Berghaus creates U.S. subsidiary

By

Olivier Guyot

Published
Dec 25, 2013

For two years, Berghaus has been exploring its potential in the United States through a few outdoor specialty stores nationwide. The experience seems to have yielded some results. The British brand owned by the Pentland Group has just announced the establishment of a subsidiary in Portland, Oregon.

Walter Crate will manage the unit and has been named president of Berghaus USA. Bo Johnson is vice president in charge of sales and marketing. Both men are former executives of Salomon USA. They used their distribution company Neskowin Outdoor to orchestrate the arrival of Berghaus on the U.S. market.

They will also be able to tap resources from the Pentland overseas group.
Berghaus's U.S. business will kick off with product sales for the 2014-15 winter season. The brand said its strategy will be to push its most technical lines: Extrem, Mountain and Vapourlight.

During Pentland's presentation of its 2012 results, the group touted the very strong sales of Berghaus as an explanation of its increase in turnover compared to 2011.