The Slovenian ski company has extended its partnership with Dalbello, the Italian ski boot maker, to cover the United States from the beginning of next year, forming a joint venture that would like to become the largest joint supplier of boots and skis in the American market.

The two companies are terminating their previous distribution agreements with their respective current partners for the U.S. market - Blizzard and Tecnica – which can be regarded as a natural move following Tecnica Group’s acquisition of Blizzard (see previous article). Elan felt that its arrangement with Dolomite, one of the components of the Tecnica group, was lacking critical mass.

Elan and Dalbello are already working together in Canada, Japan and Germany, and the tie-up has proved particularly effective on the Germany market where their joint operation sells about 50,000 pairs of Elan skis, accounting for about 10 percent of the national market. Elan was previously working in Germany with another Slovenian firm, Alpina.

Dalbello is the third-largest supplier of alpine ski boots on the U.S. market with about 86,000 pairs sold last year, behind Salomon and Nordica. During the carving ski craze Elan was selling about 125,000 pairs of alpine skis annually there, commanding a market share of 12 percent, but its annual U.S. sales have since dropped to about 38,000 pairs, a score that has remained more or less stable over the last years.

The two companies believe that their business will be boosted by the enlarged scale of the U.S. operation and the conjunction of their specialist sales forces. Four members of Elan’s staff will be moving from their current location in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, to Dalbello’s office in Andover in the same state. They include Jeff Turner, sales manager, and Bill Irvine, rental manager. Elan will share Dalbello’s warehouse.