Quiksilver VP gives snow update

I got a quick update on Quiksilver’s snow plans for the 2011/2012 season at SIA from Dave Rosenberger, vice president of sales of young men’s in the specialty market.

Dave told me there are three key stories for Quiksilver:

– The Travis Rice collection that pulls pieces from four different art works of Mike Parillo.

– The new Hubble goggle that offers 180-degree peripheral vision.

– The introduction of Quiksilver helmets to this market.

The three key stories for Roxy:

– Torah Bright Collection

– The introduction of helmets

– The Originals series outerwear collection

The Quiksilver snow business is very developed in Europe, Dave said, and helmets and goggles are big categories there.

Quiksilver’s snow sweet spot domestically is jackets from $150 to $200. The company sees a lot of opportunity to round out its business by focusing more on other categories as well, many of which are more developed in Europe.

At SIA, Dave said retailers were coming in asking for close out product for the current season because inventories are so lean. Quiksilver, like many other companies, was already sold out of its goods.

Quiksilver has always been cautious with snow inventory, he said, and now maybe it buys only 5% over, and only the top styles.

For the 2011/2012 season, most retailers were increasing orders approximately 10% for Quiksilver and Roxy brands, and closer to 15% in kids.

Dave said it’s a little easier for Quiksilver to get growth in snow than some of the larger brands because it is not the biggest buy for retailers. If Quiksilver has good sell through, a retailer may increase the SKU count from eight to 12, for example. That gives the brand decent growth in the store while not being a big risk for retailers.

It also allows Quiksilver to still get growth in snow while still focusing on independent snowboard shops, Dave said.

Just like it has in surf and skate, Quiksilver had launched a core collection for core snowboard shops. While limited edition collections in general tend to be higher priced and more fashion forward, Quiksilver’s approach has been to make the core collection at good price points and to have the product be really sellable, Dave said. About 60 snow shops carry the core collection.