Monday, May 19, 2008

Team America - Update

Bode and Team have been busy getting ready for next season. We just got an update from Warner Nickerson who just returned from Austria where he did some testing of new skis with Bode.

I've been home for a few days now, but that trip was pretty wild. We only ended up training three days, but not because of the weather. The weather was absolutely perfect for our entire stay. For Bode the main objective was to find or help develop good slalom skis. And after two days of slalom training he was psyched with two models. The days we skied slalom we'd drive up the 30 minute access road to arrive half way up Kauntertal by 6:30 AM. Just in time for a warm up run or two and a slip run before we dove right into training. I was skiing on four different pairs of slalom skis taking two runs in the course on each pair. Bode had 6 different pairs so he only took two runs on a couple pairs of skis, if any, since he took a few runs on his speed skis before Rainer and I finished up in the course.

Either way, it was a great set up. We were lapping around on a snow mobile and those guys were hammering. There were a few times when I was getting pulled on a relatively flat section where we were easily doing high 60s (mph not k's) the only thing I was thinking was don't catch an edge… please, don't catch an edge. With GS skis it was pretty moderate, but with slalom skis it was certainly squirrelly. We were able to get 8 runs in before the mountain opened at 9:00 and we were off the hill by 10:00 when it started to warm up a little. The snow was great and the training was better.
We're heading to New York tomorrow to meet up with Bode to take care of some planning for next season and then attend an event that his sponsor SuperFund is hosting. We'll be updating throughout the trip on twitter. Follow us here.


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Thursday, May 15, 2008

KJUS Spirit Collection Preview

This fall KJUS is introducing a new collection of casual apres skiwear. The collection includes sweaters, softshells, and lightweight down jackets. Last week we gave a sneak peek at the ladies Val jacket. Here is preview of a bit more of the collection.



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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Do you read before you buy?

According to SIA you do. Yesterday SIA released news on the impact consumer generated product reviews have on purchasing decisions, especially on "expensive snow sports equipment and apparel." According to its study more than 88% of those surveyed seek out reviews for these purchases and 7 out of 10 have decided not to make a purchase based on a review.

So, we decided to see what kind of feedback consumers were leaving about KJUS products. It was actually a harder task than we had originally thought. The majority of our retailers' websites are not set up for posting reviews the way Amazon and Backcountry.com are. That said, Sturtevant's in Bellevue, WA does. Here is what some of their customers had to say about KJUS:

Kjus: Women's Formula Pant - 2008-01-28
Love 'em! Fabulous fit, perfect in all weather, from blizzard to sunshine and I constantly get complimented on how GREAT they look! I'll definitely be buying more of this label!

Kjus: Formula Pant - Andrew Cherner - 2007-11-23
These pants are the best! I bought them in one color and loved them so now I am getting them in Black also! Stretchy, comfortable and great looking - THE BEST!

Kjus: Women's Royale Shirt - 2008-04-21
Kjus Royale Shirt I love my Kjus Royale Shirt. It fits perfect and I love the brand Kjus. I highly recommend all of Kjus products.

Hopefully in the future more of our dealers' websites will have the functionality for consumers to leave reviews. But nice to see that everyone who left feedback were happy customers.

We also come across this gem in our research:

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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Winter X Dates/ Puckett Update

We just saw the announcement for the dates for the 2009 Winter X Games. They'll be invading Aspen, CO once again from January 22-25. At last years event our skier cross athlete Casey Puckett came up just short, finishing 3rd.

Late in the season Casey had a pretty spectacular crash in Europe and separated his shoulder. He had surgery on his right shoulder in late March. He has had his arm in a sling ever since, though he hopes to have it out of the sling and begin the real rehab in the next couple of weeks.

He assured us (as if there was any doubt) that:
I will be ready to have a big year next year
I'm extremely motivated!
We'll be meeting up with him in New York City before the end of the month and will have more to update then.

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In Good Spirits

Yesterday, we announced that KJUS increased sales by 40% over last year's pre-season results. In the US, our pre-season order were up by 27%. All great news.

One of the things that we are very excited about and was mentioned in the press release is the KJUS Spirit Collection. The collection of sporty and fashionable apres ski wear, including ski sweaters and cardigans and ultra-lightweight down jackets for ladies and men, was very well received by our dealers at SIA.

One of the most popular pieces, with our dealers and athletes, is the men's CIO and ladies VAL down jackets.
The ladies Val is shown above in methyl blue. It is also offered in white, nightshade (a deep purple), java, and black. The men's version, the CIO, is offered in black, white, java, treetop (like a hunter green), and nightshade.

They will be available at KJUS dealers in the fall.

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Tuesday, May 6, 2008

KJUS Skiwear announces excellent order results for the winter collection 08/09

Cham/Switzerland, May 6, 2008- While the majority of ski apparel brands continue to see flat sales, KJUS skiwear over the past eight years has had consistent double digit year over year growth which has lead to its position as the recognized leader in the premium and high tech oriented ski clothing sector. LK International AG today reported that its worldwide net order results for the 08/09 winter collection of its KJUS Skiwear brand increased by 40%.

This season, the young Swiss company launched the KJUS Spirit Collection, a sporty and fashionable after ski collection of ski sweaters and cardigans and ultra-lightweight down jackets for ladies and men. The CIO and VAL ultra-lightweight down jackets are sure to be coveted prizes for next winter with their use of fresh colors in eye-catching designs.

Reto Holzmann, COO of LK International AG is very pleased with the sales results:”These brilliant results are an indication that we are on the right track and that our clients’ reception of next year’s KJUS Skiwear Collection as well as the new KJUS Spirit Collection was very positive. We are very proud to be working so successfully with our partners in 29 different countries around the globe. We are especially pleased by the growth in a number of our key countries, including Germany where pre-orders for this period increased by 58%.”

Holzmann went on to report the results from other key countries included Austria with a 38% increase, Switzerland with 32%, and the United States of America with 27%.

Connoisseurs of design and skiwear alike appreciate KJUS for its attention to detail and use of lightweight and advanced materials to create skiwear with a clean design with unobstructed freedom of movement. These are the essential attributes that have constituted to the success of the brand. KJUS Skiwear will follow this strategy of uncompromising skiwear into the future as it ventures into new territories off-piste.

KJUS is “Uncompromising Skiwear”, characterized by straightforward design, perfect fit and total ease of movement. KJUS and KJUS systems are registered trademarks of LK International AG based in Cham (ZG, Switzerland) who develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes KJUS brand products. The KJUS products are currently available in selected shops in 29 countries world-wide including Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Holland, Finland, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Latvia and the United States of America.

KJUS is proud to be associated with some of the world’s most recognized skiers. KJUS team riders include: Lasse Kjus, Norway; Bode Miller, USA; Casey Puckett, USA; Daniel Mahrer, Switzerland; Michaela Gerg-Leitner, Germany; Karin Roten, Switzerland; Mario Reiter, Austria; Frederik Luytkis, Norway; Ylva Nowen, Sweden; Sara Orrensjö, Sweden

www.kjus.com

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Friday, May 2, 2008

Uncompromising Speed

Today, Forbes released a list of the world's fastest cars, or more accurately, the world's fastest street legal cars. One car that we felt was missing from the list was Faster One from the Swiss company Weber Sportscars. The Faster One is reported to have reached a top speed of 248.5 mph. Here's what the company has to say about itself and the car on their website:

Legendary Swiss precision is no longer limited to the domain of creating of the world’s most prestigious chronographs. Using a unique combination of high-tech engineering and uncompromising innovative styling geared toward maximum aerodynamic efficiency, Weber Sportcars from Tobel in the Swiss canton Thurgau develops and builds the world’s fastest street-legal sports car.

The two-seater weight in at just 1,100 kilograms and is powered by a V8 engine with dual superchargers that produces 900 hp / 662.4 kW. Thanks to its exceptional power-to-weight ratio of 0.82 hp / 0.61 kW per kilogram, intelligent all-wheel drive and sophisticated aerodynamic properties the mid-engine racer sprints to 300 km/h in just 16.2 seconds and reaches a top speed of more than 420 km/h.
We can certainly appreciate a company that is all about uncompromising performance. We're kind of partial to last year's Marques Model:



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