to sail with the winds of change. We caught up with Vicki Vasil, Susanne Kinast and Stephie ter Hürne to find out what they’ve set their compass for and where the journey will lead them. Interview by Anna Langer.

Nikita was founded back in the days when there wasn’t much choice for the female boardsports enthusiasts out there and is a brand rooted in “Girls Who Ride”. So, where is the brand headed today?

Stephie: Interviewee name: The girls from those days have evolved.

Some have “grown up”, and of course we are always getting new customers as well. While we still offer a dynamic collection for boardsport enthusiastic girls, since our roots and our hearts are always in snow, our girl is multi-active and we have expanded our line to support these activities, with branded fabric technologies and a design that transitions activewear from the studio to the street.

Our customer has also become more fashion-savvy and trendconscious. Their preferences are reflected in elevated fabrics, prints and colours. But we will always stay true to our DNA and signature

silhouettes that make us unique. As it has always been, whatever the Nikita girls/women do and wherever they are, our wish is to always inspire and celebrate their spirit, their dreams, achievements, and to reflect them in the line.

In the economic crisis and the subsequent difficult times for the boardsports business, girls collections and budgets were cut a lot and often before anything else. How do you see that as an all-female brand?

Susanne: Interviewee name: Our focus has been to provide top quality design and marketing to maintain a unique presence in our existing retail locations. While some brands struggle to provide a story, we have always put forth a strong and unique design perspective that is unmatched by competitors. And contrary to previous years, in the last few years we are

“While some brands struggle to provide a story, we have always put forth a strong and unique design perspective that is unmatched by competitors”

92

“While we still offer a dynamic collection for boardsport enthusiastic girls, since our roots and our hearts are always in snow, our girl is multi-active and we have expanded our line to support these activities, with branded fabric technologies and a design that transitions activewear from the studio to the street”

excited to see a ton of attention and budgets put towards women’s lines and the birth of women’s exclusive lines all over the world. To us it’s an advantage that the action, active and young contemporary markets are recharging and marketing to our consumer. The challenge we are excited to meet is to have her continue to choose Nikita.

One of the reasons given for reducing girls collections and budgets is that they don’t buy brands but instead buy cheap from high street chain stores instead. Would you agree?

Susanne: Today girls are not only blurring the lines between streetwear and activewear to create their very own look and style, and varying their vibe rather than pigeonholing themselves as one ‘type’ of girl or another, they are curating a blended wardrobe that includes key pieces from favourite higher end brands with complementary pieces and basics from fast fashion brands. We cannot and will not compete with fast fashion, but will continue to provide unique key pieces that will last beyond a season and hold a special place in our customer’s wardrobe.

Through the last couple of collections, the lean towards fashion seemed to become stronger and stronger, namely in the Nikita Selekzion collection. Are female athletes becoming more fashion oriented or is it more of a general development as mentioned above?

Stephie: The Nikita Selekzion collection was an exciting venture into elevated fashion, and while we don’t offer that line anymore, our streetwear aesthetic has grown in a similar vein - it evolved in the same direction as our customers did. We think of it as a journey from ‘streetwear’ into ‘street fashion’. By keeping the focus on our customer we have found ourselves designing for a diverse and exciting group of similarly motivated, spirited, creative, and entrepreneurial women worldwide. And because each girl wears many hats and dress in many different styles, the line has become more integrated to complement that. On the snow and active side of things, we saw the need to expand this offering because our girl doesn’t just snowboard, skate and surf – she participates in a variety of activities that changes day to day.

How important are the athletes and team riders to the Nikita brand?

Vicki: Our ambassadors—we call them Nikita Nation—are a cross section of the diverse girls and women who embrace and embody the Nikita brand worldwide. Many of them are snowboarders and all of them ride, but they are also artists, writers, musicians and athletes beyond the mountain and they wear all elements of our collection throughout their daily lives. Most importantly they provide the constant and evolving source of inspiration and for our brand and designs.

What plans do you have for the Nikita brand in the long run?

Vicki: In the long run we want the brand to reach all the fearless, independent and collaborative girls and women out there. Since the genesis of our for-women, by-women brand, Nikita has always been authentic, and throughout the brand journey these past few years, we have evolved the collection alongside our consumer. Ultimately we want to be a top of mind lifestyle brand for a diverse community of these strong, creative women.

Are there any new markets you’re planning on entering or is the concept more about solidifying the shares you already have?

Susanne: We definitely want to solidify the shares we already have and we do see great growth opportunities in there. But entering new channels is a goal as well. While we have a strong brand identity within the action sports community we continue to drive brand awareness in the young contemporary and active channels to reach our consumer who shops at all of these types of retail outfits.

How has the structural set up of the brand and its operation changed over the years and in recent times?

Vicki: In the last few years the brand has been incorporated into the Amer Sports Group and its matrix structure, while maintaining an independent design centre in the US. Most of the sales reps, especially in Europe, have worked with Nikita for a long time, and our design team is still led by founder Heida Birgisdottir, who is supported by long-time design partner David Young, in Iceland. The Amer structure has brought tons of resources, guidance and design and design synergies to the table, and has expanded and strengthened our sales structure.

How is Nikita sharing Amer assets/resources with Bonfire and Salomon?

Vicki: Nikita’s global headquarters is shared with both Bonfire Outerwear and Salomon Snowboards in Portland, Oregon, which is a creative, collaborative and exciting environment. We are able to take advantage of the strong resources, decades of experience within our management team, and relationships that Amer has with factories all over the world. We worked with Salomon Snowboards, a global leader in snowboard hardgoods technology, to develop our Nikita boards, boots and bindings.

For all of EMEA, Susanne works as Commercial Manager for Bonfire and Nikita, while Stephie is responsible for the marketing of all three brands throughout the entire region. Both share their office with Thorsten Schlossbauer, the new EMEA RCM Salomon Snowboards.

Please run thorough the management structure globally and in Europe.

Portland HQ: VP of Nikita and Bonfire: Frank Aeschbacher Operations and Development: Scott Spencer Brand Management: Vicki Vasil Product Line Management: Jen Irick and Misti Larkin Global Ecommerce: Bryan Klavitter EMEA Brand Marketing: Stephanie ter Huerne EMEA Commercial Manager: Susanne Kinast Iceland Head of Design: Heida Birgisdottir US Sales Manager: Kristen Archdeacon Canadian Sales Manager: Chris Nicholls Check out the new range on www.nikitaclothing.com

“We cannot and will not compete with fast fashion, but will continue to provide unique key pieces that will last beyond a season and hold a special place in our customer’s wardrobe”

93

photo: Slytech

market analysis

SNOWBOARD RENTAL IS THE NEW BLACK Despite several million tourists venturing to the mountains every year to spend holidays in the snow, many of which are weekend warriors looking for a good time, the rental market is still quite a taboo in the snowboard industry. A vital necessity to keep the cool core image of snowboarding or antiquated artefact from ancient times where we had to fight off the dark side with their double sticks? Anna Langer investigates.

If you want to make yourself unpopular in the core scene of snowboarding, ask about rental boards. With a history based on exclusion from resorts, going against the mainstream and fighting for legitimacy, it’s understandable that snowboarders haven’t been too keen on “outsiders” entering their bastion and someone who doesn’t even possess their own shred stick can’t be very “core” now, can they? Only that circumstances have changed tremendously since the beginnings – not only the environment but also the customers themselves. With varying conditions and increasing prices, renting a board for a week every year can be much more economical than buying a new stick every couple years without getting to ride it much.

Especially with new innovations and technologies mesmerizing us every season.

Brands are feeling this shift too. “Initially, we took a very cautious approach to the rental business. It used to be the sort of thing a ski or multi-sport brand would be involved with, not an authentic snowboard brand like Nitro,” says Team and Marketing Manager Andi Auerhammer, “many authentic snowboard brands used to feel that rental is not something they wanted to be involved with. They were protective of their cool image and didn‘t want to be associated with products that were clearly NOT cool.” Max Thurner, Marketing Manager at Head Snowboards, attributes that to a certain uniformity in the industry: “The core scene is quite closed and engaged within itself, with not too much room for things considered not to be cool, like renting.” He thinks this is also accountable for the challenges the sport

is facing currently. “This attitude has led to an ageing of the sport, by not caring about how to invite new customers or the promotion of descendants.” In fact rental is the perfect way to attract newcomers: “Burton is committed to push access and participation in the sport of snowboarding and rental is one way to address that. We have invented extensive learn-to-ride programs for youth, women, and men and built a product range and marketing program around that.”

But times are changing, and customers’ behaviour is as well, Salomon’s Marketing Manager David Pitschi noticed. “It is not as frowned upon to ride on rental products. The costs of buying equipment are high and weigh the budget down. Plus with the increasing cost of overweight in airplanes it has become a lot more efficient to rent boards during holidays. The products have evolved too, there is some very good gear available to rent that will fulfil consumers’ expectations.” This also means that it’s “not only beginners anymore, also intermediate riders rent equipment,” says Max, “as they now have access to renting better product. This offer also makes travelling easier – no need to carry your gear anymore.”

Another factor are conditions, with snow coming later every season.

“A lot of buyers rather rent if they feel the winter season will be short for them. If the winter starts early, people tend to buy more new products early in the season,” explains Andi. By now, Nitro established their own version of a successful rental program, “and the numbers are steadily growing every year.”

95

market analysis

“ We often get requests for certain boards according to the client’s preferences. They like to try out new cambers and technologies and often rent different boards throughout their stay, resulting in a purchase at the end.” Corinne ‘Cozza’ Mayhew, Tignes Spirit Shop.

BOARDS No wonder, as rental locations all over Europe report increased demands for specific product from educated customers. Boris Keskinovic from the Intersport Shop and Rental on the Stubai Glacier mentions Nitro as one of their top brands and notices a lot of customers specifically asking for certain brands and big names.

His colleague Luggi from the branch in Fiss Ladis on the other hand reports the opposite: “At our place, smaller insider brands are more in demand, like GoodBoards or Amplid.” This is also trending in France, where Corinne ‘Cozza’ Mayhew from Tignes Spirit finds that “most people love the smaller, independent, rider-owned brands so we have a lot of requests for our Endeavor and Signal boards.” Apart from names and comfort such as step-in or easy-entry for bindings, the main factor for consumers to pick their gear continues to be the conditions they’ll be riding it in. “There is only demand for powder boards when there actually is powder,” says Luggi, although their clients are “more slopes and park oriented.” Tignes Spirit even offer split boards and backcountry hiking gear, which is “very popular all winter, especially in the Spring and we supply skins and telescopic poles to go with them,” Cozza tells us.

At the same time, rental customers are eager to try out new technologies and innovations instead of buying the cat in the bag.

Through their website, Tignes Spirit “often get requests for certain boards according to the client’s preferences. They like to try out new cambers and technologies and often rent different boards throughout their stay, resulting in a purchase at the end.” Brands addressing this by offering high-end models next to entry levels for rental could tap into a great new channel to gain new supporters and fans. “We feel that the consumer is more demanding in the product he seeks to rent, regardless of their age. Consumers expect to be able to rent the best product and not only the low end range,” David agrees and Max says it’s vital to assure that a “rental customer has the best time possible, to make him a returning customer. This means the product handed to him has to have the best fit possible, is set up in the best way possible, looks nice (as no one wants to look like a renter) and is easy to use.”

Nitro also definitely feel the shift towards “higher end and ‘cooler’ rental products. However,” Andi says, “sometimes the hurdle are rental operations trying to ‘milk’ their old stuff as long as they can, instead of getting ahead of the game by investing in some more updated equipment.”

Hence it’s important to address the factors that are vital to the success of a rental operation, such as ease and speed of changing. “Time is 96

money for a rental shop. Each minute they can save setting up during rush hours helps them getting more sets out of the door. This is why we have developed our colour-coded size matching between boots and bindings as well as our quick setup disc system,” explains Andi.

And it’s also vital for customers who purchased an expensive ski pass.

“Simple size identification and easy adjustment and handling are key for both dealers and consumers to make it a quick and easy game for first-time riders,” Burton adds. At the same time, rental equipment has to be tough and durable, without looking like it, making rubber tips a thing of the past. “We are offering protectors as an aftermarket option, but almost nobody wants them anymore,” says Andi and David agrees that “consumers don’t want to have RENTAL screaming at their peers when riding,” although they do still reinforce tip and tail for more durability – just invisibly.

BOOTS & BINDINGS While the majority of customers rent sets, boards and bindings are also available for separate rent. “There are always some who are convinced they can’t ride anymore if they don’t have their own set of bindings,” Luggi from Fiss Ladis laughs, “but that’s not a problem for us!” Occasionally, they even have requests for hardboots and respective bindings.

The ratio for boots on the other hand is almost 1:1. “We have a similar number of boards to boots. We stock quite a range of different flexes and tightening systems, so that each client can pick something that fits them best,” Corinne reports from Tignes and Boris confirms his ratio in the Stubai Valley. Luggi adds that “hygiene is becoming more important these days, boots that aren’t properly sanitized aren’t received very well”. Same goes for protection, which is increasingly demanded but also poses challenges. “Helmet rentals is challenging for operations, as they are bulky to store and need to be sanitized constantly. So we developed a special system with our partner Montana, which makes storing, renting, and sanitizing helmets a walk in the park,” explains Max and Burton work with the same partner for their “boots and helmets to be dried and hygienically treated.”

OUTLOOK The attitude towards the rental business is changing on both sides, customers and brands alike. “It is a serious part of the business and it is addressed that way,” says David and Max adds, that “the rental market is considered to represent 30% of the market.” Quite a chunk that should not be left barren out of pride or prejudice.

brand profile

JIMMY’Z BRAND PROFILE 30 years ago a surfer and painter named Jim Ganzer created a clothing line called JIMMY’Z, which he sold out the back of his old station wagon. The brand was re-launched back at the end of 2011, and new Managing Director, Blake Harrington has talked us through this brand steeped in history.

Please give an overview on how and why the company began?

JIMMY’Z is a success story with roots planted in Southern California’s Malibu Beach.

It began in 1984 when an acknowledged sculptor and painter/surfer by the name of Jim Ganzer created an idea to build a surf/skate/art and humour oriented line of sportswear. The concept came about while contemplating the pants of his baseball uniform; an adjustable short that opened from a side closure attached by Velcro. Eventually this concept shaped the way surfers and skaters in the local area wore clothing in the 1980s. He called his new invention JIMMY’Z. This combination of surf culture and artistic pursuits is what was at the heart of JIMMY’Z when Jimmy started selling shorts out of the back of his Ford “Woody” station wagon to surfers and skaters on the beaches of Malibu and streets of Los Angeles.

What is the company ethos?

Surf. Skate. Relate. This was the original slogan or ‘ethos’ of the JIMMY’Z tribe back in the day… and it remains the same. Whether it’s dawn patrol at Topanga State Beach, or an afternoon session at the Venice skatepark, the JIMMY’Z team loves to be moving, skating, surfing, and traveling. Incorporating the ‘relate’ part by using art, music, photography, and other creative means usually by collaborating with like-minded people and companies inside or outside the action sports industry is what we do best.

What sets you apart from your competitors?

Having such a great history and backstory really separates us from the newer and more ‘modern’ skate and surf companies coming up today. We have passion in what we do and we live the lifestyle we sell. The support we get from guys like Steve Caballero, Dave Hackett, Mike McGill, and lots of other original skaters from back in the day really drives us to become a significant company again. Plus we’re privately held – and that helps with the decision making process.

Could you tell us about the way in which you use local resources in your products?

When we re-launched JIMMY’Z in late 2011, we thought it was very important to manufacture the products in L.A, being from L.A. Not only that, but we wanted to actually re-trace Jimmy’s steps and find out how he manufactured the original products from the get-go. We continue to produce the t-shirts and key knit/jersey products in L.A., but recently started sourcing in Portugal and printing close to our European Headquarters in the UK. What do you find important about the European market?

Europe is interesting for us in that we find JIMMY’Z has more legs than back home in the USA. It’s funny how that works. Take Carhartt for example, a relevant fashion brand in Europe, where back in the States it’s a proper work wear brand sold at Home Depot

BRAND NAME: JIMMY Z

to farmer John. It goes to show it’s all about perception and how important a brand’s image is to the consumer.

How do you support athletes and boardsports?

We are big on sponsorship - whether it’s athletes or competitions and events. Having some of the old school guys behind the brand (i.e. Steve Caballero, Eddie Elguera, and Mike McGill) really legitimizes what we’re doing.

Also sponsoring the young up-and-coming skaters is cool because it’s a whole new generation entering the scene and learning about the history of skateboarding and the significance of JIMMY’Z back in the day. We really like to give back to our riders and have the whole team involved in many aspects of the business from product development to social media and web management (thanks Tony Gale!).

What do you see for the future of the industry?

Right now it’s looking up, but it’s important to stay relevant and be different. We have an advantage with such a historical background that can’t be taken away from us. Capitalizing on this and educating the consumer is the one challenge we face.

Most of the kids these days don’t really know, so it’s our hope to educate them and let them know the history of our industry and the relevance of JIMMY’Z.

EMAIL: BLAKE@JIMMYZWORLD.COM WEB: WWW.JIMMYZWORLD.COM 99

brand profile

AFENDS BRAND PROFILE Afends are an Australian apparel company, started by two mates back in 2006. Now a highly respected brand across Europe, thanks to their expressive designs and reputation for being ‘true to their roots’, Afends have done it the right way and even still employ old friends. Read on for more insights into this intriguing world of Afends.

Please give an overview on how and why the company began?

The company began as a small side project in early 2006. At the time Deco (Declan Wise – co owner ) and I were living in the mezzanine above our screen printing business on the Byron Bay Industrial estate. We printed band merch for punk and hardcore bands, but the main goal was always to start a clothing line. After a year of designing graphics for the Afends brand we put together a range of t-shirts, hats and a few jumpers and piled into an old Toyota van. We drove up and down the coast visiting the coolest retailers we thought would like the brand. Somehow we ended up with a bunch of orders. Since then it’s been a roller coaster of trial and error while we enjoy learning how to run a fashion label. Story cut super short Google us for more info.

Who is on the management team, and what are their backgrounds?

We have: Declan Wise CEO - Co founder, Screen Printer by trade. Jonathan Salfield Director - Co founder, Graphic Designer by trade. Ryan Grey (National Sales Manager AUS) Ryan was one of the founders of Rythmn along with his dad and brothers.

They sold the brand a few years back. Sam and Beckie Nolan (men’s and women’s designers) check out the recent interview on stabmag. Heath Mawson (Global Marketing Manager) – Heath came from Modular Records, where he was looking after acts like: Tame and Parlor, Presets, and many

various other musicians and bands.

We have 22 full time employees in the Australian office plus around 60 others including distributors, reps, staff in flagship stores etc. We still employ a lot of our friends we grew up with.

What is Afends’ Mission Statement?

Afends is a company devoted to fashion and lifestyle. Our mission is to combine quality and style in every product we make. Afends promotes a free-living lifestyle by expressing ourselves through art, music and the spiritual side of the activities we love. Our motto is “Question Everything” which isn’t about us educating you; it’s about you educating yourself.

What are your views on the blurring line between streetwear and surf apparel?

I think if you’re talking core street brands and core surf brands for example comparing Billabong to say Zanerobe there is a big difference. But I feel that the blurry lines are now the stores and websites that sell the brands, as you can generally buy street and surfwear brands both both your local surf store or on say, asos.com What’s your stance on two versus four seasons?

We have actually been producing four seasons for the last five years. We introduced the second winter season as we needed fresh product for our online and flagship stores.

Way better system!

BRAND NAME: : AFENDS

Could you tell us about the way in which you use local resources in your products?

We do make limited production tee shirt graphics. More importantly we are trying to source companies who have a similar outlook on life to us. Our tee shirt maker has this program where they help educate every child of the workers in the factory from pre-school to uni. For us it is about trying to ensure the supply chain makes us feel good.

What do you find important about the European market?

It’s always been difficult for Australian brands to put together a decent winter range that you could actually wear in cold climates. Since we have been introduced to the European market it has really help us step up our game in creating extremely well designed and manufactured jackets and fleece. So it’s extremely important to make products that fit in to the market.

What do you see for the future of the industry?

The industry is quite broad, there are now multiple layers to the “industry”. Surf is getting super mainstream now with huge dollars thrown at it with the new WSL being introduced. Street is starting to become more contemporary with brands like Zanerobe starting new trends and influencing a lot of the older brands. But in general the future sits with the past for trends as it all repeats itself eventually.

EMAIL: JONO@AFENDS.COM WEB: WWW.AFENDS.COM 101

brand profile

PALLY’HI BRAND PROFILE Pally’Hi is a merino base layer company, created by ex-professional snowboarder and Amplid Snowboards founder Peter Bauer. Peter discovered merino back in 1990 when on a team trip to NZ and he now presents Pally’Hi to the market – a base layer brand with contemporary styling.

Please tell us the connection with Peter Bauer and Amplid with Pally’Hi. I travelled to NZ for filming with the Burton Team in 1990. There I bought a merino wool shirt, long before merino was a ‘thing’ in Europe. It worked well, I rode hard that trip and hiked a lot and it never stunk. I’ve been “merino-faithful” ever since, but for some reason I haven’t liked what’s available on the market.

Who is on the management team, and what are their backgrounds?

If people know me, it’s either because of Amplid or my snowboarding background, but I’ve had extensive involvement with apparel too: Starting with Chiemsee, later Matador and then working on the ACG program at Nike.

At the start of the season Gregor Common joined Pally’Hi and Amplid as head of sales.

Gregor’s work with Arbor’s bamboo clothing has given him a ton of experience working with a sustainable apparel brand. Rich Ewbank is taking care of marketing at Amplid and Pally’Hi. What sets you apart from your competitors?

Pally’Hi is for snowboarders and skiers, surfers and skateboarders, bikers and hikers, or simply anyone who likes the clothing and knows the benefits of wearing Merino. Life is an adventure, but not everybody wants to wear performance clothing that makes them look like part of an Everest expedition.

Pally’Hi uses the highest quality Merino wool in its performance driven, style focused clothing. The result is lightweight, warm, breathable, anti-bacterial and odour resistant apparel, perfect for wearing during sport.

Pally’Hi only buys wool from Australian

mulesing-free suppliers that carry the A.W.T.A. certification. Our first layers are made from a wool fabric, which uses the finest 17.5 micron fibre diameter; they’re incredibly soft and comfortable.

Tell us more about the wonder that is merino?

The Merino Sheep is one of the oldest breeds of sheep in the world. It was discovered in the Atlas Mountains by the Irish and later exported to Australia and New Zealand.

The sheep’s wool fibres are very fine so air is caught between them. This trapped air insulates the sheep against extreme heat and cold. The fibre surface is very rough on a microscopic level, when compared to synthetics. This rough surface makes life hard for bacteria, which is how it’s able to remain naturally odour free.

What do you find important about the European market?

In the Northern Alps, the little part of Europe that Pally’Hi calls home, people have an outdoor lifestyle; they enjoy the snow in the winter and then hike, bike and climb in the summer. People participating in these sports understand that comfort goes handin-hand with wearing technical apparel that manages its wearer’s temperature and wicks away perspiration. We have a ready market for Pally’Hi in and around the Alps, in Scandinavia and the Pyrenees where people already understand merino and its value.

How do you support athletes and boardsports?

We took the decision to work with

ambassadors rather than professional athletes. We’re building a collective of people with lots of different interests, from ice climbing to surf travel, who provide images and stories about their adventures. We feel this is the content that Pally’Hi’s target customer will engage with and relate to.

Why should retailers sell your brand?

We believe there is a market for merino in everyday-life, which is why Pally’Hi clothing isn’t about the ‘base-camp’ look. The appeal is that Pally’Hi combines maximum outdoor function with contemporary, urban styling. The collection features a lot of ‘basics’ which can carry over into the following season – meaning no discounting and no reduced margins.

What do you see for the future of your company?

Our real drive over the next three years will be to grow our retailer base and open new countries where Pally’Hi doesn’t currently have a presence. In addition to growing Pally’Hi’s footprint, I’m also planning to broaden the collection, but it will remain basic with clean styling and nice attention to detail.

What do you see for the future of the industry?

The boundary between the boardsports and outdoor apparel markets is diminishing and I see brands with the right positioning being able to take advantage of this. Poler Stuff is a great example of a brand adapting boardsports styling for the broader outdoor market. Brands that can create technical clothing with a streetwear look will dominate the next five years.

BRAND NAME: PALLY’HI WEB: WWW.PALLYHI.COM 103

brand profile

AIRBOARD BRAND PROFILE Swiss brand Airboard is bringing innovation to the European action sports industry. Launching snow-bodyboarding as the new winter sport, Airboard’s inflatable sledges have found a rapid fan-base across European, Japan and US resorts.

The company also produces inflatable SUP’s that are known for their high-end double layer construction. We spoke to Joe Steiner to get the full story.

Please give a brief history of how and why the company began?

Airboard is a registered brand originating in Switzerland, and stands for high-end inflatable sport products engineered by Swiss designer Joe Steiner. Airboard launched snowbodyboarding as a new winter sport in Europe in 2001, but it quickly found its way to Japan and the US. The snow-bodyboard has gone on to be a finalist for Brand New at ISPO and was even nominated for the U.S BOWN (Best Of What’s New). In 2009 Airboard presented an inflatable Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP). The shape was shorter, thicker and not competing at all with the surf style SUPs that came from the US. As a Swiss company without any ocean shores, we thought about Europe and designed i-SUPs to perform on rivers and lakes.

Who’s on the management team and what are their backgrounds?

I am the company’s CEO with a business background in logistics. I am a Certified EQM (European Quality Manager), and have been studying inflatable technologies since 1985. I founded the company Fun-Care AG in 2001. Erich Ammann is the company’s CFO with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Business administration. Erich is a Swiss Certified Accountant and is also the Founder and owner of Amman Partner Accountant Office in Zug Switzerland What is the ethos of the brand?

Function, quality and style. That’s the order we follow with all Airboard products. It is the main

driver behind our developments and makes for a satisfied and happy customer base.

What makes Airboard’s products innovative?

Airboard snow-bodyboards allow controlled riding on groomed slopes, but also on powder snow. The elastic “air-body“ absorbs the unevenness of the ground giving a smooth ride. Snow-bodyboards are made from light, but extremely durable urethane coated textiles. The short learning curve of 15-30 minutes makes this sport very interesting for resorts that have installed slopes for Snow-bodyboards and rental facilities. They are highly functional and they surprised the winter sports industry with their novelty.

Airboard® SUP’s are known for their classic design and their high-end double layer construction. They focus on European needs for surfing rivers, lakes and the ocean. As we also have a background in Air-technology, we brought in our knowhow to create i-SUP’s that would be very stiff at the lowest possible pressure.

What sets you apart from your competitors?

Our products combine innovativeness and functionality with style. We have high quality standards and thrive on every challenge.

Airboard’s products are different to everything on the market, with Snow-bodyboarding an innovation in winter snowsports.

Where are you products manufactured?

In 2013, Airboard® was the first company to start a production of i-SUP in Germany,

BRAND NAME: AIRBOARD

disregarding the higher cost. The main driver for this strategic decision is development and service. The production volumes are growing rapidly and there is a need to prepare for servicing and recycling possibilities at the end of these products life cycle. Customers have high expectations from a Swiss brand and it is not always easy to fulfill them.

How has the market responded to Airboard’s products?

Since 2001 Fun-care has produced and distributed 150,000 snow-bodyboards to 20 countries worldwide and the sport is growing rapidly. ‘Airboarders’ seek challenging slopes and the number of new customers at resorts with appropriate facilities is constantly growing.

Swiss resorts with up to 12 years of experience report a great demand in renting equipment, growing profit and with very few accidents.

Stand-Up Paddling is the fastest growing summer activity at present. Eight out of 10 SUP’s sold in Europe are inflatable, as people like the small deflated size for easy transport and easy storage. For this reason, sales are growing very rapidly for Airboard. Deciding to manufacture in Germany has also been well received as it means repairs and recycling of the products can occur where the customers are.

Where can we check out your products/ videos/stuff?

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ airboard.ch Twitter - https://twitter.com/airboard_com Web - http://www.airboard.com/

WEB: WWW.AIRBOARD.COM 105

DON’T LET ME DOWN : SIGNATURE INSULATION The demand for down has risen dramatically over the past five years. The extraction methods on conventional farms beg some uncomfortable questions about animal welfare. But the outdoor industry is aware of the problem and is working on solutions.

As a side product from the meat industry, it is challenging to pressure suppliers to gain a more responsible down. A goose has around about 300 gr. of down and feathers at the time of slaughter, but only 60 gr. are fine enough and have the coveted “loft”, which is necessary for the filling of clothing and sleeping bags. Thousands of enterprises, commercial and small family businesses play a role in the collection of down.

Animal welfare risks begin in the so-called “Parent Farm” where the animals live four years to lay eggs. Here, in conventional operations, a goose is at risk from painful live plucking up to 5 times before it is led to the slaughterhouse.

The eggs are transported to the farm, via a stopover at the hatchery.

Once the animals have hatched, the young goslings are transported to the raising farm. At the farm, there is a risk that the animal husbandry practices will not meet welfare standards, and animals may live in a confined space without being allowed to satisfy their natural needs for exercise and swimming. Before being transported to the slaughterhouse after four months, where certain animal husbandry practices may pose a risk to animal welfare, the animals may be force fed for the sake of “foie gras”.

The increasing demand for down from the textile industry has placed this practice into the eye of public attention. Under the leadership of NGOs, led by PETA and Four Paws, but also by the brands themselves and their associations, such as the European Outdoor Group, this complex situation is being tackled with the aid of certification services.

In 2014 two industry standards were created and have set themselves the goal of identifying a certified down in the final product that comes from animals that have never been plucked alive or force-fed. They promise to pay attention to adequate living conditions, and that the animals are transported stress free and slaughtered humanely.

The Traceable Down Standard by NSF (American Health and Safety Organization) has set itself the goal of creating complete transparency, fully audited right through to the certified commercial “Parent Farm” to the finished filling, so that a close-knit supply chain

106

to the final product is achieved. TDS does not allow for blending with conventional down and currently has two supply chain levels: small family farms, and one for industrial supply chains.

The Responsible Down Standard operated by Textile Exchange, is carried out with respect to traceability with the help of the Content Claim Standard, which means that the down clusters are made identifiable from the egg to the finished filling. Again, complete transparency is possible, but is not marketed as a first priority. RDS also accepts blends with conventional down to allow manufacturers to get started. However, only final products with a filling of 100% RDS down may carry the certificate.

The main goal is to look for a responsible and sensible isolation solution, which withstands the technical requirements, but not necessarily more than what needs to be achieved.

The highest quality goose down has the most efficient heat insulation performance in relation to weight. It is slightly lighter than, for example, a synthetic, animal free solution such as the PrimaLoft® Insulation Silver Eco, consisting of 70% recycled polyester (30% raw material). But it also has disadvantages as it gets wet faster and doesn’t dry as well as their synthetic copy. Therefore, down is not the right material for everyone.

There are two ecologically perfect and sensible alternatives. First, the recycled down, as it is offered amongst others by Neokdun from Spain. This down is taken exclusively from consumer products such as bedding, that have reached the end of their life cycle. The down is washed and treated in an environmentally friendly process and recycled.

The second comes from Switzerland and uses wool for insulation.

The company Swisswool, collects up to 400 tons at more than 20 wool collection points per year. After washing, the sheep’s wool is then processed by different regional manufacturers to become the highest quality products such as functional clothing and insulation.

The white-gray mountain is climbed from all thinkable directions, which shows, that the time has come to find solutions to this critical issue.

NEW PRODUCT 01

#75 02

01 PHUNKSHUN FLEECE SCARVES Expanding on their facemask roots, Colorado-based Phunkshun Wear is debuting a line of dye-sublimated Fleece Scarves at ISPO Munich 2015 this year. Made form US-milled fleece and sewn in their own facility, Phunkshun also offers the ability to order these scarves with custom graphics. Visit them at booth A2.116. www.phunkshunwear.com 02 SECTOR 9 BARRA SOAP This board from the Sector 9 Mini Series blurs the lines of freestyle sliding, and sidewinder slashing. The functional tail gives life to an already lively board that can turn on a dime. The 61mm Nineball wheels let loose smoothly, while offering enough grip to rip around tight turns. It doesn’t get much closer to surf than this. www.sector9.com

03

04

03 SANTA CRUZ OUTLAW JACKET New for Winter 2015 the Santa Cruz Outlaw jacket mixes up heavy-duty weather-ready fabrication with a military-inspired puffa silhouette. The poly canvas outer shell and heavy quilted brushed flannel lining twinned with multi-pocket options, removable hood and reinforced panelling make for a great all-round winter jacket to take on the elements. www.santacruz.com 04 D STREET LONGBOARDS SMOKED BAMBOO 41 PINTAIL D Street Longboards have launched their long awaited Bamboo series for 2015. Built for cruising and carving, the camber and concave blend together perfectly to give you an effortless ride. Collaborating with OG truck giants Roadrider, this is one seriously smokey set up. www.dstreetlongboards.com

05

06

05 FANATIC FLY AIR PREMIUM ALLROUND The Fly Air Inflatable range is guaranteed to offer real surf action for any size and style of rider. Featuring an elongated longboard style outline, combined with reams of volume, the Fly Air has endless glide with substantial width offering a truly stable ride. New for 2015 are brand new high quality backpacks for storage and ease of transport with padded straps and inner/outer storage pockets as well as new pumps. www.fanatic.com 06 VANS LELAND MOUNTAIN EDITION JACKET Vans have updated their collection of weatherized outerwear, with durable water repellent (DWR) coatings to keep you warm and dry through the winter. The jacket is a 100% Polyester quilted hybrid shirt jacket with contrast nylon yoke, DWR coating and 2 oz. PrimaLoftÂŽ fill. It features an interior media pocket detail and zippered pockets at body. Available in XS-XL from August 1, 2015 www.vans.com

109

NEW PRODUCT 01

#75 02

01. CENTURY TRUCKS C80 LONGBOARD TRUCK Completely redesigned and manufactured to the highest standards, the new C80 Reverse Pivot Longboard Truck from Century sets the bar for performance and design.

Gravity cast from virgin aerospace aluminum, the truck has integrated axle spacers, counterbored hardware holes and a symmetrical hanger that can be flipped easily for more even wheel wear. Check out the whole Century offering at skategoldcoast.com 02. NEW ERA’S FLECKED SUEDE WIDE CUFF BEANIE Driven by a design philosophy to stay committed to uncompromised fit, innovative design and seasonal style, New Era’s Flecked Suede wide cuff beanie offers the latest in fabric technology including DWR and Dri-Release for optimal comfort on and off the mountain side. www.neweracap.com

03

03. SP GADGETS SMART MOUNT With the new SP Gadgets Smart Mount you can attach your go pro remote or smart remote to your POV Pole, bike handlebar, paddle and a one handed camera control is at your service. www..sp-united.com

04

04. SANUK CASSIUS Featuring the most exciting evolution of Sanuk’s comfort revolution with the brand new ‘No-Ledge’ profile, waxed twill, 5/9 lace up with custom print vanvas highrebound, moulded EVA footbed featuring AEHIS antimicrobial additive and Happy U rubber outsole. www.sanuk.com

05

07

06

05. X-CALIBER TRUCKS X-Caliber is a skate brand formed in 1976 which specializes in skateboard trucks and accessories. The brand originally from Venice Beach, California was recently revived by Jerry Madrid at Madrid Skateboards and Blake Harrington at JIMMY’Z. X-Caliber is being sold worldwide and can be found on Madrid, Maui and Sons, and JIMMY’Z skateboards. For more information visit xcaliberskates.com 06. LANDYACHTZ THE SWITCH The Switch is one of Landyachtz’s most popular models.

The dropped platforms make it stable, easy to push and keeps your feet locked in place. Perfect for riders of all levels and abilities, the switch has quickly become a top selling downhill freeride board. Available in April 2015 in both 35” and 40” sizes. www.landyachtz.com 07. RECCO LAUNCHES THINNER REFLECTOR Recco has developed a new thinner reflector to simplify the integration in two positions on winter garments: jacket hoods and lower leg on pants. These are the two places where a thinner reflector can be used and still maintain the minimum distance between the reflector and the wearer’s body, required for performance equal to Recco’s other reflector models. The new reflector will open new opportunities to integrate it into the design and construction of winter garments. www.recco.com

110

MARKET INTELLIGENCE GERMANY

By Anna Langer In the south of the country, there’s an old weather prophet, whose forecasts have been reliable for years. For 2014, he predicted the wet summer as well as the golden Autumn and a hard, cold winter - with little snow, which was also true until Christmas. When all of a sudden, after no one expected anything like it anymore, the white gold did fall from the sky, and in places, massively. And according to said prophet, it will stay like this for a while.

This is especially welcome in the winter sports business, where “sales weren’t exactly intoxicating in the last couple of months“, as Mirek from the Bazooka shop in Weiden in the Upper Palatinate reports. “Due to the mild temperatures, sales figures for outerwear and hardware were pretty meek. I’m sure we weren’t the only ones who felt that.” But as usual, every negative has a positive and in this case, it was Element who benefitted with their Autumn/Winter collection, which Bazooka’s customers “were especially stoked about.” When it comes to product categories, longboards are still well ahead. “That is, again, due to the weather, obviously, which affects the shift from snow to skate in ‘winter’ tremendously.”

Christmas sales left a lot to be desired as well; “especially in the city centres, customer frequencies were considerably short of retailers’ expectations,” reports the German Retail Association (HDE). And the part of the market hit the hardest - fashion retail, where “business was sluggish.“ However, the last weeks of the year were a lot better in sports retail, from warm clothing up to gear to hit the mountains.

The super late start of winter also caused loss in sales before Christmas for the Ridersheaven in Sonthofen in the Allgäu. For them the run after the first snowfall was especially lucky, as it helped them balance out what they lost before. “For us, the socalled ‘winter’ only started on Boxing Day, just in time for the holidays. And when it came, it came with a bang! Through that we managed to balance the slow sales at the beginning of winter season with a couple of really sales heavy days. Our local regulars were dependable from the start and with the snow came the tourists who really appreciate professional and competent sales advice and value it more than discounts from many a competitor,” Toby reports.

“Christmas sales were really good online. But due to the conditions, non-seasonal goods were more in demand.”

Next to the weather, “advice stealing” is still one of the biggest issues for stationary retailers that comes up in almost every interview and is mentioned by most of the shops. Even in smaller communities such as Weiden with a bit over 40,000 inhabitants, where people should stick together even more, you’d think. “Advice stealing is a big topic in our city too,” says Mirek. “Stationary retailers struggle with that of course. But instead of whining, we want to face that problem! We try to collaborate with the brands that we stock and come up with projects and programs to encourage our customers’ commitment to us and make our shop as attractive as we can.” This will work especially well in 2015 when they have the 20th anniversary of their shop, which will be celebrated accordingly. “And that, we can do well!“ Mirek laughs.

“Customers compare a lot more today. Many already know what we stock before they enter the shop. They compared prices online and are looking for the cheapest one, of course,” Toby agrees. But he also has positive experiences with this in the Allgäu: “As soon as the customers are in our shop, they appreciate the personal guidance, the authentic 112

atmosphere and chatting with people from the core scene a lot and ALWAYS come back.”

This pays off especially well with hardware. “Hardware with good technology is on the rise. Giving advice for this is fun too and the customers are prepared to pay proper money for good quality,“ Toby says. For his customers, it’s mainly technology that counts: “Lib Tech, Gnu and Roxy are the clear leaders here.” But best sellers are the as well or even more consultation-intensive snowboard boots. “In the stationary shop we noticed that a lot more customers are looking for advice again these days and really appreciate it. Black sheep who get advice in the shop and then still buy online will probably always be around though.” Likewise winter accessories were selling pretty well, creating “turnover through numbers. We sell a lot of wax, snowboard locks, facemasks and sun screen.” Still difficult on the other hand is outerwear – again. “Outerwear was again alarmingly bad so far. A clear sign, that the market is simply saturated here and innovations aren’t accepted anymore,” Toby figures. Big brands seem to have the biggest troubles here. “The price fight is already especially high here, above all online, so as a retailer there is little motivation to stock and offer their products,” he explains. Even more so as the general trend continues in the opposite direction. “The demand for the ‘special’ is still very high, for what you don’t get on every corner and in all the outlets. Smaller brands are preferred here that you don’t see all over the slopes.”

This is reflected in sales. “Picture Outerwear continues to be high in demand and newcomer Lib Tech Outerwear benefits from synergy effects from their popular hardware.“ We’re also hearing surprisingly positive results from skate for winter. “We were surprised about the demand for longboards even in winter. Fortunately we were well prepared with Madrid and Flying Wheels,” Toby smiles.

Next to their shop in Weiden, Bazooka have another branch on the U.S. Army Base in Grafenwöhr close by, where customers are quite different. “They are very focused on outfits, that is probably the biggest difference. These customers match the colour of the laces with the colour of their cap and make sure that the tone in the shirt’s print is the exact same as on the shoes. This attention to detail for compiling an outfit is very exciting and a lot of fun. That’s not something we’re used to in our ‘normal’ shop.” But then what is normal these days?

There is still one thing all shops, customers and brands share: the love for snowboarding. “Customers still want to have fun with their sport and take advantage of the new technologies,“ Toby thinks, “snowboarding is established by now and is not a trend anymore.”

And so at Ridersheaven they stick to their roots and their customers and expand the shop space in 2015 “to offer our customers better presentation and reflect the board lifestyle even more. We stick to our concept and continue to stay close to our customers. Instead of thinking about changing our assortment, we remain true to the brands we stock and through that show consistency and safety.” Because even though the boardsport market in Germany is “lead by a couple of big ones” it’s still the ‘little ones’, that “keep the stoke for the sport alive”.

For that, Toby would wish for more “solidarity among competitors so that sales are only begun at the right time and constant prices meaning that all retailers have a little more in their pockets at the end of the day.

Boardsports is worth it!”

MARKET INTELLIGENCE UK

By Gordon Way Can anyone, anywhere get an Apple computer at a “deal”? What beats me every time I go to purchase a new Apple computer is the price.

We all know that they are pretty expensive for what they are. We all know that we are making an informed decision when it comes to joining the ‘Apple Club’. We all know that if we shop around we’ll get a deal, right? Wrong! Apple appear to manage the RRP of their products magnificently and I am told all sorts of different stories as to how they do this, from micro retailer margins to retrospective discount structures to downright bullying (I am sure the last one cannot be true!) I have no idea which, if any of these, are correct. But one thing I do know is that it seems that retailers honestly resist discounting – at least certainly with the most recent and up to date products.

How come our industry is so different? I’m writing this on Boxing Day in the UK - snow has not fallen yet (previous optimism may have been misguided), some brands have not even delivered yet (some serious cockups on the supply side of things) and here we are in the middle of a retail discount storm. 20% off here, 25% off there. This is not the old stuff, this is not last year’s stock – this is bang-up-todate, hot-off-the-press, shiny new current season stuff. Now – don’t get me wrong - I am not suggesting retail price maintenance – I am well aware that is illegal but I do think there is some real merit in the USA system with MAP policies (Minimum Advertised Price). I am also aware that discounting is part of the retail map in almost every sphere of life. But isn’t it getting a bit ridiculous and isn’t it kissing away our retailer margins? I love the sports store that we all love to hate – they currently have ‘90% off’ on some items, and ‘80% off’ on lots of items.

Some of them branded. Some of them from our own backyard. How stupid are consumers to really be sucked in by this? Yet they are.

Jeremy from TSA indicated that December was slow: “We’ve been well up year to date, although November tailed off a bit, but this was being compared to a great November the year previously so it’s not really that bad. And then the arse fell out of December. But hold your nerve. I am still pretty sure that those people who may have been tempted to buy in December will come through and buy in January.”

I asked Jeremy for his comments on the discount merchants and, in particular, some established retailers who appear to be losing their nerve. “If you cannot afford to f***ing run a proper business then f*** off and do something else,” Jeremy referred to key, established retailers who were doing stupid sales at stupidly early times. “One did a four day Black Friday, another did 15% off before Christmas.

WTF. We didn’t do anything for Black Friday and we were off our face with business!” I asked Jeremy what margin he felt a shop should be looking at earning to wipe its backside. “The problem is that most shops do not really have a clue about what they are making and when they are making it. They surely need to clear 30% to stand still and run their business but so many of them simply count the turnover and forget that they really do need to pay all those overheads. It’s time to wise up.” So when should a retailer go ‘on sale’ in order to clear their decks? “March 1st. If we can all hold on until then, we can all make some margin and we’ll have a sustainable industry.” Could not agree more… but will it happen? Doubt it.

Now – for the sake of clarity, once again, I am not (absolutely not) proposing retail price maintenance. It is illegal. You should not allow any supplier to dictate your retail prices. OK – hope that is clear enough.

Ben from Big Dreams, like Jeremy, is never one to hold back on his opinions and never one to pull his punches. Asked how it is, he started off with some positive news: “We’ve seen a huge improvement on jackets and pants over the last few years and are also seeing more ladies buying hardware. A massive rise in top end goggles and helmets and we completely sold out of certain sized boots. Bindings are strong as usual but it’s a bit slow on top end all mountain boards.” Big Dreams is a real shop – not an onliner and Ben was happy with the footfall: “Super busy season so far with more humans in the ‘shop of joy’. I’ve put a virtual shop tour online and it appears to be doing what I want and getting people off their asses and visiting our real shop – not just sitting at home online.” But it was not all happy days. “Yet again we find our amazing industry falling apart due to the onliners and the small minority of bricks and mortar stores playing a huge part in screwing up sales and degrading true brands. The ‘we’ll-beat-anyprice’ merchants who have no real knowledge or belief in the brands, and not knowing their ass from their elbow. Over buying and then going on sale far too early just screw it up time and time again.”

Rant over – from me at least. How is it? It’s not good out there.

Distinct lack of snow so far has led to poor sales in almost all categories. Unseasonably warm weather means that outerwear is not moving through and snow cannons are really earning their keep when the temperatures do drop anywhere near low enough. But once again enthusiasm is in abundance throughout our sport and industry as soon

Since writing the above some snow has fallen in the Alps and the season has started in earnest. But it’s also gone very warm again and some snow has melted. Ultra Sport have opened our new showroom and retailers have been visiting to do their buy for next year. It’s busy and amongst all this doom and gloom what do I find: Massive enthusiasm. It’s a funny world ain’t it?

But what sort of retail margin is required to run a successful business? As a distributor we are all too often beaten black and blue to give bigger margins and then we watch some retailers just simply give it away. And nowadays it is not only the usual suspects – this year has seen some of the most credible, and historically reliable, retailers run to the hills dropping their pants as they run! What’s the solution? Hold your nerve. Find alternative methods to tempt consumers, package stuff, differentiate your offering, buy last year’s stuff strategically to offer deals (if you have to) but hold your nerve on the new kit. Up your service game and win customers for life not just for today. This is a shout out for real margins to be kept where they are needed – in the till.

114

as the weather kicks in. Sarah from Boardwise commented that as soon as the snow started to appear on the Scottish hills the shop went mad. Then Brian confirmed a few days later that the snow had melted and the business evaporated.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE FRANCE

By Benoît Brecq At the end of the year 2014, the French economy remains paralysed and debt continues to take flight. GDP only rose by 0.3% in the last quarter of 2014. Business investment stagnated and public debt crossed the 2,000 billion Euro mark. In this holiday period, the French economic landscape is not cause for rejoice. Rising unemployment is the most dramatic illustration and it doesn’t look like it’s about to stop. It has to be said that the French economy is desperately subdued. Despite this bleak outlook, 2015 does hold some cause for hope. Insee (National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies) has declared a 0.7% rise ‘online’ in the first part of the year, with a government prediction of 1% over 12 months. This restrained optimism is largely founded on external factors such as the fall of oil prices and the weakening of the Euro, which should stimulate exports. This should create a dynamic that the CICE (Competitiveness and Employment Tax Credit)’s rise in power and the first reliefs from the ‘pacte de responsabilité’ should amplify. It’s about time. But even with this 1% growth, unemployment is unfortunately not showing any signs of slowing down admitted President Hollande.

The festive period is always important for retailers. It represents the Christmas present season as well as kicking off the winter season with the school holidays. Furthermore, it allows shops to take stock of the previous year before attacking the new with the traditional sales period. For resorts, despite the lack of snow at the start of the season, December was quite surprising with a slight but widespread increase in sales compared to last season combined with high visitation rates in shops. The lack of snow and the delayed opening of resorts undoubtedly forced tourists into the shops and naturally towards buying things. This was confirmed to us by Guillaume Adam, manager of Ride & Style in Val Thorens: “At the start, customers were hesitant to buy and still are when it comes to technical clothing but they are coming anyway and this is reflected in the shop’s figures.” A sentiment shared by Martin Green, manager of shop ZeroG in Chamonix: “Even though people had come here to ski and were disappointed by the lack of snow, they came into the shop even more.”

The snow was late in coming to France and it wasn’t until the weekend between Christmas and New Year that the first real snowfalls came to truly start the ski season with most resorts opening. These heavy snowfalls also caused mayhem on the holiday roadways with hours of slow traffic on resort access roads. Naturally, sales of technical equipment benefitted from these decent snowfalls. “Customers were panicking a bit to kit themselves out before their first runs” Guillaume tells us. As for sales, boots, especially top-of-the-range models and accessories like hats and gloves represented the bulk of sales at the end of this year and start of season. Some brands such as Picture and Neff distinguish themselves through their marketing discourse and seem to be winning the hearts of consumers.

Damien Billet, technical manager at Sports Adventure in Bordeaux remarks that: “Top-of-the-range boots represent more and more sales. However, entry-level laced boots at €150 are less successful than before. People (beginners or advanced) have become aware that it’s better to pay a bit more for better comfort, more room for improvement and to keep their equipment longer.” An interesting point that allows shops to increase their average customer basket value and at the same time improve their turnover.

116

Snowboarding seems to have made a bit of a comeback in winter sports. “Freestyle skiing really scared snowboarding in recent years but snowboarding is holding strong.” Damien continues: “more and more youngsters are buying instead of renting their equipment and this goes for four or five year olds upwards.” Also, the controversy around the active lobbying of the ESF against instructors who do not ski, relayed by a France 3 documentary and shared on social media, only adds to snowboarding’s publicity, which seems to be gently polishing its image…

On the Web, the Christmas period is massive. This year’s web purchases, were up on last year’s period. According to Médiamétrie in France “online sales have surpassed 10 billion Euros”. The end-of-year holidays traditionally represent 20% of total annual sales for online commerce and according to le Monde newspaper: “the Internet alone represents 60% of purchases made in the festive period in the year 2014-2015. Each French person spends around €200 on average.” Clément Odile, manager of the online sales site unclezaz.com shares this sentiment: “Although it’s hard to compare because last Christmas the site was still very young, this year the site really took off with over 20% of the year’s purchases made in this period. We even sold more than we did in the shop in that period.” This is a concept that many shops have managed to grasp by creating their own online sales sites to complement their in-shop sales and increase their overall turnover at Christmas by reaching a larger audience. Martin from ZeroG tells us: “the development of our online shop has allowed us to increase our turnover by around 50%. Many customers make requests for specific products that we haven’t necessarily pre-ordered, customers come to ZeroG for the choice, availability, good products and above all the service.”

In the big towns, customers are making their Christmas purchases later and later each year. “People are keeping a close eye on price and quality but it’s still the wallet that spurs the customer into action or not” says Rémi Grange, the boss at Vega skate shop in Paris. On the street scene, once again the cruiser was the product of the end of year. Whether wooden or plastic, “complete boards or cruisers comprised the bulk of our turnover during the festivities,” confides Rémi from Vega. This trend is confirmed

by Stéphane, Manager of the Skateboard/Longboard section at Cri Du Kangourou in Lyon: Cruisers, especially plastic ones, have not faltered to this day and remain one of our best sellers at the end of the year. Brands such as Flying Wheels and Globe seem to have favour amongst final consumers. Stéphane from CDK adds: “we also have a bit of demand for old-school skateboarding, that’s quite important to highlight”.

Unfortunately everyone agrees that clothing has waivered with the mild autumn and winter especially. “It’s quite tough.” admits Rémi from Vega.

Even still, the traditional winter Sales could limit this downturn.

Once again the end of year festivities have brought an important period of activity for most retailers. The figures and various indicators seem to be pointing in the right direction. The cold, sun and snow at the start of January now leave us with a taste of seasonable weather. Many reasons to launch 2015 in the right direction…

market intelligence

SWITZERLAND

118

ITALY

By Fabien Grisel

By franz Hoeller

At the risk of repeating myself again, I will start by giving a disenchanting little weather rundown that’s even worse than normal because this year we are talking about average temperatures that are breaking records that have stood for over a century. We knew it would start warm with the end of last season arriving quicker than expected, but we now know that the high averages we’ve seen in recent months relate to the entire year. For resorts below 2300m, the start of the season was snowless and they would only get a brief glimpse of the white stuff during the heavy but fleeting snowfalls between December 27-29, after which the warm air and rain came to melt most of it. This seems pretty standard for the whole of Europe and it certainly did not spare Switzerland.

This obviously carried consequences; first let’s look at the shops in the plains who sell most of their equipment in October, November and December. They were the first to suffer from the overly-mild weather and apart from a few exceptions, the results were rather poor. The big guns started their sales really early, three to four weeks earlier than normal, which speaks volumes about the mediocrity of sales, hile specialists were disappointed by the lack of visitors over the last two months of the year and generally didn’t manage to recreate last year’s figures. In general it was clothing that posed the most problems. Once again and without a reasonable explanation this sector had the worst rate of sale while hardgoods came out better this year with a trend for board buying rather than bindings and boots that had worked well last year.

Interest in splitboarding is still high - even on the rise slightlyand it seems like most brands are already sold out of certain splitboard models or lengths, or their associated products such as specific bindings whose stocks are already just about empty. This is the case for Spark, their bindings are selling like hot cakes and their stock was either underestimated or under-produced. The range of splitboards has broadened hugely in recent years, but the following brands seem to be coming out best: Jones are leading thanks to their freeride positioning that gels perfectly with the product and the diversified range they offe; Burton who are probably placed just behind and brands such as K2 and Never Summer are also well represented in shops. This product is perhaps still niche but it could well become increasingly important if we follow the example of skiing and their exploding ski touring sector. Romain Robert from Neige Adventure in Haute Nendaz told me a few days ago that he feels like that’s all he sells these days, he thinks everyone just wants to start touring. What goes for skiing probably also goes for snowboarding because the clientele is not that different and the interest in touring is just as prevalent. However, a snowboarder will remain a snowboarder and the thought of riding an untouched slope they’ve just walked up on anything but a snowboard is out of the question, so it’s not hard to imagine that this market still has a future.

It’s a bit different for in-resort sales, but not necessarily much more encouraging. For them the biggest part of their business comes from the Christmas weeks and more specifically, New Year’s week and despite the scant snow, most resorts were fully booked. Thanks to the snowfalls, the conditions were good for a week, providing decent business for retailers but the lack of snow might well be felt soon.

A general economic breakdown doesn´t bring a lot of news.

Politicians and especially our Prime Minister; Mr Matteo Renzi keep telling us that 2015 will be the turning point and that Italy will get seriously back on track. We better believe it I would say. But we have also had some positive things already happening in 2014, for example oil got cheaper, which means less costs for everyone. Our government is still on its strict saving plan that the EU is asking for but now we also need some investments to get our engines running again and to promote a good mood with company owners to a point where they again are urged to bring in new employees and have enough faith to invest in all things new.

Boardsport businesses had a slow start to the 14/15 selling season as temperatures were too high for too long and the hardgoods business keeps on suffering. Talking to store owners and reps, they notice that stores keep lowering their budget for hardgoods and try to invest more into shoes and clothing where they gain more margin and also have more request for. The only business that´s growing hardgood-wise is rental, with Nitro and Burton reps saying it is their biggest growth in that sector right now. Customers are tending to keep their hardgoods for longer, as for your average Joe, holidaying to the snow once or twice a year, means their boots will last them for a good few seasons.

Another often-discussed topic right now is the SALE period. Most stores find sales are happening too early and feel they do not have enough time to sell their goods as too many retailers begin their sale period right after Christmas or even before. Consumers are already waiting for sales or special offers, so we should try to move away from this trend and work on better margins, an argument fully backed by the majority of retailers.

Talking to store owners, a mutual feeling is one of caution – where retailers feel we need to learn by our mistakes from the GFC, and that brands must respect the seasons – we are not ready for summer products if there is still snow on the ground! Many retailers find it annoying that the industry has become slave to the big name retailers, even though it was the smaller, more core stores who first shaped the industry decades ago.

When talking about brands it seems that there is a lot of hunger for the new. The established brands are crucial right now and have the biggest slice of the cake but the stores want to be different from the big box stores, and the newcomer brands can gain good results if their image and quality is on top.

Skateboarding is trending a lot right now and 2015 should be a good year again for this. Cruisers sold very well during the 2014 Christmas season followed by longboards and different accessories including watches and backpacks.

This January a lot of boardsport and streetwear brands are attending the tradeshow Pitti Immagnine in Florence. It seems that Pitti has again become very important for our business with the following brands attending: Makia, Globe, Etnies, Altamont, Element.

More positive news is ‘A Brief Glance’ online magazine, has been nominated in three categories for the Bright European Skate Awards: Magazine of the Year, Website of the Year and Short Clip of the Year.

Good luck to Davide Biondani and his team –hopefully Italy finally can bring home a trophy.

That´s it for issue 75 and remember that passion is always the key to success.

119

market intelligence

120

AUSTRIA

MOROCCO

By Michael Reinwald

By Camille Debiesse

Even though no one had expected anything like this after the springlike, precipitation-free Autumn, major parts of Austria had a White Christmas this year – at least during the holidays. And that was more than direly needed, as not only ski resorts are depending on the weather conditions. “As a winter sports country we’re extremely dependant on the white gold and it was a blessing when it finally came,” says Björn from Kanoa Trading in Innsbruck. “In the beginning we were suffering from the lack of snow. No one thinks of winter sports when it’s 20 degrees outside.” In Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang, the season started late as well. “The access to the resort was very limited until the end of December. We’re almost solely dependant on winter sport tourists.

Many guests cancelled their trips and spontaneous bookings fell away completely,“ Christian Klenner from board.at confirms.

Andreas Hirscher from 4Seasons Boardshop with branches in Salzburg, Wels and Vöcklabruck on the other hand reports stronger sales in the last quarter of the year compared to previous seasons.

He still feels the trend to “more individuality” coming on strong: “Our customer specifically seeks goods that aren’t available online or from competitors.” In this year’s long and golden Indian Summer this meant a lot of turnover with skateboards and longboards, and great sales with Volcom, Altamont, Circa, Emerica and Etnies.

Board.at on the other hand focus on snow hardware: “We offer three brand-specific test centres in different locations. Hence Burton, Nitro and Mervin are our board best sellers. Flow and Ride are very important when it comes to bindings,“ reports Christian. Softgoods are “less significant” and only stood out due to the lack of snow. “The demand for hiking boots and swimwear to hang by the hotel pool was too huge for us to be able to meet,” Christian remembers. But since the fragile flakes finally started descending from the sky, the atmosphere and mood among the guests changed noticeably. “Beanies, gloves, bandanas, underwear and socks were suddenly amazing. Everyone was cold. Airhole, Pow and Neff are the most important brands for us in this category.” With brands such as Bataleon, Slash, Pow, Dragon and Nike, Kanoa Trading is pretty winter-heavy too but since all of the brands have a unique story to tell, Björn isn’t too concerned. “Brands like Bataleon and Slash are still growing, against the common trend.

I guess seasons will simply shift a bit to later in the year and we just have to adapt to that. Especially when it comes to sales!”

After the holidays the first rush slowed down, as expected but are still selling. Christian noticed, that board sales are concentrated in a medium price category between ¤400-500. “Boards over ¤500 are a lot harder to sell these days,” while the price is almost no issue when it comes to boots – they “just have to fit. Salomon boots are unbeatable with women, and guys love Nitro and Burton.“ In general the outlook for 2015 is optimistic, as the challenges are pretty much clear: online competition in a rather saturated market with little newcomers. So for Björn, the most important thing is to get people into the mountains again, for which the industry needs to unite. “It can’t be true that nowadays only the minority of a school class is into winter sports!” At the same time, with all enthusiasm for “snowboardminis” and groms aged from 4-5, “we can’t forget the customers over 30. A lot go back to skiing when they have kids, so we need some kind of program to ensure this financially independent target group come back to snowboarding,” warns Christian. Let’s get it on, then!

Morocco has been very much under the radar, until now as Morocco has been voted the third best destination for learning to surf in the world globally. Surf is one of the main focus points of the country’s tourism industry development plan, meaning Morocco is taking surf tourism seriously. Famous for its epic right-handers, Morocco (just a three hour flight from Central Europe) welcomes thousands of surf tourists every year, with the majority passing through its surf capital, Taghazout. Taghazout is currently undergoing some major construction for a complex that will provide more and better accommodation.

Customs coming into the country have also been ramped up recently to prevent the smuggling of illegal surf goods. Whereas before Morocco was not producing surf products, now we are and the government is ensuring local businesses are able to stock their shelves with locally manufactured surfboards. Big brands that work in the area including the likes of: Quiksilver, Moor’s, Rip curl and Hoff are all on board in preventing the smuggling of equipment.

With the emergence of the market and more and more local surfers, there is room for serious people to get into the business. The task is not easy as the local market is very demanding with low prices, small volumes with sometimes a serious default payment risk.

Moor’s local brand manager explained. “We do a lot of concessions at the moment, the market is small, but we need to support our local riders with sponsoring and retailers. We are very aggressive in our pricing and our quality is for better than the international competition in a number of products categories. This has helped us to sell our brand in Europe, Hawaii and other destinations coming soon. For Morocco, we are seeing increases in board and accessories sales, as many visitors prefer to come without equipment and buy it locally, mainly because of weight restrictions with airlines, also traveling with a board costs a lot. With the local offer from Moor’s, visitors can buy products cheaper than in Europe and they can fly back with it, which doubly saves them money. We are trying to offer an unmatched quality price ratio, but sometimes it is not easy as some retailers are not following the pricing strategy. To be able to meet the local demand, some retailers end up buying old inventories from Europe, sometimes, defective products that have been discounted heavily.”

Surf shops and retailers are still not very present. We notice only few a shops that have a good and complete offer. One of the reasons is the expensive costs of setting up a retail shop. Renting or buying a shop is very expensive in big cities such as Casablanca and Rabat.

Local income is growing slowly, but only a few people can afford to buy new things. Most surfers are the middle class; which by Moroccan standards doesn’t allow them to buy new equipment. We see a large second hand market for all type of products, even for leashes.

Some riders are promoting Moroccan surf overseas. Jerome Sahyoun, the big wave rider has been working on many surf movies showing some of the best waves in the country and Othman Choufani who had an XXL entry in 2014 is the first Moroccan to enter the big wave contest. The Moroccan national surfing team was at Azores in Portugal for the Euro surf Juniors and finished in fourth position out of 15 countries with medals for Silver (longboard) and Gold (bodyboard).

In November, Morocco hosted the SUP Pro Location X with the 15 best SUP surfers. It was the first time Morocco hosted a world-class surf/ SUP contest and was supported partly by local brand Moor’s.

121

OPPORTUNITIES

DISTRIBUTORS WANTED! UK, Denmark, Norway, Turkey, Mid East, South Africa

Since 1999, C1RCA has remained committed to skateboarding. Designing, developing and producing quality footwear and apparel for skateboarding and lifestyle by skateboarders.

WE HAVE REBOOTED THE MARKETING AND INFUSED A NEW SENSE OF EXCITEMENT INTO THE BRAND. IT´S TIME WE GET BACK TO WHAT WE DO BEST! C1RCA –“ COMITTED TO SKATEBOARDING”

c1rca.com / pfrericks@sugi.com.hk / +491738603801

122

brought to you by Boardsport Source & ActionsportsJOB.com

Distribution AD.pdf

1

19/12/2014

16:58

OPPORTUNITIES

HI, WE’RE

#yournewvision DISTRIBUTORS/AGENTS WANTED THROUGHOUT EUROPE AND BEYOND. CONTACT SALES@SPEKTRUMEYE.COM WWW.SPEKTRUMEYE.COM TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR WORLD AND OUR PRODUCTS

Spektrum_Orange_ny2.indd 1

brought to you by Boardsport Source & ActionsportsJOB.com

COME JOIN US AT: INSTAGRAM: @SPEKTRUMEYE FACEBOOK/SPEKTRUMEYE

2014-12-11 22:06

123

ESURFV/ESKATE N T/ SNOW S #/ TRADE 75 JANUARY 25-27 PRO SHOP TEST ANDALO ITALY TRADE WWW.PROSHOPTEST.COM 25-27 SHOPS 1ST TRY SKIJUWEL ALPBACHTAL AUSTRIA TRADE WWW.SHOPS-1ST-TRY.COM 27-29 SLIDE TRADESHOW TELFORD UK TRADE WWW.SLIDEUK.CO.UK 28-30 REVOLUTION TOUR SEVEN SPRINGS – PA USA SNOW WWW.USSNOWBOARDING.COM 29-1 BURTON EUROPEAN OPEN LAAX SWISS SNOW WWW.BURTON.COM 29-1 SIA SNOW SHOW DENVER, CO USA SNOW SIASNOWSHOW.SNOWSPORTS.ORG 31-4 EUROPEAN FREERIDE FESTIVAL LIVIGNO ITALY SNOW WWW.EUROPEANFREERIDEFESTIVAL.COM

FEBUARY 2-7 US SNOWBOARDING GRAND PRIX MAMMOTH MOUNTIAN,CA USA SNOW WWW.USSNOWBOARDING.COM 4-5 JACKET REQUIRED LONDON UK TRADE WWW.JACKET-REQUIRED.COM 5-8 ISPO MUNICH GERMAN TRADE WWW.MUNICH.ISPO.COM 6-8 TRANSILVANIA ROOKIE FEST ROMANIA ROMANIA SNOW WWW.WORLDROOKIETOUR.COM 7 AUDI SNOWBOARD SERIES SLOPESTYLE GRINDELWALD SWITZERLAND SNOW WWW.AUDISNOWBOARDSERIES.CH 10-13 REVOLUTION TOUR MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN,CA USA SNOW WWW.USSNOWBOARDING.COM 14 SWATCH FREERIDE WORLDTOUR ORDINO-ARCALIS ANDORRA SNOW WWW.WORLDSNOWBOARDGUIDE.COM 15-17 MODA SHOW BIRMINGHAM UK TRADE WWW.MODA-UK.CO.UK 16-18 AGENDA LAS VEGAS USA TRADE WWW.AGENDASHOW.COM 17-19 MAGIC LAS VEGAS, NV USA TRADE WWW.MAGICONLINE.COM 19-22 MAZDA SNOWBOARD JAMBOREE STONEHAM UK SNOW WWW.SNOWJAMBOREE.COM 21-22 AIR & STYLE LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA SNOW WWW.AIR-STYLE.COM 21-22 VALLEY RALLY VANS PENKEN PARK MAYRHOFEN AUSTRIA SNOW WWW.WORLDSNOWBOARDGUIDE.COM 23-1 US SNOWBOARDING GRAND PRIX PARK CITY- UTAH USA WWW.USSNOWBOARDING.COM 25-1 TRENTINO ROOKIE FEST TRENTO SNOW WWW.WORLDROOKIETOUR.COM 27-1 OLSO ROOKIE TEST OSLO NORWAY SNOW WWW.WORLDROOKIETOUR.COM 28-11 QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST AUSTRALIA SURF WWW.ASPWORLDTOUR.COM

MARCH 2-7 BURTON US OPEN VAIL, CO USA SNOW WWW.BURTON.COM 6-7 INDY PARK ROOKIE FEST JAPAN SNOW WWW.WORLDROOKIETOUR.COM 7 WHITESTYLE OPEN MÜRREN SWITZERLAND SNOW WWW.AUDISNOWBOARDSERIES.CH 9-11 SPORT ACHAT LYON FRANCE TRADE WWW.SPORTAIR.FR 14 SWATCH FREERIDE WORLDTOUR ALASKA SNOW WWW.WORLDSNOWBOARDGUIDE.COM 19-26 BASELWORLD BASEL SWITZERLAND TRADE WWW.BASELWORLD.COM 21-28 THE BRITS SKI & SNOWBOARD CHAMPS TIGNES FRANCES NOW WWW.THE-BRITS.COM 28 S WATCH FREERIDE WORLDTOUR VERBIER SWITZERLAND SNOW WWW.WORLDSNOWBOARDGUIDE.COM

APRIL 1-12 RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH BELLS BEACH AUSTRALIA SURF WWW.ASPWORLDTOUR.COM 7-12 VOLKL WORLD ROOKIE FINALS TIROL AUSTRIA SNOW WWW.WORLDROOKIETOUR.COM 15-26 MARGARET RIVER PRO MARGARET RIVER AUSTRALIA SURF WWW.ASPWORLDTOUR.COM 28-29 PERFORMANCE DAYS MUNICH GERMANY TRADE WWW.PERFORMANCEDAYS.EU

MAY 11-22

BILLABONG RIO PRO

RIO

BRAZIL

SURF

WWW.ASPWORLDTOUR.COM

AUSTIN, TEXAS

USA

SKATE

WWW.XGAMES.ESPN.COM

JUNE 4-7

SUMMER X GAMES

7-19 FIJI PRO TAVARUA FIJI SURF WWW.ASPWORLDTOUR.COM

124

ONE EYED MONSTER

#75

LIB TECH SALES MEETING

Friday’s Quirin and E-Jack Eric Jackson

Lib Tech’s Lindsey and Tobi

MBM’s Felix, Lib Tech’s Natalie & Onboard’s Tom are excited

Mervin Austria rep Didi with Mr Mike Olsen & Lib Tech’s Alex.

Mervin CEO Ryan with Mr Mervin himself

Mervin Co-Founder Pere Saari giving a toast to the Gnu and Lib Tech teams....

Mervin legends E-Jack, team manager and team rider Jesse Burtner and Kaitlyn Farrington

T-Rice getting weird on the new board range

MERVIN MANUFACTURING OPEN SHOWROOM IN MUNICH

And in the heart of it all - the mini ramp

DC’s Anna & Mervin’s Nathalie mixing up the portrait shots with some heavy posing...

Mervin’s Toby & former Munchie Konsilum’s Schorsch are taking bets right now

Skate ramps and snowboards where ever you look....

Gnu - Lib Tech - Roxy

Mervin’s Master DJ Konrad on the other hand stuck to his own set of decks

Snowboarder MBM’s Basti and Pleasure’s Michi with a little juggling number

while Ästhetiker’s Oli had to take to tough decision who gets to go first - skate offspring vs seasoned semi pro

O’NEILL PLEASURE JAM 2014

126

Aimee Fuller

crew of mighty shapers!

Dachstein Superpark Park Designer Andi made sure the set-up was more than perfect....

MC James & Love Snowboarding’s Seppi on the mics ensuring the crowd knew what was going on, supported by Pitzi

Media Dinner with Pleasure’s Michi Lehman, Rome’s Philipp & Pleasure’s Tassilo

Nitro’s Andi supporting his team too

Pleasure’s Fischi, SBES Magazine’s Alba & FM4 Radio’s Simon

Red Bull’s Mel & SBES’s Alba enjoyed the much-better-than-predicted-weather

127