Northwave, the Italian specialist in cycling and snowboarding footwear and accessories, exceeded its expectations for 2021, posting a 34 percent rise in revenues to €35.6 million. Export sales topped 85 percent, the main foreign markets being Germany, Italy, Spain and France. Management is looking to countries outside Europe for future growth.
The bike category enjoyed the greatest expansion over the year, in apparel and accessories as well as footwear. Northwave believes it is seeing the first fruits of investments in the all-terrain segment. “It’s no mystery that over the past two years the bike business has reaped the benefits of the Covid situation,” notes CEO Davide Rossetti in the company’s press release.
The snowboard category, however, struggled through the long closure of winter resorts throughout Europe.
Northwave has also set out in a new ecological direction. It has been collaborating with an Italian B Corp, ACBC, to produce its first shoe made with circular materials. The result is the Tailwhip Eco Evo, patterned after the MTB Tailwhip but incorporating an upper made entirely of RePet (recycled polyester from plastic bottles), an insole of ReFoam (recycled polyurethane foam) and a Michelin Hybrid sole that is 26 percent ReRubber (blend of virgin rubber and recycled scrap).
