Ski brand K2 buys Zoot Sports
Zoot Sports, a tri-specific clothing manufacturer celebrating a quarter-century of battles fought in the "rag trade," acquired a new owner: this time Winter sports brand K2.
Zoot apparel, the brainchild of Kona resident Christal Nylin, debuted in 1983. Ironman and Ultraman enthusiast and businessman Vito Bialla bought Zoot in 1996 from Nylin and moved the company to the San Francisco Bay Area. Bialla built the company from a boutique, garage brand into a mainstream apparel and footwear supplier.
Notwithstanding its strong growth under Bialla, Zoot had its rocky moments. Over the course of the decade Zoot took on new investors. Though the company is and has been reticent to disclose who those investors are, one of them is widely rumored to be Martin Franklin, CEO and major shareholder of Jarden Corporation, the mega-brand conglomerate that owns K2.
An on-the-record shareholder is Brian Enge, who came over to Zoot in 2005 after helping engineer the sale of Saucony to Stride Rite.
Last year, K-Swiss came close to purchasing Zoot, according to several sources close to the transaction, but who spoke only without attribution. But the anticipated sale did not occur, placing Zoot in a tenuous position, according to Enge. "We'd been growing like a weed, we couldn't grow at this rate and stay this independent little company. We didn't have the infrastructure to source, to QC, we needed offices around the world to distribute globally. Frankly, we need more flexibility, and cash flow as well.
"The entire management team is staying on at Zoot," continued Enge, whose title shifts from CEO of Zoot to Vice President at K2, and general manager of Zoot.
What changes will there be at Zoot? "The synergies won't be visible," said Enge, "They'll be on the back end. K2 has a big presence in Asia, so, sourcing and quality control, these are the leverage opportunities. We have two people in Asia for Zoot. K2 has orders of magnitude more — hundreds.
Asked if K2 will move the brand to its Seattle headquarters, as Jarden did to a Vista, CA, based division of K2 when Jardin purchased it earlier in the decade, Enge said, "No. We're staying here. K2's philosophy around the world is to let people do what they're good at, help them at what they're not good at."
