Latest Headlines – Page 284
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New directions at Fusalp
Fusalp is the French sports apparel company that pioneered the so-called “fuseau,” a highly technical style of stretch ski pants attached to the foot in the early 1950s. They were worn by many famous champions like Jean-Claude Killy in the 1960s, leading Fusalp to become the biggest supplier of skiwear ...
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Premium positioning pays off for Moncler
Moncler, which started up in France in 1952 making sleeping bags, has become the third-largest luxury goods company on the Milan stock exchange after Luxottica and Salvatore Ferragamo. The king of the down jacket is now trading with a stock market capitalization of around €3.7 billion, or nearly 40 times ...
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New Swiss-born CEO for Lululemon
Lululemon Athletica has appointed a new chief executive, Laurent Potdevin, to take the place of Christine Day, who served notice of her resignation last June. Observers were quick to speculate that the fast-growing Canadian brand of yoga-inspired apparel will develop more quickly outside North America and that it may bring ...
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A new women-specific retailer, Anima Athletica
A young French entrepreneur, Alexia Romanet, has opened her second women-specific store under the new Anima Athletica brand in Paris. She has been unable to buy any clothing from Lululemon Athletica because of the brand's insistence on a direct retailing mode in Europe, but she has obtained exclusivity on some ...
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Russell and Spalding change tactics in Europe
While repositioning both brands on a global basis, Fruit of the Loom is switching to a different business model for the distribution in Europe of Russell Athletic and Spalding, which it bought in 2006 along with Brooks Sport. Fruit of the Loom has decided to work with local players for ...
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Scott buys Powderhorn
Scott Sports is acquiring Powderhorn, a ski apparel brand from Switzerland that was previously owned by Christian Bättig, owner of Chris Sports Europe and Chris Sports Switzerland, two major distribution companies based in Germany and Switzerland. Chris Sports Europe sells, among other brands, Qloom Sports, a cycling apparel brand, and ...
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Johnson’s net doubles
Net income grew by 90.7 percent to €19.3 million at Johnson Outdoors for the financial year ended Sept. 27, mainly due to a lower tax rate. The gross margin went up by 0.3 percentage points to 40.1 percent. The operating margin improved by 0.8 percentage points to 6.0 percent for ...
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Ispo launches new Open Innovation platform
Messe München International, organizer of the Ispo shows in Munich and Beijing, is launching a new, independent “Ispo Open Innovation” platform to promote innovation in the sporting goods sector. The new platform, which is described as the first initiative of this kind by a trade fair organization, calls for the ...
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Bread & Butter will invite public on two days
From summer 2014, the Bread & Butter show in Berlin will be extended from three to five days, taking place on July 8-12 under the slogan “We are Bread & Butter. The global hub of modern lifestyle.” While the first day of the show will be only for members of the ...
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Quiksilver explores new paths after big losses
Quiksilver reported big losses for the fourth quarter and the full year ended Oct. 31, but the company’s new chief executive, Andy Mooney, assured investors that the numerous measures taken in the past year will start bearing fruit during the current financial year.Among these actions, the group divested its snowboard ...
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SDI upgrades its stores
Sports Direct International (SDI) is upgrading category management in its stores. The increasingly international U.K.-based retailer, which will report its half-year results later this week, still draws many customers with apparently huge discounts on its own brands and untidy displays suggesting unbeatable prices – a strategy that has enabled Sports ...
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Adidas reaffirms sales and margin goals
The Adidas Group's sales are forecast to expand at a high single-digit rate in constant currencies next year, as the company moves further toward its unchanged target to reach sales of €17 billion and a sustainable operating margin of 11 percent by 2015.This was part of the updates provided by ...
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Adidas extends Fifa partnership
Two weeks before the final draw for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil last Friday, Adidas and Fifa announced an extension of their 43-year-old partnership. The contract gives the Three Stripes extensive licensing rights around the event and exclusive signage in the stadia. Thousands of volunteers will wear its clothing. ...
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New management changes at Adidas
Paul Boerboom, general manager for the Benelux countries at the Adidas Group, is to start as director of European key accounts at the beginning of next year. This comes a few weeks after the group said it was setting up a new structure for Western Europe – partly meant to ...
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Team Sportia gets out of bankruptcy
The Swedish retailer has come out of its bankruptcy proceedings. The Gothenburg District Court, which had placed Team Sportia in insolvency last May, lifted it after 82 percent of creditors voted to write down a large portion of their claims. Over the next four months, Team Sportia will pay back ...
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JD buys Activinstinct
JD Sports Fashion has acquired a majority stake at an undisclosed price in Activinstinct, a British sporting goods retailer whose sales have been growing rapidly, reaching an annual level of £24 million (€28.7m-$39.2m) in the past financial year, ended in August. The company has been expanding abroad lately, starting with France ...
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Airesis sells Boards & More
A German private equity fund set up last year, Emeram Capital Partners, has agreed to take over Boards & More from Airesis and its management for about €40 million in a deal due to be finalized by the middle of this month. Boards & More markets the brands Fanatic Windsurfing, ...
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Green light for new Swix factory
Swix Sport has received the go-ahead to build a brand-new 10,000-square-meter production facility and warehouse in Lillehammer, Norway, that will take the place of its current smaller operations in the area by January 2016 at the latest. Various Swix products will be manufactured there, and the building will act as ...
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Moncler is going public
Moncler, the upscale brand of down jackets and other fashionable sports and leisurewear, announced the launch of its public offering on the Italian Stock Exchange on Nov. 27, in a price range of between €8.75 and €10.20 per ordinary share. The public offering period began on Nov. 28 and will ...
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Calida presents a formal offer for Lafuma
Calida Holding has made a formal proposal to refinance the starving Lafuma Group, owner of Oxbow and various outdoor brands. The Swiss company would inject €35 million worth of new equity into Lafuma, raising its stake to 50.6 percent, or 51.01 percent including the shares of Felix Sulzerger, chief executive ...
