When Kris Kuster first got involved with Obermeyer, the 77-year-old ski apparel company had a cash flow problem that threatened its future.
“We basically make money for four months out of the year, and eight months we need financing,” Kuster said in an interview with SESO from the company’s Aspen headquarters. The Swiss-born executive, who formerly spent 12 years at Mammut Sports Group, immediately recognized an issue common to so many snow brands: earning revenue over just four months was becoming increasingly challenging as climate change shortened winters and economic pressures like tariffs squeezed margins.
Earlier this year, Kuster moved from his consulting role to CEO of Obermeyer, and founder Klaus Obermeyer, at 105 years old, moved to company president.
Kuster shared how he’s transforming the company into a year-round and DTC brand with a fresh executive team while retaining the brand’s legacy and wholesale relationships, how the snow market has changed in recent years, and how his unconventional career trajectory — including years as a security contractor in the Middle East — informs how he leads today.
How did you get involved in Obermeyer?
Kris Kuster, CEO of Obermeyer: I got a call from a friend of mine in Sun Valley at Christmas. He had Klaus Jr. (son of Klaus Obermeyer) on the call, and they said, “Listen, Obermeyer has some financial challenges to overcome, and Klaus reached out to see if you could help.” This was the first financial challenge they’d faced in a very long time.
I came out on January 6th as a consultant to get them back on good financial footing with US Bank on an ABL loan. Then in April, we decided I would take on the CEO role and become part of the board.
You’ve said a core issue is being too seasonal. How quickly did you identify that?
Kris Kuster: I saw it pretty fast when I looked through the numbers. In a P&L, you see revenue being in some months literally almost nothing. I’m still Swiss at heart — I’m a numbers guy, and the finances have to be intact. You can have the greatest brand, but you need the money to support it.
Either we become a seasonal business and hire people seasonally, if that’s possible, or we need to develop more shoulder season products and summer products. The winters get shorter and shorter. Climate change is real, and our industry is probably the most affected.
Photo courtesy of Obermeyer.
How are sales performing?
Kris Kuster: It’s crazy. In the last four weeks, we have more reorders than the last six months before. We’re doing better than ever, even though we went up 10% in price. We were very price-point focused, so maybe when a jacket goes from $220 to $250, people still accept it.
My biggest fear is Americans live on debt, and I don’t know where the money comes from. As long as you pay your interest, you’re probably fine. But how long can that go on? Once credit stops or money gets more expensive, I think we’ll hit it. But right now, against all logic, consumers are still spending.
How have the economics of skiing changed since you started in the industry in the ’90s?
Kris Kuster: If you look at ticket prices in the U.S. since the ’90s, it’s a very steep line going up. What’s funny with ski gear, it actually stayed almost flat. Right now a day pass in Aspen is about $320 or $350. Our jackets are $150 to $200. So you get a jacket, which you have for 10 years, for less than a one-day ski pass.
That just shows how challenging the business is. We have no mechanisms to play like Vail did with the Epic pass. We just have to go with the flow while maintaining or reducing costs, because everything gets more expensive. The only way out is growth. If you don’t grow 10% to 20% as a company every year, you can’t even cover inflation and increased costs.
What’s your approach to building a year-round business?
Kris Kuster: We just finished a spring-summer capsule that’s very related to winter — lighter pieces for spring skiing. A Basin (Arapahoe Basin) here is open until end of May, Mammoth is always open. Then we come in fall with more mid-layers you can use on a cold evening but also as a mid-layer when ski season starts.
We call it the locals line, because locals are year-round. Tourists come and go and buy whatever is trendy, but we want to give locals better gear on the shoulder seasons — very versatile gear they can use year-round.
A big part for me is that we could become the first ski company who makes U.S.-made products. We found two factories already. One is more in hunting and tactical gear, which we’re exploring because it’s very related — a lot of skiers hunt in the off season.
How are you engaging with the local community in Aspen?
Kris Kuster: When I started, it seemed like Obermeyer was completely disconnected from Aspen, which I thought was sad. There’s a group of women called the Ajax Angels — 15 super good ski instructors who are a synchronized ski team. They were looking for an outfitter, so we outfit them now.
We do collaborations with Jesse Belle Denver, John Denver’s daughter who’s an artist. We use her art and embroidery on hoodies. We work with local musicians, artists in galleries, and a local jeweler, Ross Andrews, who made an Aspen belt buckle with our old logo.
I started giving swag to bartenders because they have the biggest influence. You listen to a bartender when you’re bored. Social media is just another way of word-of-mouth, but word-of-mouth is still the biggest, and you probably believe a local more than somebody who just appears on social media.
Obermeyer founder Klaus Obermeyer and friend Gary Cooper on the T-bar in Aspen in the 1950s. Photo courtesy of Obermeyer.
You’ve brought in and promoted six new key executives to the Obermeyer team. How did you select them?
Kris Kuster: You have to hire up. You have to hire people who are better at things you as the CEO aren’t good at. You have to be very aware of your weaknesses. I’m more a vision guy, a salesperson, a marketing person. But I need support in operations.
Sam Minassian, who came from VF Group, is probably one of the best e-commerce managers I’ve ever seen in our industry. Since that’s not my wheelhouse, I needed to hire people who complement my shortcomings.
How will you balance DTC growth with your existing wholesale relationships?
Kris Kuster: Obermeyer and Klaus always grew with the retailers. He almost had to be forced to go into DTC only four years ago. They didn’t even have a website because he wanted to cater to the retailers. That’s a prerogative for me as well. They’re still way over 80% of our revenue. But we’re living in an omni-channel world, also for cash flow, because the retailer doesn’t pay you for another 90 to 120 days. I don’t think we will do our own retail, but maybe a factory outlet.
Obermeyer ventured out two years ago to Europe, and I think that was already stopped when I started. We’re 90% a U.S. company, and then we have about 10% in Canada. We need to go international.
What has your career trajectory looked like?
Kris Kuster: I grew up in Switzerland, came as an exchange student to the U.S. — I was always fascinated with the freedom of the U.S. I got in trouble a lot in tiny Switzerland with all of its rules. Then I went back for my military service, did all my military service over there. And then, serendipitously, I met the owners of Nitro Snowboards and joined in ’95 to run their U.S. and Japan operations.
After 9/11, a lot of my friends from the military felt we needed to go to the Middle East. Very young, idealistic thoughts, which we all know how that turned out. I spent quite a lot of time as a security contractor in the Middle East and Africa, then worked for a Swiss billionaire’s family doing security. I learned a lot about family business intricacies there.
I felt too old to be a bodyguard, so I got back into sports and joined Mammut in 2012. I stayed 12 years, came to the U.S. eight years ago to build their U.S. business, then stopped last October to help other companies come into the U.S. market.
Photo courtesy of Obermeyer.
How do you work with Klaus Obermeyer, who’s 105 years old and still president?
Kris Kuster: He’s going to be 106 in four weeks. He’s still on his trainer, does everything. He’s not involved on a daily basis — I have quarterly board meetings and go to his ranch for dinner to discuss things.
The new economy and e-commerce is a little suspect to him, of course. That’s where Klaus Jr. comes in to explain how the new economy works. But they’re listening and giving us the trust to do our job, which is really nice.
Klaus always says, “Snow makes us look intelligent and profitable.” It’s true — we need snow.
What products are you most excited about for the upcoming seasons?
Kris Kuster: One is the freeride line we call “off grid” — you want to be off the grid and out there in the elements. That’s for young adults and men’s.
But we maybe focused too much on freeride and forgot our female-forward lines. We’re probably one of the few companies with 60% female customers versus 30% kids and 10% men’s. We forgot the “mountain active mom” and the “outdoor socialite” demographic — younger women.
We’re building new products that are more exciting for a younger demographic — more resort fashion pieces for women that are still skiable. Those are the two segments I’m really looking forward to getting into the market.
Kate Robertson can be reached at kate@shop-eat-surf-outdoor.com.
