Mammut sells Toko to Swix Sport

The Swiss Mammut Sports Group AG will sell the Toko brand, including all of its activities and products, to a new subsidiary of the Norwegian company Swix Sport AS, effective September 1, 2010.

By taking this step, Mammut Sports Group AG is underlining its intention of focusing on the outdoor sports market and its main brand MAMMUT. “MAMMUT’s rapid growth over recent years and the challenges of its future worldwide expansion require all our efforts and these are the driving factors behind this transaction,” states Rolf G. Schmid, CEO of Mammut Sports Group.

Toko, which occupies a leading position in central Europe, has a long tradition in ski waxing and today offers a wide range of Swiss-quality ski wax, tools and care products for top performance. The brand’s logo, with its yellow on black colours, is well known in all international ski markets. Toko represents around 5% of the Mammut Sports Group’s annual turnover.

After the purchase, Toko will maintain its Swiss identity and Swix Sport AS will pursue a two brand strategy, with separate product portfolios and distribution channels. Both brands, Toko and Swix, will benefit from collective investments in product development, production and logistics. “Toko’s leading position in central Europe and strong presence in alpine markets, together with our nordic focus is a perfect match in order to offer new and superior products in the future,” states Ulf Bjerknes, CEO of Swix Sport AS.

Swix, the new brand owner, will take over the entire Toko team and operate the Toko business out of Altstätten (Switzerland), Toko’s former home. The current Toko brand manager, Thorsten Walter, will lead this new company called Toko-Swix Sport AG. “We are very pleased that in Swix Sport AS Toko has found a new owner that knows the business by heart and is able to take advantage of everything we have built up over the years,” states Rolf G. Schmid.

It is important to recognize that Toko will retain its independence and identity as a Swiss company.  Ian Harvey will continue to run the Toko brand for the US market and all Toko sales reps will be retained as per Ian’s judgment.  Toko marketing activities will continue to be independent from Swix.
For questions or further information, please contact:
Steve Poulin, President Swix Sport USA, steve@swixsport.com
Ian Harvey, Toko USA Brand Manager, Ian@TokoUS.com

SlideWright is pleased to announce we are now carrying Toko Waxes and Tools along with Dominator Waxes. Toko has a long global performance history and Dominator also has a history of devout fans. Germany FK/SKS Tuning Tools adds to our extensive line up for those preferring their tuning tools. Lucky Bums offers many ski and snowboard options for kids, as well as year round gear choices. Check out their brand pages and let us know if there are any products in these lines that you’d like us to procure.

As another method of providing useful tips and techniques, we have set up SlideWright’s YouTube channel. We will continue to add pertinent videos, so keep checking for new video clips. As always, your suggestions and feedback are welcome.

After much anticipation, The Tools4Boards Terminator ski & snowboard portable tuning stands are heading our way.

Made from anodized, extruded aluminum rails and modular system for easy sliding and adjustments of T4B (with included knobs) and other vises. With foldable tube steel legs for easy transport & storage. Makes vise location adjustments fast and convenient on a solid, lightweight, foldable, and transportable base. Move around the house, shop, take on trips or get optimal flexibility and efficiency for final waxing and fine tuning at the start line!

Designed to integrate very nicely with the Tools4Boards vises: Cinch, CordLoc, Retractor, BoardLoc & Pro 500, the stand works very well with conventional vises with an additional block.

The ability for the stand to accept bolts and knobs and other attachments of accessories, along with several vises via the knobs provide unlimited possibilities and expedites the tuning, waxing and other board maintenance tasks.

(Keep watching for future accessory offerings.)

Canada’s Hudec wins Lake Louise downhill

The winning wax at the Lake Louise World Cup Men’s Downhill was Racing Base Med with P2 Cold/P2 Med.