Clarus Corporation, the owner of Black Diamond, Rhino Rack, and other brands, reported its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 financial results Thursday, detailing several market challenges within its Outdoor and Adventure segment.
The company also highlighted some bright spots as the company continues to transform the Black Diamond brand.
The Outdoor segment, driven by Black Diamond, recorded a Q4 revenue decline of 8% to $47.2 million. Excluding the PIEPS brand, which the company sold in July 2025, Outdoor revenue fell 2.9% in constant currency. A significant factor driving this decline was an unprecedented lack of snow, which severely hampered the brand’s winter sports categories, executives said.
“Overall, Q4 came in somewhat softer than our expectations due primarily to adverse seasonal conditions affecting our ski segment,” said Neil Fiske, president of Black Diamond Equipment.
Fiske said that the ski business unit dropped 30% compared to the prior period. He attributed this steep drop to “a combination of our rotation out of low-margin categories like bindings, beacons and airbags, and the most unfavorable seasonal conditions in 50 years in key ski destinations in the U.S.”
There were some bright spots in the quarter, however. Despite the severe weather headwinds, other areas of the Black Diamond portfolio maintained their momentum. Global apparel sales grew 10% in the fourth quarter. Combined, the apparel, mountain, and climb categories grew 3.7%, accounting for 86% of the brand’s quarterly sales.
Tariffs Weight on Profitability
The net unrecovered impact from tariffs and duties for the year cost the outdoor division approximately $3.4 million in adjusted EBITDA. Moving into 2026, the company expects to offset nearly 75% of this tariff impact, leaving a $2.8 million unrecovered gap.
Fiske noted, however, that a recent Supreme Court decision could allow Black Diamond to recover approximately $6.5 million for reciprocal IEEPA tariffs paid in 2025.
Black Diamond Transformation
Clarus Corp. Executive Chairman Warren Kanders pointed out during the earnings call how Black Diamond has transformed the business over the past few years under Fiske’s leadership.
“At Outdoor, we have fundamentally reshaped the business over the last 2 years, simplifying the portfolio, exiting low-margin categories and rationalizing SKUs while upgrading leadership and reallocating investment toward higher growth areas,” Kanders said. “At the same time, we have meaningfully reduced our cost structure, modernized our systems and sourcing capabilities, and expanded product margins by more than 300 basis points before factoring in the impact of tariffs. Together, these actions have positioned the business to operate more efficiently and profitably moving forward.”
Black Diamond Q4 Restructuring Includes Slimmer Athlete Roster, Store Closures
Fiske said Black Diamond continued restructuring efforts in Q4, including:
- Additional streamlining of Black Diamond’s organization and overall headcount
- Completing the exits of PIEPS, JetForce and binding businesses
- Exiting a 3PL in Canada
- Initiating a project to restructure its logistics and fulfillment operations in Europe
- Closing additional Black Diamond stores and slimming down the athlete roster.
Clarus Corp. Results, Including Declines in Adventure Segment
Across the rest of the company, Clarus faced a challenging environment on several fronts. Total fourth-quarter sales for the company fell 8.4% to $65.4 million, and the company recorded a net loss of $31.3 million.
The Adventure division saw Q4 sales decrease 10% to $18.2 million. This drop reflects reduced demand from global OEM customers and a difficult wholesale market in Australia for the Rhino-Rack brand.
For the full year, Clarus reported a 5.2% drop in companywide sales to $250.4 million, and a net loss of $46.6 million.
