Augment Suspending U.S. Distribution

[Wilhelmson]

Lesson to be learned is that what begins as a toilet paper shortage is bound to end in a world of shit.

 

[Wasatchman]

@otto if you are even remotely correct in your assessment of the state of the industry then current end of season deals on skis and boots are just incredibly cheap. @otto i believe you are overly pessimistic.

 

[fatbob]

So long and thanks for all the fish!

More than one small volume ski brand will be taken down by the time this shakes out (& I'm not sure that there even is much of a European market for Augment - I've never seen them on anyone's feet).

Subnote: No US distributor seems to make the Mike King affair where the then disto seemingly screwed him around more of a canary?

 

[Philpug]

@otto i believe you are overly pessimistic.

Coming from you, that says a lot.

I think @otto like some others are planning for the worst case (while still hoping for the best) which isn't always a bad strategy. Like the past two years, I don't think there will be the over production thus clearance sales we have seen in years past. So, if you see that ski/boot or binding on sale even at 30% off, grab it.

I do think we will be seeing additional price increases on new gear, which IMHO is a reversal of trend from the previous years where companies were dropping prices. In the late 2000's a top of the line ski's street price was $999, a similar ski dropped to $899 of late. We did see a recent push of skis going from $699 to $749 but some of these backed off, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see that $699 becomes $799 if the supply chain and access to the materials doesn't open up.

 

[Philpug]

Subnote: No US distributor seems to make the Mike King affair where the then disto seemingly screwed him around more of a canary?

Seemingly is the key word in your accusation. Being privy to the what happened all I will say is that I know it could have and should have been handled different from both sides.

 

[Wasatchman]

Coming from you, that says a lot.

Yes, Phil. And I do think @otto is being overly pessimistic in his assessment. And yes, all indications are new gear prices are poised to go up in price due to inflation. But I don't expect anywhere near the dire availability issues that Otto is predicting.

 

[Swiss Toni]

Sounds to me like Augment has parted ways with their US distributor and haven’t got the time/resources to find a replacement. They will have also lost all sales to Russia due to sanctions.

The deal with Van Deer looks like a game changer for Augment. The initial production run of 1500 pairs sold out by the beginning of November, Dominic Tritscher Van Deer’s CEO said that they could have sold 10,000 pairs! In 2018 Augment made a total of 6000 pairs. At the moment the emphasis seems to be on increasing production, which will be challenging as the lead times for ski manufacturing equipment are currently very long.

Whilst ski manufactures are certainly experiencing supply chain issues, I also think Otto is being overly pessimistic. There are currently no reports of any layoffs at ski factories due to raw material shortages. Titanal comprises 80% recycled aluminum, production doesn’t seem to have been affected so far, but the price of aluminum has risen by around 45% due to increased energy costs. As far as I know there are only two companies that manufacture ski edges and both are located in Austria. There might well be issues with the supply of other materials such as natural rubber that is used for dampening and the exotic woods used in ski cores, but most materials are sourced locally.

Fischer have restarted ski production at their factory in Ukraine, in an interview given to Austrian TV on March 22 Franz Föttinger the CEO said:

"We are producing with the equipment that we have available on site. We have a bit of a limitation because some employees have been called up to the army, but we have been able to compensate for that for the most part. We are in operation and things are functioning surprisingly normally. Our Ukrainian colleagues are convinced that the war will not come to the far west, where we are. What this optimism is based on and whether it will really be like that is, of course, up in the air."

Production at Fischer ski's headquarters in Ried, has also been increased with additional shifts in order to be less dependent on the factory in Ukraine.

One thing that is certain is that the price of ski equipment will increase considerably, so if you need anything for next season it would be a good Idea to buy it now.

 

[Philpug]

Just speculation here, seeing Augment and formally as Croc's past marketing ability, these guys are engineers/ski builders, marketing might not be their forte. They might be just as happy out of the spotlight and building skis I would not be suprised if Augment is just bought out/absorbed by Marcel Hirscher/Van Deer, a la Bode and Crosson. With the finanacial deep pockets that Marcel has access to with the likes of Red Bull, a ski company is couch change to what they spend on F1 and Sailing let alone the other high-line sports they participate in.

 

[Philpug]

@ski otter 2 here is what you are asking about.

 

[Bad Bob]

Leftover stock should be at a premium in early season.
Glad i got my boots last year, the skis can make another season.