[at-l] RE: Buy Outs by BP Gear Companies??

[michaelh at ospreypacks.com (Michael Henderson)]

I seemed to have some mail delays, but here is a reply from a Monday
post:

It has been writ:

>
>Are there any other backpacking gear companies/manufacturers who have 
>"merged" or "sold out" to others?
>
>
>I think Columbia bought Marmot...or, wsa it the other way around? And, 
>it seems like there was another merger of big names. I also know that 
>Dick's Sporting Goods bought out Galyans. (Cake...tell us more!!!)


The trend in the industry is certainly consolidation.  Some companies
are banding together, voluntarily or not, while others are bought by
"outsiders" not traditionally associated with the outdoor industry.



Columbia bought Mountain Hardware last year.

K2, which already owns Dana, Tubbs/Atlas and others, just bought
Volkl/Marker and Marmot.

American Recreation (I think that's the name) has owned Kelty and Sierra
Designs for some time now, and precipitated Sierra Design's move from
Berkeley to Boulder last year, during which they lost their CEO because
she did not want to move.

Bianchi owns Gregory.

Meridian 105 owns Mountainsmith.

VFCorp (which brings us Vanity Fair and much else) owns The North Face,
and they just bought someone else in the industry that I can't remember.

Asolo just bought Lowe earlier this year.  I'm not sure if it was Asolo,
or if there is a parent company that owns Asolo, that bought Lowe.

Watermark owns Dagger, Perception, Lotus Designs, Yakima, Rhodegear and
a couple others.  (also, many other kayak/canoe companies are gathered
together in families).

Royal Robbins was acquired by a footwear company in So Cal last year.

There are 2 Leki companies, owned separately by the 2 sons of the
founder, who have different engineering ideologies.  One is based in
Europe, one in the States (I think).  The poles are slightly different
in their internal workings.

MSR owns Cascade Designs (or there is a parent company that owns both).

Nalgene owns TFO  (hydration inovators).

Camelbak was sold in the last couple years to a well funded investor
group (something like that).

Black Diamond owns Bibler, but Black Diamond remains independent itself.

Note that Moss Tents and Quest Tents no longer exist - they were bought
(separetly) and intergrated into other lines, but I forget who, what,
when.  Walrus is also owned by someone else.

Cloudveil recently went through a restructuring, but I'm not sure if
they brought in new investors or it was all in-house.

As far as I know, these companies are still independently owned, among
others:

Patagonia
Black Diamond
Montrail
Osprey
Chaco
Smartwool
Roughwear
Yates

There are many more I'm not sure about, so won't speculate.


Ke Kaahawe,  AT92 TYT94 (PCT/2)99 LT01

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