Exel’s main challenger in Nordic Walking poles, One Way Sport of Finland, is launching a new technical line of shoes and boots with a Nordic look for the Spring/Summer 2009 season. The new project will be led by Matthias Faller, a German-based sales and marketing executive who spent the last four years as Exel’s sales manager in Germany.
Faller, who previously worked for Nike and The North Face, will join the company in late Summer and will be based in Germany. Reporting to Andreas Bennert, president of One Way Sport, he will also be responsible for general brand development as a vice president of the company.
Developed in Montebelluna and featuring Vibram soles, the new footwear range will include after-ski boots, Nordic walking boots, trail running shoes and technical sandals. It will be marketed initially in North America, the Nordic countries, Italy and France. Rossignol will market the line in North America, where it represents all the products of One Way Sport.
Earlier, last summer, One Way Sport launched its first range of floorball products, selling them mainly in Finland, Scandinavia, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. It has signed up several first-division floorball clubs in Finland. The business started out well and it is not sure whether the company would be interested in Exel’s floorball operations (see previous story).
One Way Sport doesn’t want to disclose its turnover, but says it continued to make a net profit in 2007, with a margin of 3 percent. Its sales of cross-country ski and Nordic walking poles continued to improve.
