Interga has been appointed to sell the Hi-Tec and Magnum brands in Italy, as part of the adjustments in European distribution after the sale of Hi-Tec's assets to Cherokee Global Brands (CGB) late last year. Interga is a strongly-established firm that sells a mix of sports and lifestyle brands, such as Hummel, Gola and Uhlsport, and which belonged to the same group as the former Italian distributor for New Balance, Gartner Sports.
As previously reported, CGB went on to issue a master license for the Hi-Tec and Magnum brands to the Batra Group in nearly all of Western Europe and a few other countries. Hi-Tec and Magnum's business is supervised from Batra's European office in Watford, and operated by Hi-Tec Europe employees at the group's European office and distribution center in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, which was Hi-Tec's international head office until its move to Amsterdam in 2011. Hi-Tec Europe has thus become a division of the Batra group, which also holds rights to the Fila, Russell Athletic, Lotto and Sergio Tacchini brands in some European countries.
Batra is searching for other offices in London, to serve as a Hi-Tec design center for apparel and accessories, for which Batra has licensing rights in Western Europe and a wider partnership with CGB. It launched a small range at the OutDoor fair in Friedrichshafen last week. The brand is displayed at Batra's lifestyle apparel showroom in the trendy Shoreditch area of London, along with Fila and Russell Athletic. Batra will also be launching an apparel and accessory range next year for Magnum, the brand of uniform work and protection footwear previously owned by Hi-Tec International Holdings.
Hi-Tec International, the former head office in Amsterdam, continues to provide global product development and marketing support. However, back office functions covering European markets covered by Batra's license have been moved to Hi-Tec Europe in Southend-on-Sea. It recruited multi-lingual staff to service European markets.
The distribution rights for the Magnum brand in France and Switzerland have been attributed to Magnum Opus International, a company set up by Françoise and Paul Brooks. They are the daughter and son-in-law of Frank van Wezel, the founder of Hi-Tec, and Paul Brooks was formerly managing director for Hi-Tec France, based near Chamonix. The Hi-Tec brand is distributed in France through agents.
Erwin van Dop, former managing director for Hi-Tec and Magnum in the Benelux, Germany and Austria, has set up his own agency, Ervado Agencies, to become a sales consultant for the Magnum brand in the Netherlands. Ervado has also become the agent for Ternua and Lorpen in the Benelux countries, from the start of June. For this purpose, Van Dop has taken up a showroom in the Sports Business Center in Leusden.
Marc van Lierop from Lierop Agenturen in the Netherlands and Patrick van den Bosch from Sports Brand Development in Belgium, who were previously agents for Hi-Tec working with Hi-Tec International, have obtained a similar assignment in partnership with Hi-Tec Europe, although Van den Bosch covers the Magnum brand as well. Both agents have other customers, such as Falcon and Russell Athletic for Van Lierop Agenturen. Hi-Tec no longer has a warehouse in the Netherlands, as the company is moving stock to Southend-on-Sea, in a transition that should be completed at the end of his month.
The situation in Germany is nearly unchanged, as Dieter Maassen remains in charge of the German business, selling both the Hi-Tec and Magnum brands in Germany and Austria, and Hi-Tec in Switzerland, with Philipp Ruttgers as key account sales consultant.
There are a few exceptions to the footwear distribution rights held by Batra in Europe. The largest is Eastern Europe, where Martes Sport remains a license-holder for footwear, apparel and accessories across the Hi-Tec and Magnum brands. Another is Spain and Portugal, where the Fernández family holds rights for footwear distribution.
Interga's appointment in Italy is not entirely unrelated to Batra, since the company already sells the Russell Athletic brand, among many others. Hi-Tec Europe is searching for partners for the Hi-Tec brand in a few European countries, particularly in the Scandinavian markets. Sales in the Greek market are covered directly by Hi-Tec International.
The entire European business is supervised by a board composed of Rajiv Batra, the Batra Group's executive chairman for Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA), Rudy Rudran, the same group's chief executive for EMEA, and Ian Cameron, managing director of Hi-Tec Europe.
Meanwhile, CGB reported a small sales increase to $11.1 million for the three months until April 29, the first quarter of its fiscal year, but this includes the contribution from Hi-Tec. On a comparable basis, sales were down by 51.4 percent due to a sharp drop in sales for the Cherokee brand in North America, while demand increased in Europe, Asia and South Africa. The company suffered a loss of $3.3 million for the quarter and said it was negotiating to secure amendments in its credit facilities, as it failed to comply with certain covenants. The loss was blamed on the inclusion of operating costs of $3.6 million for Hi-Tec in the quarter.
