Jack Wolfskin forges ahead with US expansion

A year after the acquisition by Golf equipment supplier Callaway, outdoor brand Jack Wolfskin continues its expansion abroad. The German company will "finally invest seriously and sustainably in North America and also in Japan," said CEO Melody Harris-Jensbach when talking to German business weekly "Wirtschaftswoche". Accordingly, the company opened its North American headquarters in Park City in the US state of Utah and has appointed a country head. In Japan, Jack Wolfskin is taking the distribution for a partner into its own hands, said Harris-Jensbach.

US-based Callaway had bought Jack Wolfskin in January 2019 for about 418 million euros (approximately 458 million US dollars). The brand with the paw logo should be able to find new customers, given the large sports market in the United States. The maker of outdoor jackets, backpacks and hiking boots has so far been hardly represented in the USA and also in Japan.

In recent years, Jack Wolfskin has been struggling with the tough competition in the outdoor market and has changed hands several times. In the US, Jack Wolfskin now wants to score with a European image and an English brand name, but is encountering strong domestic competitors such as The North Face, Patagonia and Columbia.

In the first year under new ownership, turnover has hardly increased, Harris-Jensbach added. "The bottom line is that we have achieved similar revenues for the whole year". Already at the time of the acquisition, Callaway had stated thatJack Wolfskin’s revenues in 2019 would be roughly at the previous year's level of 334 million euros and would only be likely to rise in the medium term. The Wolfskin CEO denied rumors that Callaway could plan to relocate the company: "Callaway has assured us that Idstein is and will be the location of Jack Wolfskin." (dpa)

This article was originally published on FashionUnited DE. Edited and translated by Simone Preuss.