Behind The Scenes Of The Black
Diamond-Scarpa Breakup
 |
What happened? Why did these two
industry leaders decide to end their 18-year partnership and
go their separate ways? Will BD remain out of the tele and AT
boot business for good?
Telemarktips has the answers in this
surprising, even shocking, TeleNews breaking story. |
by Mitch Weber
July 19, 2005- Late
last Friday afternoon came the surprising, even shocking news
that Black Diamond and Scarpa were ending their 18-year partnership.
It was an alliance that had changed modern freeheel skiing forever
in the early 90s with the introduction of the Terminator, the
first all plastic tele boot. And now it was over.
BD's press
release announcing the split didn't provide much insight
into the reasons the two companies decided to end their cooperative
agreement, " ..the marketplace is evolving and both BD and
Scarpa realize the partnership that led to our past success is
not the best path for the future. Thus, we agreed to terminate
amicably," BD said in its statement, Friday. Significant
changes to the tele gear retail landscape have been noted and
reported on through the years here on Telemarktips, including
the globalization of the market through online marketing and
internet sales. Was that what BD meant in it's press release?
We decided to go to the source and put in a call to Black Diamond
President and CEO Peter Metcalf.
"That's certainly part of the story,"
said Metcalf, who we caught up with working late and on the weekend
in his office at BD, last Saturday afternoon. "But to tell
you the truth, Scarpa was frustrated with us that their summer
trekking, hiking and casual mountain footwear wasn't selling
better, and we had some of our own frustrations with them, so
we decided maybe it would be best to end our agreement amicably,
while we were still friends." Metcalf went on to explain
that Scarpa really wants to push hard into the summer market,
including the lucrative but highly competitive fashion mountain
footwear arena, and that, as a company BD, really wasn't thrilled
by the prospect. "That's just not a direction we are interested
in going," said Metcalf. "Our heart is in manufacturing
and selling technical products for skiing and climbing and we
determined a long time ago that success would come to us if we
remained true to our passions. Scarpa is going to have to change
their paradigm to get where they want to go and that is simply
not what we want to do at BD."
With the dollar having fallen against the
euro by more than 55% in recent years, and with Scarpa being
an Italian manufacturer, we asked Peter what role exchange rate
difficulties played in the decision. "I'd be lying to you
if I said it wasn't a factor, in the last few years the ski boot
business hasn't been as profitable for us as it once was,"
Metcalf said. "So yes, that was part of our decision process
as well. It was going to cost us a lot of money and manpower
to make the kind of push into the summer market Scarpa desires,
and this would have come at a time when our winter ski boot segment
isn't doing all that well, at least from the point of view of
bottom line profitability."
Then, nearing the conclusion of our conversation
Metcalf began to talk about BD's continuing commitment to telemark
and backcountry skiing. "Mitch, look at our history, freeheel
skiing and backcountry skiing are a big part of who we are, it's
in our DNA so to speak. We have some exciting new telemark products
in the pipeline. We think this year's ski line will be a big
hit and BD will be introducing a new and innovative tele binding
at the next Winter Market Outdoor Retailer Trade Show."
Metcalf continued, "Our mission remains the same, we want
to make the best backcountry skiing and climbing gear on the
planet." It was at this point that or conversation with
Peter Metcalf took a surprising turn. "I wouldn't rule out
our returning to the ski boot business in the future," said
Metcalf, without being asked. "We have no specific plan
at this time but as I said, telemark and backcountry skiing is
in our blood."
On that somewhat cryptic and provocative
note we said goodbye to Peter Metcalf and rang up Chris Clark,
the newly named Sales and Marketing Manager for Scarpa NA, the
new division of Scarpa formed to take over distribution of Scarpa
products from Black Diamond. Chris told us that Scarpa would
shortly be hiring an independent sales force and that they were
strongly committed to staying in touch with the needs and desires
of the north America market. "We will be hiring north American
designers who will work out of our offices in Boulder,"
said Clark. "These designers will be specifically charged
with the task of helping us develop and produce footwear geared
to our market here."
Clark also said that while "Scarpa
will remain a premium footwear and ski boot brand, we believe
we will be more competitive than ever under the new structure."
Chris continued, " we expect that a more efficient distribution
structure will result in a 10 to 15% retail price reduction,
across the board." On a more personal level, Chris Clarke
expressed his enthusiasm for his new position, "This is
a really exciting opportunity for me to work at a high level
in this industry, and with people the caliber of which I've always
admired. It's a dream job for me and I'm going to do my very
best to take Scarpa to the next level in our market." |