Ski Firm Sees Growth in Europe, Snowboard Sales

With the skiing business starting to level off in the United States, the nation’s largest maker of alpine--or downhill--skis is looking to Europe for growth in the 1990s.

The ski maker is Anthony Industries, based in Southern California and most often associated with summertime recreation because of its Anthony Pools unit. But among its nine businesses, Anthony owns K2 Corp., a Seattle-based ski equipment and clothing maker.

“Europe is the world’s largest ski market,” says Bernard I. Forester, chairman and chief executive of the far-flung firm with headquarters in City of Commerce.

With that in mind, K2 signed an agreement earlier this month to buy 70% of Madshus AS of Biri, Norway. Madshus, with 1987 sales of about $5 million, is the oldest and largest maker of Nordic--or cross country--skis in Scandinavia.

Until now, K2 has serviced Europe mainly from its plant near Seattle, Forester says, and “this investment will bring to K2 its own European manufacturing presence and added manufacturing technology that will be applied to alpine ski production at K2’s existing facility.”

Last year, the company introduced a line of K2 skiing apparel in Europe before extending the line to the United States. The clothing now represents half of its sales in Europe, says George M. Montgomery, K2’s vice president for marketing.

As K2 looks at future growth, Europe presents the opportunity to make the biggest market share gains, Montgomery says. For example, he says, K2 is fifth or sixth in market share in Western Europe, compared to a “strong No. 2 in the U.S.”

But K2 is not writing off the U.S. market. Forester’s face lights up a bit when he talks about the snowboard, a new piece of skiing equipment. K2 was among the pioneers in the skiing industry in introducing the board. Forester describes it as a single ski like a slalom ski in water skiing. But comparisons that most readily come to mind are a surfboard or a skateboard without wheels.

That’s just fine with Forester, who envisions millions of young surfing and skateboarding enthusiasts buying snowboards and heading for ski slopes. “The more I see of K2’s snowboards, the more I think that’s a sleeper,” he said recently. “It’s a new product that may really turn out to be one of the winners in the ski industry.”