Observers are wondering whether there will be enough place in store shelves and in the market for so many more SKUs under so many different brands, especially for technical sports apparel and accessories. Many companies are making the move into apparel in the wake of the likes of Black Diamond, whose hardgoods won many product awards at the recent Outdoor Retailer, Ispo Munich and SIA shows, partly based on synergies with two newly acquired companies, Poc Sweden and PIEPS.

As reported in the previous issue, Rossignol has made a more forceful push into the garment sector. It has done so with a highly diversified technical and lifestyle collection that was also shown for the first time at the Pitti Uomo fair in Florence. At least three other ski brands, Atomic (see the article on Amer Sports in this issue), K2 and Armada, came out with large collections of skiwear at the Ispo Munich show a few days ago.

Known mainly for its first-layer garments, Odlo made the widely remarked introduction of a light and seamless ski racesuit at the Ispo show with special climate regulation features, in addition to other types of clothing. The company's diversification into the multi-layer segment is run by the company's new chief executive, Jonas Ottoson, who has run Peak Performance in the past (see the article on this company in this issue).

Ziener, the German brand for gloves and snow wear, extended its cooperation with Gore Tex from accessories to apparel, with the first ski apparel collection with Gore Tex presented at Ispo 2014.

Knitwear companies are fully in this trend. Bridgedale, the well-known Irish manufacturer of wool socks, is coming out with its first ranges of headwear and gloves, following in the footsteps of Seal Skinz (see also the article in the management section of the News Briefs), the British manufacturer of waterproof socks, which began a similar diversification in 2010.

Sätila, a Swedish brand of ski hats founded in 1896 that still makes its knitted products in-house, launched its first collection of underwear at Ispo. The collection includes underwear and socks and is 100 percent made with merino wool, manufactured in Sweden at the company's own factory.

Scott Sports Group, which has already made many other diversification moves before, further expanded its product range for the Ispo show, adding among other things a full line of ski boots following the takeover of selected assets of Garmont in this domain. The expansion of the range will help Scott to implement a new shop-in-shop concept for the brand. The program will involve about ten retailers in France this year.

As it plans to further develop its softgoods segment, the Swiss company has strengthened its marketing and distribution team. It appointed Joscha Harms as marketing manager for softgoods and for the running segment in mid-2013 and Christian Hengge as softgoods marketing coordinator in September. Before joining Scott, Hengge worked in the marketing department of W. L. Gore.

Among the footwear companies, Kamik is launching its first line of outerwear for children through a licensee, Gusti, which is already working with Osh Kosh and other brands. Some models have been adapted for the European market. Gusti was founded in Montreal seven years ago by managers who had worked previously for companies such as Adidas and Lotto.

Kamik is following in the footsteps of Pajar Canada, another local producer of cold-weather footwear that launched its own apparel line through a licensee a few years ago. It is already sold in 40 countries, and along with other products, it has allowed Pajar to launch its own store and shop-in-shop system, which was shown at Ispo Munich and other fairs.

Giro is moving from being a pure helmet brand to other product segments. Its first cycling apparel line was launched at Ispo. The company appointed Melina Holzer as category manager for apparel in autumn last year. Mattia Berradi replaces her in her previous post as category manager for snow sports.

Caroline Merger, who previously worked for Shimano and Lapierre, has been appointed as category manager for Giro's cycling line, responsible for all of Giro's cycling products including helmets, footwear, apparel and accessories They currently account for 60 percent of sales under the brand, while the snow sports product line, including helmets, goggles and accessories, accounts for the balance of 40 percent.