Sports-Pool AG, the Swiss company behind the Belowzero brand of ski and snowboard apparel, has merged with Zimtstern, another marketer of sports apparel, notably for snow sports, biking and street wear. Zimstern's staff of 17 people will remain on board, but its headquarters in Zurich will move to Belowzero's office in the Swiss town of Suhr next December.
The merger will allow Sports-Pool, which also develops private label collections, to propose a broader offer to its retail customers. The move, which came after the appointment of Thomas Triet as chief executive of Sports-Pool, is set to enhance the synergies between various product categories and to stimulate future growth. Triet previously served as Zimtstern's vice president in charge of production. Being with Zimtstern for the last eight years, Triet has also been involved in key account management and has acted as chief operating officer.
The new CEO of Sports-Pool said that it was still too early to describe its future strategy in terms of the differentiation between Belowzero and Zimstern. However, Zimtstern will remain true to its DNA of highly functional performance apparel for action sports enthusiasts. Belowzero will continue to focus on snow sports garments.
Zimtstern was founded by Thomas Meyer and Reto Kuster in 1995. Meyer will stay with the newly created combination to steer the Zimtstern brand, but Kuster left the company a while ago.
At the top of Sports-Pool, Triet replaces Bruno Guntern who will remain with the company, managing a “special products” business unit for private label merchandise. Sports-Pool is a 100 percent subsidiary of Oel-Pool AG, a fuel trader, an operator of gasoline stations and a provider of energy services that has diversified into other industries in recent years.
