Outdoor: Did you hear?…

>> Please join the entire SNEWS® and GearTrends® team in wishing good health to our industry friend, Malcolm Daly, president of Great Trango Holdings. Hold him in your prayers, if you are so inclined. Daly suffered a major heart attack on Saturday, March 6. He is currently in the intensive care unit at Montrose Hospital although we are told he is recovering nicely. Daly’s wife, Karen, is with him and anticipates being able to move Daly back to Boulder by the end of this week. True to form, Daly is being banished from the office and from checking his email until he is well, so in the meantime, forward your good thoughts by mail to: Malcolm Daly, Great Trango Holdings, Inc., 4699 Nautilus Court South, #504, Boulder, CO 80301. The staff has assured us they will make certain all cards and letters get to him in a timely fashion. Apparently, Daly spent the morning on March 6 leading a 120-foot vertical pillar of ice. Later that day, Daly began to feel discomfort in his chest and was taken to the hospital. According to folks at his company, Daly did suffer some heart damage due to severe blocking of the arteries.

>> If you haven’t already made plans to attend the OIA Capitol Summit from March 31 to April 1, don’t delay! It is your only opportunity to join other industry leaders to meet with members of Congress as well as policymakers and engage them in frank and direct discussion about policy and its effect on the outdoor industry. SNEWS will be there. We encourage everyone in the industry to join us. There has never been a more important time to stand up and be heard! For more information, go to www.outdoorindustry.org/events.capitol.html.

>> Mammut’s “FOG” advertising campaign that left a few folks here in the United States raising eyebrows trying to figure out what was being promoted, racked up the awards. The ad picked up first prize in the category “Sporting Goods” at the New York Advertising and Design Festival in July 2003. In November 2003, the German Anzeige 03 contest awarded the Mammut campaign a bronze medal for the same ad and one month later the company received another bronze medal at the 16th Eurobest Awards. Most recently, the Swiss ADC (Art Directors Club) honored the ad campaign with a silver medal in the category “best print advertising.”

>> Kelty tells SNEWS the company will once again be supporting a celebrated racing squad, its “ambassador” community outreach program, and a series of educational mountain bike camps, to continue the company’s mission of drawing attention and participation to the trailhead. The Luna Women’s Mountain Bike Team (www.lunabar.com/lunachix), also known as the “Luna Chix,” is a team of all-star female athletes competing in national and international events. The 2004 Luna Chix roster includes 2001 World Mountain Bike Champion Alison Dunlap, Marla Streb, Katerina Hanusova, Shonny Vanlandingham and Kathy Pruitt. Additionally, the Luna Chix have two chapters of athletic ambassadors who increase local mountain bike participation and raise awareness and support for The Breast Cancer Fund. The two ambassador programs are located in Boulder, Colo., and Berkeley, Calif. The Luna Chix team and ambassadors will utilize Kelty hydration packs and travel gear throughout the year, providing exposure for Kelty at race venues, special engagements and casual events. The Alison Dunlap Adventure Camps (http://alisondunlap.com/camps/index.html) “provide riders of all levels with an inclusive, challenging atmosphere to improve their skills.” Held in Moab, Utah, the five-day camps include both women’s-only and coed sessions, and include “under the rooftop” (condominium) or “under the stars” (camping) accommodations. Kelty will be promoted in conjunction with all Adventure Camp marketing, which includes correspondence with more than 10,000 IMBA members, and will provide each participant of the 2004 Adventure Camps with a new Kelty hydration pack.

>> UNITED KINGDOM — According to a recent survey of distributors and manufacturers by Outdoor i, a UK-based trade newsletter atwww.outdoori.com, 57.1 percent of the respondents think the outdoor specialty market in the U.K. is static, with 25.1 percent saying its growing and another 17.8 percent stating the market is in decline. Of those surveyed, a whopping 96.1 percent think there are too many suppliers in the outdoor market and 89.3 percent believe there is far too much product in the marketplace. As for the question surrounding outdoor retail consolidation, 96.4 percent believe the market will continue to contract.

>> Bite Footwear has announced it will donate 10 percent of the profits from the sale of the company’s new Orca sandal to the Center for Whale Research. Orca whales in the Pacific Northwest have faced many challenges over the last few years, including high infant mortality rates and the deterioration of their habitat. The Orca sandal’s webbing upper is Bite’s interpretation of traditional Native American art depicting whale tails. For more information on Bite, go to www.biteshoes.com or call 800-248-3465. For more information on the Center for Whale Research, go to www.whaleresearch.com.

>> On Feb. 24, a screening of Outside Television’s “Farther Than the Eye Can See” was held at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix as a fundraiser for the Foundation for Blind Children. The sold-out event raised $65,000 for the group, which has been serving blind children in the Phoenix area for over 50 years. That brings the total raised through this film to over $400,000 for organizations aiding blind and disabled children and adults. “Farther Than the Eye Can See” runs 75 minutes and is the first high-definition documentary from the summit of Everest. It is the story of blind mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer’s successful expedition to the top of Everest, an achievement that landed him on the covers of Outside and Time magazines when he and his team returned. The film has won the “Special Jury Award” at the Banff Film Festival, the “Best of Festival” award at the Taos Mountain Film Festival and the “grand Aventura Prize – Best in All Categories” at the Montreal International Adventure Film Festival. It has been the official selection of a dozen more film festivals over the past year and will be featured at the Newport Film Festival and Houston Film Festival in April.

>> Feel like sounding off regarding trade show dates in the winter? A fellow news service for the snow sports trade (SIN — www.snowindustrynews.com) has organized a survey of the industry with support from Atomic, Hotronic, Karhu and Leki. If you’re a retailer, click here. If you’re a rep click here. If you’re a vendor, click here. The survey only takes a few minutes and the results will be shared with the industry once the survey is completed.

>> UNITED KINGDOM — Karrimor, a UK-based manufacturer of specialty outdoor gear, sold for USD $7.4 million (GBP 4 million) within 24 hours of going into receivership. Lonsdale Sports, the new owner, acquired seven of the company’s Adventure Store retail locations, as well as the company’s intellectual property, stock, debt and assets. Pentland, owner of the Berghaus and Brasher brands, had been one of the bidders. The recovery firm that managed the sale of Karrimor is still seeking a buyer for 20 other Karrimor stores, we are told. Founded in the mid-1940s, the company began suffering once sold to an Italian firm, 21 Invest, in 1996. Karrimor was sold to a South African company, Cullanan, in 1999. According to a report in Outdoor i, Karrimor intends to liquidate stock in the eight stores to raise cash and then get out of the retail game altogether, focusing entirely on being a wholesale-only operation with a network of licensing and distributors internationally.

>> CLE International is inviting SNEWS readers to attend the second annual Conference on Recreation & Adventure Program Law & Liability to be held April 1-2 at the Marriott City Center Hotel in Denver. It will feature speakers from Association for Experimental Education, High Mountain Institute, National Outdoor Leadership School, National Ski Areas Association, and some of the nation’s top legal practitioners. For more information or to register, call 800-873-7130 or visit us at www.cle.com.

>> Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) has announced it is launching an integrated multichannel gift registry designed to make it easy to create and edit gift lists at any REI store, online at REI.com or by phone. REI has provided a registry service as an alternative for engaged couples for 20 years. Popular products have included classic camping gear, cook sets and high-tech gadgets, such as radios and GPS units. With the new service couples planning spring weddings can create a gift registry at home online or by phone, or select gear in a store using hand-held scanners to register items. Once created, the gift list can be easily monitored and edited online. When a gift is purchased anywhere in the country, the integrated database is updated in near real time. The registries can be accessed by gift purchasers online, by phone and through Internet kiosks in all of REI’s stores. Purchasers can select a gift box and card and have the gift sent directly to the couple or they can choose to wrap and deliver the gift themselves.

>> Dana Design has hired four more sales representatives to market the brand’s packs, travel bags and tents to specialty retailers in 17 states. Peter and Jen Grimes, based out of Frederic, Wis., cover Illinios, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota; Walter Earnest, based in Austin, Texas, now handles Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma; and Keith Reis from Boulder, Colo., is responsible for dealers in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah.

>> GoLite has hired Jerry Panowicz and Panowicz Marketing to be the company’s rep in the states of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas and Iowa. In addition to GoLite, Panowicz currently represents Merrell, Superfeet, Timex Sport and 180°. Panowicz Marketing can be reached at 913-681-1555 or via email at panomark@aol.com.

>> Five Ten has added Brian Block to its independent sales force. Block will be in charge of Five Ten’s Midwestern territory, including Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Michigan. Block, who attended Iowa State University to obtain a B.A. in philosophy, brings extensive experience to the job. He spent more than nine years at Iowa-based retailer Ames Outdoor. He’s also climbed extensively domestically and internationally, with ascents of Aconcaugua, Denali, Mt. Logan and the Mexican Volcanoes. In 2002, he won the Lyman Spitzer Award from the American Alpine Club for a new route attempt on the East Face of Denali.

>> Tecnica USA has named Bob Kimball to the position of brand promotions manager of its U.S. outdoor footwear division. Kimball’s primary responsibility will be to increase the Tecnica brand presence among consumers through grassroots events, sponsorships and promotions at the retail level. In addition, he will be responsible for managing Tecnica’s team of athletes and their activities.

>> Outside magazine has added Michael Cohen to the sales team as an account manager. He will work out of the New York office and report to the eastern advertising director, Skip Gilbert. Cohen was most recently the national account manager for Sporting News Sports Marketing Group. Prior to that, he was eastern advertising manager at Broadband Sports.