Faction Collective to license Roxy skis

Switzerland-based ski company The Faction Collective is announcing Tuesday that it has secured the exclusive license to design and distribute Roxy skis.

Mervin Manufacturing, which used to be owned by Quiksilver and is now owned by Altamont Capital Partners, will continue to make Roxy snowboards.

Faction has created a new division, Full Stack Supply Co., to design and sell the Roxy skis, which will be available in stores in Fall 2015.

Faction CEO Alex Hoye answered some questions about plans for this new Roxy venture.

What are your plans for the Roxy ski business? Where do you see the opportunity?

Faction CEO Alex Hoye: We at Faction determined that focusing on women is a priority for us in the coming years.

The Faction executive team includes women in key roles who are hard charging both on and off the slopes, and we take pride in Faction’s women’s lines for both skis and outerwear.

We looked at what was happening in the women’s segment.  The market is large, the demand is there, but pro women regularly turn to men’s skis to get the standard of ski that they need to progress. 

Faction’s women’s series is largely oriented to advanced skiers, so it was a natural fit to create a line that fits a broader range of women skiers.

It made more sense to create this broader offering with a revered brand that has a multi-million dollar marketing budget. We also liked that we already had a good working relationship with Quiksilver that developed around freeskier Candide Thovex.

Tony McWilliam, our Design Director and co-founder, also saw the opportunity to do something that was not just a copy-paste of what is out there.  We will create different Roxy skis for different types of skiers – a fresh high-spec freeride ski, an Olympic-caliber freestyle ski, rockered, beautiful all-mountain and piste skis and fresh kids skis. 

Over the last few years, we also realized that we have to have the full stack of expertise in our company to make sure we can bring our skis and apparel to our customers. After building Faction, we looked around at the team we had assembled and knew we could expand into other ventures.

Will you market the skis any differently then has been done in the past?

Alex: From a trade marketing perspective, we will be at the key trade events including ISPO, SIA, WWSRA events, and Sport Achat. Our reps will be at all of the key trade and press demos, and we will have demo tours in both North America and Europe.  

We are particularly excited for people to test the skis, because they will reflect a move up market from where Roxy skis were positioned in the past.

From the consumer marketing side, our team is already working closely with Quiksilver’s Roxy team. You can expect strong stories and outreach to Roxy’s millions of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest followers as well as traditional methods and outreach to relevant Quiksilver-owned stores and showrooms.

How big is the Roxy ski business globally?

Alex: Roxy skis have not been on the market for several years, so it is a re-boot for the skis themselves.  Mervin is doing a robust business of Roxy snowboards under a similar license, and as mentioned above, we feel that the women’s segment is under-developed.

At Faction, we strongly believe that the ‘price point only’ era of sports products is giving way to better quality and slightly higher pricing, so we see the potential for Roxy skis to achieve strong sales with product positioned above where it was in the past.

Several retailers have already shown interest in the skis, so that also makes us optimistic about demand.

Do you plan to add other licensed brands to Faction’s portfolio?

Alex: Executing well with Faction and now Roxy will take all of our focus for the moment.  We have seen many major companies lose their way through too much brand distraction, so we are in no hurry to expand our range any further.

The Full Stack Supply Co. division offers a channel to do more if the right situation emerges. However, it is more likely that something would develop organically or through acquisition rather than through an additional license.