Backed up by three partners, the founders of Extrem, Stefan Cederberg and Patrik Söderlund, have bought back the alpine ski brand they launched in 1981 and the Swedish manufacturing facility of Skigutane, the Norwegian company that acquired Extrem three years ago.
The three partners are Carl Geijer, who previously launched the Goodha ski brand; Anders Selvehed, former Swedish general manager of Career Builder, a U.S. online job search portal; and Johan Hjelte, vice president for marketing at the same company across Europe.
These three managers and the two founders of Extrem are launching a new company, Åre Skidfabrik AB, which has three main assets: the machinery and plant of the former Skigutane ski factory; the ownership of all rights to the Extrem brand; and the same for Custom Made, a concept that enables customers to design their own skis online. Geijer will move to Åre to serve as chief executive, while Hjelte and Selvehed will work from Stockholm as sales managers.
The manufacturing plant, which is described as the only alpine ski factory in Scandinavia, employs five people and turns out about 2,000 pairs of skis per year. Along with Extrem and Custom Made, it will continue to make backcountry skis for Åsnes, a brand that is still owned by Skigutane; and Hendryx Skis, an independent Swedish ski brand.
While this production should provide financial stability for the factory, the investors also want to push the Extrem brand. It enjoys a very strong reputation among freeride skiers in Sweden, but found it hard to reach customers in the last two years and has yet to explore other countries. The skills of the investors in marketing and online business are a central part of their projects with Extrem.
