Latest Headlines – Page 507
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Swiss Retailers Scored Well In The Winter
The Swiss market didn’t fare better than the French one in the past calendar year. ASMAS, the country’s sporting goods retailers’ association, estimates that it grew overall by only 1-2 percent to about 2 billion Swiss francs (€1,269m-$1,539m), excluding bicycles. Footwear did much better than clothing. However, the 2005/06 ...
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Women And Seniors Practice Sport More In Switzerland
In Switzerland, a rich country that tends to set trends in consumer behavior, people aged between 60 and 69 are sportier than those between the ages of 30 and 59, according to the recently released Mach Consumer 2005 study. The relative availability of free time and a desire to stay ...
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Byron Hero Resurfaces In Ciesse Piumini’S Buyout
Ciesse Piumini, an Italian sports apparel brand connected with the origins of the down jacket in Tuscany more than 20 years ago, has been taken over by a management team backed by Global Yield Fund, which belongs to an international investment fund called GEM or Global Emerging Markets. The transaction ...
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Russian Bicycles Should Come To The Eu Soon Via Kaliningrad
Alisa has opened a factory in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, where it plans to assembly children’s bicycles and other types of bikes, initially for the Russian market. Because of its geographical location – between Poland and Lithuania and facing Sweden across the Baltic Sea – an expansion into the ...
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Dahon May Produce In Europe
Dahon Bicycles will have its folding bicycles manufactured for the Chinese market through a deal with the Kelin Group, a bicycle producer located in Northern China, and the company will soon announce similar plans for manufacturing in Europe. The expansion will be made through alliances, particularly with OEM production and ...
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O’Neill Europe Is Shaken By A Battle For Control And The Loss Of Its Ceo
An intense battle is raging in the Netherlands over the ownership of Joint Services International (JSI), the company that holds the license for O’Neill in Europe. Marcel Boekhoorn, a deep-pocketed Dutch investor, has offered €160 million for the company, trumping another bid by a consortium that includes Theo Dietz, JSI’s ...
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Dutch Retailer Expands Abroad, Claiming Ownership Of The Sports World Trade Name
A legal dispute is likely to emerge around the ownership of the Sports World name, as a Dutch retailer is seeking expansion under that banner in the Netherlands and Spain. The Dutch Sports World claims that it has registered the name for the entire Benelux region, while the eponymous English ...
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Sport 2000 Stops The Deal With Amazon
Deeply attached to their traditions, the retail members of Sport 2000 in Germany have responded with furor to the letter circulated a few days ago by the management of the buying group, announcing the board decision to strike a strategic alliance with the Amazon.de internet portal. As a result, Sport ...
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Karstadt Improves Its Finances
Karstadt-Quelle has orchestrated a major leaseback deal that will allow the German retail group to reduce its reported debt sharply. The real estate assets related to 12 of the company’s 24 Karstadt Sporthouses, to 85 of its remaining department stores and to a variety of other structures are being sold ...
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Titus Refocuses On Retailing
After three years of losses, Titus, the German skateboarding company, has closed down its wholesale distribution business and divested nearly all other side activities to concentrate exclusively on retailing. Just three years ago Titus chalked up sales of about €70 million, with a raft of production, distribution and marketing ...
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Adidas And Reebok Drop Out Of Ispo
Adidas has announced that it will stop showing at ISPO, the fair that it helped to create as the occupant of Hall 1 in the former fairgrounds in downtown Munich. The decision also applies to Reebok, another big brand which it has just bought. The Big a, which has been ...
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Columbia Sportswear Acquires Pacific Trail Brands
Columbia Sportswear outbid Perry Ellis for the acquisition of Pacific Trail, a low-priced American outerwear label, and its four secondary brands - Towne outerwear and rainwear, Pac Tec performance outerwear, Black Dot surf apparel and Moonstone mountain equipment. Columbia landed the Pacific Trail portfolio for $20.4 million, 41 percent higher ...
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New Balance Accelerates Growth In Europe To Over 20%
While its sales in the USA were relatively flat at just over $1 billion last year, New Balance is in a clear growth mode in Europe, where the company has much more potential. Its revenues in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region grew by 22 percent to £59 ...
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Asics Grows Very Fast In Europe, Too
Like New Balance, ASICS may be benefitting in part from Adidas’ and Nike’s strong focus on football in the run-up to this year’s World Cup to consolidate their strong positions in the running segment of the European market. Both brands are very old, too, and they are both capitalizing on ...
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New European Sales Manager For Cascade Designs
Bruno Coffre, who acted as European sales manager at New Balance until last October, has been recruited as European sales director of Cascade Designs. This job was previously handled by Schuyler Horton, who has been promoted to the new position of global sales manager, based at the outdoor equipment company’s ...
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Exel Teams Up With Reebok For Nordic Walking In America
Exel Oy, the Finnish company that spread Nordic Walking in Europe, has teamed up with Reebok to promote the sport in the American market. The collaboration is steered by Exel’s U.S. subsidiary in Georgia, Vermont. The Finnish company has been trying to popularize Nordic Walking in North America for several ...
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Gaastra Is Set To Double Revenues
Gaastra Sportswear, the Dutch nautical and lifestyle apparel brand, has set out a goal to double its sales over the next three years through the development of its export business and of its range of women’s clothing. The growth in these two fields of activity lifted up Gaastra’s overall turnover ...
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Li Ning Reports Increases
Li Ning is entering important new accounts such as El Corte Inglés in Spain. However, stressing that the brand holds third place for market share in China behind Nike and Adidas, Li Ning says it will continue to focus on its home market for at least three more years, until ...
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Sport 2000 Welcomes Amazon As A Retail Member In Germany
Amazon.de, the German subsidiary of Amazon.com, was going to set up its own sporting goods portal. To this effect, it approached Sport 2000 last November to explore opportunities for cooperation. After some initial scepticism and a series of discussions and the consent of its advisory board, Sport 2000 Deutschland has ...
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E-commerce Escapes The Uk Sports Market’S Downturn
The UK market for athletic shoes and apparel declined in 2005, according to research done by NPD Sports Tracking Europe, cancelling the strong gains of the previous year, but sales of these products over the internet rose sharply. Overall, retail sales of athletic shoes slid by 0.1 percent to about ...
