Annapolis, MD (PRWEB) September 28, 2012
Pure told us a history on the owner, Pro Snowboard JF Pelchat and his new company.
Former professional snowboarder and member of the notorious Wildcats, JF Pelchat is always looking to find better ways to improve products while having a good time. As early as 1990, he built his first pair of baseless snowboard bindings after seeing a glimpse of a binding that was slated to be released the following year. Since then, Pelchat has moved from Quebec to Whistler to follow his dream and attend Craigs Kelly World Snowboard Camp, worked in a snowboard factory, rode alongside the likes of the two Jeremy Jones, JP Walker, Devun Walsh, Travis Rice and Todd Richards to name a few. His Snowboard career lasted for more than 15 years and during that time he graced the covers and editorial pages of many international magazines and appeared in countless snowboard movies.
Some of Pelchats career highlights are: The Transworld Snowboarding cover in 1994, his own Snowboard pro models, winning the Jose Cuervo Cup, featured in Mack Dawgs movies, guest editor at Snowboard Canada magazine, member of the pro team at Quicksilver and Dakine and being a proud member and owner of the Wildcats.
Always working alongside his sponsors to improve products, it wasnt until the early 2000s that his love for creating bindings grew. Realizing the gap and the room for improvements in the binding segment, he worked from his garage designing bindings and a new concept. JF filed is first patent in 2004 and started working on his second invention in 2006which is todays Now IPO model.
Now Snowboarding was partly created when Pelchat and the YES Snowboard team had a late night meeting in his garage. Pelchat had returned from showing his binding to a few big players with no luck so he decided to show and explain the concept of his new binding to his friends. The following days they went on-hill for some testing and they all really liked how the prototype performed so after that they contacted their Swiss partner, Nidecker Snowboards, and asked them to take a close look at it. After reviewing the patent and the prototype they agreed to help launch Now. Shortly after, Pelchat hired veteran and product guru Alex Warburton to help and fill the roll of product manager and designer. Together along with the help of engineer, David Fernandez, they created the Now IPO. Six years has past since the build of his first prototype and Pelchat is really glad to see his product hitting customer hands while taking snowboard bindings to the next level.
Questions answered by Chad Perrin, Director of Sales, as told to Transworld Snowboarding Magazine.
What are the biggest trends shaping the hardgoods market for next year?
For us it is technical product evolution, an across the board needed change in bindings that will change how people snowboard.
What is the greatest change affecting your brand since last season?
As this is a new brand we have not experienced anything since last season other than taking an idea and seeing it come into fruition and getting over-exited about our product and brand launch for the 12-13 season
How has the market evolved over the last year and how do you see things changing in the years ahead?
Brands as well as retailers have become more focused on product stories, developing and buying exactly what they need to have sustainable businesses. Both have really trimmed the fat and have become leaner, and overall, with what has happened from Wall St to Main St, we as an industry have become more mature and learned to live with less and do business better with what we have and make the most out of less.
How has sales forecasting changed for your company?
We have been communicating in a limited way with our reps and retailers, although we have not spilled all the details on our product and brand, we have shared just enough info to know that we will see decent first year in the market performance.
What lessons have you learned with bookings and production for this season and how will you apply those to next?
Given this is our first year, we are taking our collective experience with our other brands as well as past backgrounds and are only looking to build to suit our prebooks, so product will be limited to what we sell during the tradeshow season.
How large are your lines going to be compared to years past? Have you seen customers confused by too many different stories?
Our line consists of one binding at one price and this is a true product story and we are focusing on the technical aspects of the binding as the main platform to convey our story. A combination of the tech and the team that is backing NOW will be a solid story, making it hard for consumers to ignore this product.
With the shifting landscape of production abroad, are you reevaluating where you produce your hardgoods? If so, why?
We will always have to explore our production options and re-evaluate our costs as well as margin expectations, as a business this is a healthy exercise to engage in.
What opportunities do you see for growing hardgoods sales? Please explain. (Are you increasing your focus on kids, women, core retailers, chains, rental sales, internet sales, entry-level products, splitboards, etc.?)
Our focus is on technical snowboarding products that will enhance a users snowboarding. What we are bringing to market is different than any snowboard interface out there, so we are focused on the premium technical snowboard seeking to better his or her on hill experience.
As this is a binding it has less impact on distribution so you will see a mix of all retail types carrying our bindings. We will be honing in our established dealer and distributor network to partner with but we will expand outside this network to broaden our reach to a larger consumer base.
What do you anticipate prices doing next season?
We see prices stabilizing for the most part, however I say this knowing that anything can change due to unforeseen circumstances and global events beyond our control. However over the past year prices have been within reasonable limits and even with price increases our customers have remained loyal and I do not foresee it (The current economy) affecting the snow businessyet
Are you taking any steps to minimize your environmental impact? If so, what are some of these steps?
We are looking at our processes as well as things like shipping in which we can have less of an environmental impact, but being that this product is a plastic product we are limited to what we can do from the product standpoint, so we have to focus on other ways that we can contribute.
What does your company hope to contribute to snowboarding?
We want to bring a product to market that is not a cookie cutter, been done before product that has been done 1000 times over. We are looking to change the way people snowboard and we want to enhance the overall snowboard experience.
Pure Board Shop opened its doors on May of 2005. After co-owning Evolve Board Shops in Annapolis and Bethesda Maryland from 1993 to 2003, Robby Roberts put Pure on the streets a few years later. Its ease of access and parking make it a destination shop for riders and urban street wear fans alike. With their mix of products and variety in skate, snowboard , surf and exclusive streetwear and shoe brands Pures customers extend far beyond their Annapolis location. Pure prides itself on customer service being its number one priority, with product knowledge and having the right product mix a close second. The store and the website feature an ever growing inventory from brands such as Nike SB Dunk, Nike Snowboarding, Travis Rice Lib Tech, Adidas skateboarding, Vans, Levis Skateboarding, Diamond, HUF, LRG, Neff, RVCA and The Hundreds, as well as a large selection of Sunglasses and other accessories. The shop also prides itself on having the largest inventory of longboard equipment in the area; with brands like Landyachtz, Rayne, Caliber, Cult, RAD, Abec11 and many more. Pure puts on skateboard jams and video premieres at their local skateboard park as well as sponsors many longboard slide jams and races in the Metro Area.
Contact Pure at 410-267-7669 or visit them on the web at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pure-Board-Shop/8588010943?ref=hl
Pure’s new website will be up and running very soon. It is the same web address as it has always been.