Ski Press World Inc. - Index

Ski Press World Inc. - SIA Day 3 - Index

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While exhibitors are busy wheeling and dealing this year, no
one will be doing it better than San Diego’s Sector 9, which
is promoting its new line of skateboards at this year’s show.
Founded in Southern California in 1993 by a group of surfing,
snowboarding and skateboarding buddies, the company,
which regularly attends the Surf Expo and
ASR shows, has grown from its backyard roots
into a bonafi de business that’s now bursting
at its skateboarding seams. “We exhibited in
2000 but haven’t been back since,” says EG
Fratantaro, who co-founded the company with
friends Steve Lake, Dennis Telfer and Dave Klimkiewicz.
“We’re strictly skateboards, but we’re in a lot of
mountain towns and a lot of snowboard shops carry us.
This is a great chance to sit down and have a beer with our
buyers.” — EUGENE BUCHANAN
You’d think that a company named for an eight-legged
arachnid would’ve thought of this sooner. Nevertheless,
ski apparel manufacturer Spyder Active Sports of Boulder,
Colo., is fi nally fi nding its footing in another product line
with the launch of Spyder Footwear.
Licensed to Paramus, N.J.’s Catchlight Fashions which will
handle manufacturing, sales and distribution, the new
entity isn’t wasting any time with the launch. Piggybacking
on Spyder’s existing dealer network, the company already
has 140 different product SKUs in store, including men’s
and women’s shoes and boots and children’s boots. “That’s
a lot of footwear,” says Catchlight Sales Director Howard
Ruff, adding that price points range from $100 to $500.
As for its licensing agreement with Catchlight, Spyder President
Jake Jacobs couldn’t be happier. “We were looking for
14 SNOWPRESS DAY 3 skipressworld.com/snowpress
the right partner to bring the same ethos of innovation,
technology and brand position to footwear as Spyder does
to apparel.” — EB
SIA CHAIRMAN TO REF BIG GAME
SIA Board Chairman
Mike Carey
Spyder Vice President Sales
Howard Ruff
Aside from staying inbounds, wearing helmets and surviving a few bumps,
there aren’t too many similarities between skiing and football. Don’t tell that
to SIA Board Chairman Mike Carey, who’s taking his savvy from the ski industry
to the gridiron this Sunday as the fi rst ski-industry executive — and African
American — to ref football’s biggest game.
Carey, who owns Poway, California’s Seirus Innovative Accessories and has
been involved with SIA for more than 25 years, has spent 18 years as a referee
for the NFL.
This Sunday, he’ll don his zebra stripes when the Giants face the Patriots in
Mesa, Arizona. Regardless of how the Manning/Brady duel pans out, SnowPress
offers these helpful comparisons between the sports — EB
Sector 9 Sales Customer Service
Devon Beck
HEAD TO HEAD
FOOTBALL SKIING
Like to hit: Quarterback Quarterpipe
Start
playing with:
Points for:
“Hut, hut,
hike!”
Touchdown/
Splitting
the uprights
Hike to hut
Touchdown/
Splitting
the uprights
Work the: Sidelines Treelines
Goal:
Secure fi rst
down
Powered by: Massive
quads
Be fi rst
down
Highspeed
quads
Avoid: Wipeout Wipeout
SIA: Snow, Kids
and Twin Tips
Equal Strong Sales
So far this season, from August to December, the
snow sports market has grown 13% in dollar sales.
In other words, while economists talk recession, our
industry is enjoying strong growth. Heavy snowfall
has helped pry open consumers’ wallets; they’ve
spent $1.9 billion in the snow sports market — $541.4
million on equipment, $791.5 on apparel and $581.9
million on accessories.
The Internet is still ablaze, driven by higher equipment
sales, with 44% more units sold and 46% dollar
growth. Alpine skis sales were up 119% in units and
102% in dollars. Apparel continues to sell extremely
well online, accounting for more than 40% of all
sales. The Internet channel is poised to overtake the
chain store channel in units and dollars by March.
Driven by heavy snow, Nordic equipment sales took
off this season with increases of 39% in units and
37% in dollars in brick-and-mortar specialty shops.
Online Nordic equipment sales were up 39% in dollars
and 42% in units, with sales totaling $22.9 million
in all channels.
Adult twin tip skis now dominate the snow sports
ski market with more units sold than any other fl at
(non-system) ski type in any sales channel. More than
47,000 adult twin tip fl at skis have sold so far this
season. Sales of twin tip fl at skis were up 32% in units
and dollars in specialty shops and an incredible 167%
in units and 170% in dollars online.
Twin tip systems are doing equally well in terms of
growth, but far fewer units are sold than twin tip fl at
skis. In specialty retail, 2,418 twin tip systems were
sold this season — an increase of 241% in units. But
that pales compared to the 27,474 adult twin tip fl at
skis sold in shops.
Worried that not enough kids are getting on the
slopes and becoming lifelong snow sports participants?
You’ll be glad to hear that 65,800 junior fl at
skis and 23,097 junior ski systems have sold so far this
season — and more than 80% of them sold in specialty
brick-and-mortar shops. In fact, overall, the top selling
ski model this season is a junior model.
With the snow still falling and sales heating up,
expect the market to show increased sales across
the board through January.
Close to half of all dollars in reported sales so far this
season were spent in December after the snow started
falling. If the snow keeps coming and the market maintains
its current course, sales growth will be in double
digits at the end of the season. — SUSAN SCHNIER
VOLVO — OFFICIAL CAR OF