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.

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

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:

Ski Racing Issue 11 Vol. 13 just Arrived

The latest issue of SkiRacing Magazine showed up in our mailbox yesterday. Bode and Lindsey Vonn, don the cover as you would expect for an issue that re-caps the season, finals, and US Nationals. Additionally, there is a great story on the 48Straight Jeep King of the Mountain event in Sun Valley- including a quote from KJUS skier Casey Puckett. With skier cross becoming an Olympic event in Vancouver in 2012 look for more SkiRacing coverage of the sport.

Opposite the 48Straight story is an ad we placed. The photo of Bode cradling his globes was taken right after worlds at an undisclosed location in Switzerland. He's wearing this year's Fusion softshell ski jacket.

Good uses for gold medals...

Last night Bode spent time with Conan. He talked about the Olympics, the difference between first and third in race- try starting and stopping a stopwatch inside of .03- and good ole yankee ingenuity, including an uncommon use for a gold medal. Watch it on NBC.com.

Lasse Still Has the Stuff

We mentioned a few weeks ago that Lasse was throwing his hat back in the ring. Well he got the equivalent of a leaner this past weekend placing second in the downhill at the Norwegian National championships.

Not bad for a guy who has been away from the sport for two years.

Congratulations Lasse!

Bode: Don't Be Afraid to Rock the Cio on Late Night

Last week he was on Ellen and was very funny about his net riding run at the Hannenkahm. This week Bode will be on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Thursday night.

The last skier, that we're aware of, to have taken a seat next to Conan was Ingrid Backstrom back in February. Unfortunately, the video from the segment has been removed from YouTube as Bode could have learned a lot about Conan's skiing capabilities or better yet, lack there of.

Last week he wore his Nike get up. We're all proud to support Bode, but there is a little part of us that of course would love to see our logo on network television. Maybe Bode should take a styling cue from Ingrid.

We're talking about the puffy jacket not the boots!