Under new ownership in Montebelluna, Italy, Garmont International S.R.L. is investing in a full service subsidiary for North America and has named Bill Dodge as CEO. Dodge’s strong history in performance footwear includes leading Salomon from its launch to a dominant position in North America and later serving as VP of Global Product Design and Development at Merrell during the last 6 years.
Pierangelo Bressan, the founding member of VeNetwork investment group, purchased Garmont last spring. VeNetwork’s mission is to preserve and promote regional businesses. Bressan also owns Prisma 2, a company that specializes in the design and development of performance outdoor apparel. Bressan has established an international management team for Garmont led by Giuliano Zavan, who has held senior positions at Asolo and Tecnica.
“We have a strong opportunity to start fresh with a trusted premium brand” notes Dodge. “Garmont targets the enthusiast and it is important we develop an effective, mutually beneficial relationship with specialty retail.”
Since specialty retail faces a complex marketplace, Dodge says Garmont will take a supportive approach that will focus on education and sell-through success. “This is a unique opportunity to build an innovative bridge between great product and the consumer, with a clear and reliable distribution strategy,” he says.
Garmont will focus on the footwear category for now. Last year it sold the ski boot portion of its business to Scott Sports. “Performance footwear and ski boots are completely different manufacturing worlds”, states Dodge. “We have excellent production facilities and this focus is important to our future growth opportunities. For example, Garmont has had additional success in developing tactical footwear for military and police, a category that also demands innovation and quality.”
Garmont will break ground on its new North American facilities in January 2015, reportedly to be located not far from the mountains of New Hampshire.
