Alpinus, the Polish brand of outdoor products, will be launched in several European countries from the United Kingdom to Russia in September. Euromark, the UK-controlled Polish company that bought the rights to the Alpinus trade name in various steps after its bankruptcy three years ago, is planning a wide relaunch, but it is skipping Germany, a country where VauDe claims rights to the brand name. The owner of the German outdoor company, Albrecht von Dewitz, was among the leading shareholders of Alpinus before it went bankrupt.
The Polish company previously created the other major Polish outdoor brand, Campus, but it could not do much under this other brand name in the Western world because it was already registered by others in parts of Western Europe and in the USA. In Western Europe, Euromark will use the Khyam brand to act as a substitute for Campus in the second-price range. This brand is currently used by Eurotech, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Euromark, for its tents - the backbone of a UK business that represented sales of about £3.2 million (€4.7m-$5.5m) last year. To this end, the Khyam brand will likely be extended to include a full range of outdoor equipment and clothing. Meanwhile, the products offered in the Polish stores should be completed with a fourth brand, Stir Crazy, which was just launched by the same company at the ISPO fair in Munich as a fashion-oriented label.
Euromark will open a store in the South of England that will be called Planet Outdoor, just like its own stores in Poland. Over the next years, Euromark intends to roll out the Planet Outdoor store concept on its own or through franchises or other partnerships in Russia, the Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where the company already distributes its other outdoor brand, Campus. It currently has 22 stores in Poland, including four Planet Outdoor units that belong to Euromark. The company is now targeting up to 40 more openings across Eastern Europe and England.
Euromark’s involvement in the Polish market stems from an odd encounter at an outdoor fair in England in 1991, when Tim Roberts sought refuge from the pouring rain in an old-fashioned tent. Himself the owner of a British tent manufacturing business, Roberts struck up a conversation with his host, who turned out to be Polish. The man worked for Aviotex, a formerly state-owned tent company with 800 employees who looked certain to become jobless. Roberts gave them a large order he had just received from the British Army, to replace tents that had been lost in the Iraqi war.
Over the following years, Roberts worked closely with Tomasz Kosk, a former director of Aviotex , to sell tents and camping equipment under the Euromark brand name in Poland. Now Roberts indirectly owns 96 percent of Euromark, and the balance is in the hands of Kosk.
By 1997 the Polish outdoor market had taken off through Alpinus, which obtained an exclusive Gore-Tex license and opened scores of stores. Euromark followed suit with the launch of Campus, a lower-priced outdoor brand with a broad apparel and footwear range. Since Aviotex had gone out of business, this range was manufactured in the Far East.
When Alpinus began to run into financial trouble in 2002, there were various discussions regarding a joint venture and restructuring with Euromark. However, Roberts refused to tie up with the debt-plagued market leader, eventually acquiring the rights to the trademark from one of the three banks that supported Alpinus. The remaining Alpinus stores were acquired by its managers, who are currently trading under the Hi Mountain banner. The Alpinus brand is only just returning to the shelves, although Euromark formally acquired the rights in 2004. The company spent many months negotiating to regain the Gore-Tex license, which had been lost as part of the bankruptcy proceedings, and dealing with a court case against some former Alpinus managers.
