Apparel sales up – Snowboard

10 May '08

2 min read

The snow sports products market grew by $280 million to reach $2.97 billion for the 2007.08 season, up from approximately $2.69 billion in all channels last season. Equipment sales were relatively flat in specialty shops and chain stores but increased by more than $40 million in online sales.

Apparel sales increased by more than $100 million with snowboard tops and parkas selling very well in all channels. Kurt Widen, KJUS USA COO says, "The US market is challenging especially in these difficult economic times.

However, snowfall is a great equalizer in our market, and early snowfall in the 07/08 ski season helped jump start sales in our segment.

This along with strong sell through and continued growth in awareness of our relatively young brand positioned us well for the 08/09 order season where we saw a 27% increase over last year."

Healthy sales of helmets, goggles and snowshoes led increases in accessories sales that grew by $64 million this season in specialty shops and online. "It's hard to imagine a better season in the accessories business.

We sold out of helmets and our goggle supply was similarly tight thanks to a season where every region had record snowfall and every resort was open," states Blair Clark, SMITH Optics, Sr. VP, Marketing and Sales.

Chain store sales were not measured in 2006.07, however, in the 2005.06 season, total chain sales reached $537 million and this season they increased to $616 million. Trending was used to estimate total chain store sales at $578 million for the 2006.07 season.

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SnowSports Industries America (SIA)

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