Ski Maker K2 Buys Sportswear Brands Katin, Planet Earth
Ski equipment giant K2 Inc., hoping to capture more business from sporting enthusiasts, has acquired Katin USA Inc., a well-known Costa Mesa surf wear company with roots dating back to the early days of the Southern California surf scene.
Katin was sold this week to Los Angeles-based K2 by Bill Sharp and Rick Lohr for an undisclosed amount. The pair will remain with Katin as president and vice president, respectively.
Though K2 is best known for its skis--it is the largest American ski manufacturer--it also derives a large portion of its $600 million in annual sales from snowboards, in-line skates, fishing tackle, mountain bikes and backpacks.
“K2 focuses on high-performance sporting goods for the enthusiast athlete,” said John Rangel, vice president of finance. Katin’s surfing apparel “is a natural for our customers.”
Also this week, K2 acquired Carlsbad-based Planet Earth, a fast-growing maker of skateboards and apparel that was started by Chris Miller, one of the world’s top professional skateboarders.
Robert Marvin, an analyst at Seidler Cos. in Los Angeles, said K2 has “done a pretty good job of picking and choosing” acquisitions of well-regarded brand names.
In fact, the company is largely an amalgamation of brands acquired over the years. Formerly named Anthony Industries, the company was a pool maker before it bought K2 and its Vashon, Wash., factory in the mid-1980s. Founded by two brothers in 1962, K2 had difficulty competing against big European firms.
But in recent years, while other American ski makers have found it tough going, K2 has gained speed. It had three of the five top-selling skis in the United States last year.
Lohr said that Katin’s customers should see little change and that he and Sharp would continue to run the company, which has 18 employees.
“We want to avoid everyone saying, ‘Ah, dude, you sold out,’ ” he said. But the firm needed “some serious firepower” to keep growing, he added.
The Katin name has been part of Southern California surfing lore since 1958, when Walter and Nancy Katin, who sold boat covers at their Surfside shop on the coast between Huntington Beach and Seal Beach, began making canvas surf trunks. Over the years, the shorts became favorites of surfing purists.
Walter Katin died in 1967. Nancy Katin, who continued their Kanvas by Katin shop, died in 1986. By then, Sharp and Lohr were the sole licensees of the Katin brand.
The Kanvas by Katin shop, which is still in operation under separate ownership, was not part of the K2 transaction.
