Ski Press World Inc. - Index

Ski Press World Inc. - SIA Day 4 - Index

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RETAILERS SPEAK OUT ABOUT SKI AND SNOWBOARD APPAREL’S TOP TRENDS,
HOT ITEMS AND SELLING TIPS FOR THIS WINTER AND BEYOND
DEREK JOHNSON
Managing director of rental-retail,
Aspen Skiing Company, Aspen, Colorado
Hottest trends: Solids, bright colors and hooded
sweatshirts.
DEREK JOHNSON
Best selling tips: Diversify. We just opened up
Managing a shop only director for beginners of rental-retail,
called Four Mountain
Aspen Beginners Skiing Magic, Company, and a shop Aspen, specifi Colorado
cally for female
Hottest customers trends: called Solids, D & E bright Women. colors and hooded
sweatshirts.
Best selling tips: Diversify. We just opened up a shop
only for beginners called Four Mountain Beginners
Magic, and a shop specifi cally for female customers
called D & E Women.
SUE BOOKER
Manager, Loveland Sports Shop, Loveland Ski Area,
Georgetown, Colorado
Hottest color trends: Turquoise and brown combinations and green.
Hot women’s clothing lines: Orage, performance wear from Arc’teryx and Marmot, Nordica
apparel, DNA and Icebreaker. Snowboard clothing that rocks continues to be Sepia, Cappel,
Volcolm and 686.
Favorite merchandising tips: It’s important to keep it looking fresh and new. Men buy
lots of ski wear in our shop but they seem to come in and look for a specifi c item and that’s
it. Women like to fi nd coordinates. A customer may purchase only one ski outfi t a season,
but they buy several sweaters, jeans and active wear. We merchandise more by color than
brand and group active wear with apparel.
KATHY BURKE
Soft goods buyer, Cole Sport,
Park City, Utah
Hottest trend: Coordinating accessories for each outfi t (helmet, goggles, skis, boots and
poles) to match the clothing.
Hot new products: Hell is For Heroes jackets because they have a great design, amazing
fi t and beautiful construction. The designer uses extraordinary design elements inspired
by Native Americana.
As a category, luxury items are hot and Italian fashion is the ultimate in luxury. By utilizing the
fi nest fabrics, exquisite furs and design details, brands like Postcard and Authier are leading
the fashion trends. From a technical standpoint, I like Eider’s Indie Ride group for men and
women. Eider’s velvet cord gives richness to the fabric and uniqueness to the styling.
KATRINE WOLFGANG
Owner and buyer, Pinnacle Ski and Sports,
Stowe, Vermont and the web store, Ski Essentials
Fastest-selling items: So far, it’s Roxy clothing and
goggles, CW-X uninsulated tights, Under Armour’s
new winter line and lightweight hats like beanies or
colorful skullcaps for under helmets.
Best selling tips: Put your layering pieces an arm’s
length away from your shell jackets so it’s easy to
hand to your customer to try on, always talk to your
customers to fi gure out if they ski cold or hot —
then you can move them in the right direction and
clinic your sales staff about the clothing you sell and
have them try everything on so they know the fi t.
36 SNOWPRESS DAY 4 skipressworld.com/snowpress
KIM WALKER
Owner, Outdoor Divas,
Boulder, Colorado
KIM WALKER
Favorite women’s brands: Snow Angel. Like our
store, they focus only on women and are able to
Owner,
offer a large
Outdoor
variety
Divas,
of product and sizing.
Boulder,
Trends in
Colorado
women’s apparel: Larger manufacturers
Favorite
are dedicating
women’s
more
brands:
of their
Snow
collections
Angel.
to women.
Like our
store,
Most
they
large
focus
brands
only on
now
women
offer
and
as many
are able
SKU’s
to offer
for
a
women
large variety
as they
of
do
product
for men.
and sizing.
Trends in women’s apparel: Larger manufacturers
are dedicating more of their collections to women.
Most large brands now offer as many SKUs for
women as they do for men.
SKIP BEITZEL
Owner, Hickory & Tweed,
Armonk, New York
Hottest trend: Cold weather and snow up North!
Favorite new product: KJUS skiwear for its fabulous fi t and fabrics.
Best selling tips: We try to segregate customers like women and snowboarders to their
own “places” in the store. For instance, the new snowboard “grotto” is loaded with our
favorite apparel from Burton.
TRACY GIBBONS
Owner, president, active general manager and
hard goods buyers for Sturtevants, Bellevue, Wash.
Best selling products: All GORE-TEX products are a well-driven market in the Northwest.
We have typically sold a lot of shell jackets, but now we’re seeing more insulated
jackets selling. This is allowing people to wear a thick base layer and then a jacket with
a little insulation. The insulation has gotten so much better; you don’t have to have
that puffy look if you don’t want to because the fabrics are coming in a waterproof
GORE-TEX fabric.
KAREN NESTOR
Owner, soft goods buyer,
Nestor’s Sporting Goods,
Whitehall, Pennsylvania
Hottest trend: Without a doubt the youth-inspired
clothing is taking off. The apparel that’s being
bought by 12- to 20- year-olds and the lines that
are attractive to them are fashion forward with
textured fabrics, prints and wild tones. Our most
popular brands are Volcom, Burton, Session, Roxy,
Quiksilver, Obermeyer, Nikita and Bonfire. The
North Face is starting a whole new freeride line
called Cryptic with a very youthful look. The older
skier is looking for more technology. If they’re going
to buy something, it has to be special. That’s why
KJUS has been doing well. It’s really comfortable over a broad range of temperatures. Also
Arc’terxy and Cloudveil offer a lot of technical outfi ts.
Flying off the racks: A category that I call tech hoodies, which are basically the front zip
hoody but in technical fabric, are strong for streetwear and the mountain for both parents
and kids. They’re not outrageously priced, but they have technical features to them and
a great look. — INTERVIEWS BY KRISTA CRABTREE
VOLVO — OFFICIAL CAR OF