Corona Ticker: Arc'teryx Produces Tens of Thousands of Medical Gowns

This ticker on the impact of the pandemic on the world of sport will be continuously updated. In particular, we would like to show actions that encourage and strengthen social interaction in and through the sports community or show athletes support aid projects.

If you know a helpful initiative from the world of sports or an encouraging action of an outdoor brand, please write to content@ispo.com. Then we will gladly write about it here.

The coronavirus affects society in all areas. The sports business is also struggling with the effects of the pandemic. The ISPO Group, the Association of German Sports Retailers (VDS) and Sport 2000 are therefore jointly launching the #sportstays campaign. Support sports and the sports industry and use the hastag #sportstays on social media.

The Canadian outdoor brand Arc'teryx is actively using its own production facilities to fight the corona pandemic: The company has converted parts of its production in the Canadian province of British Columbia to gowns for local hospitals. Together with its production partners Mustang Survival and Boardroom, Arc'teryx plans to deliver a total of 90,000 gowns. For ten days, Arc'teryx has been working with local health authorities to test materials for use in the medical sector.

Shirley Chan, Senior Director of Product Commercialization and Quality, described the differences to normal production in an interview with "Daily Hive": "Our manufacturing facility specializes in waterproof, breathable seam gear and while surgical gowns share some requirements for water resistance and breathability, the type of sewing is really different."

What impact does the Corona pandemic have on the sporting goods industry? To find out, the WFSGI is asking members, but also other companies, to participate in a survey.

The snowboard brand Nitro has launched a fundraising campaign on Gofundme.com for creative people in the snowboard scene. "The Snowboard Community Fund", as the campaign is called, wants to collect a total of 60,000 euros in donations, which will go to creative freelancers from the scene, from photographers and cameramen to park shapers. So far, the Nitro call has already passed the 9,000 euro mark.

As a partner of sports companies such as Adidas, the Swedish chemical company Polygiene has focused on sustainability in recent years. In the face of the corona pandemic, Polygiene is returning to a corporate focus of the early years, when the company developed antiviral and antibacterial solutions in response to the SARS epidemic.

Now the brand is launching ViralOff technology, which is to be used in the antiviral treatment of medical devices and medical clothing such as gowns and uniforms. Polygiene promises to kill over 99% of viruses within 2 hours on a garment treated with ViralOff according to an ISO18184:2019 test. All viruses tested so far, from Influenza A, BirdFlu, Norovirus to coronavirus (SARS), have been reduced in the range of 99%. 

Many of the stationary (retail) traders are currently creative in order to retain their customer base. They start campaigns and promotions or stamp out their own online trade or delivery service at short notice in order to continue generating turnover.

Tree Distribution from Stuttgart supports its customers and offers to communicate measures of the retailers via their own social media channels and to push them with geo-targeted advertising. For this purpose, a questionnaire was sent to the customers with questions about measures, own social media or webshop presence and much more. 

The coronavirus affects society in all areas. The sports business is also struggling with the effects of the pandemic. The ISPO Group, the Association of German Sports Retailers (VDS) and Sport 2000 are therefore jointly launching the #sportstays campaign, which aims to bring the sports and outdoor industry even closer together.

With former ski racer Felix Neureuther, a winter sports eclebrity also supports #sportstays. On Instagram he asks his fans to keep being active even at home these days - for body and mind.

The planned (half) marathon was cancelled? Nevertheless, the preparation was not in vain! Keller Sports is now launching a variety of challenges in its Keller sMiles app, which everyone can tackle on their own. From walks to short runs within the current restrictions, the Keller sMiles app can be used to track and collect points. These can then be redeemed for exclusive rewards. The app is available for Android and iOS.

Keller Sports also provides exclusive home challenges with Imke Salander, core training with Katharina Kosatschek, specific workouts for runners, cyclists and outdoor athletes and other indoor inspiration.

The US outdoor brand Columbia Sportswear had to close its brand stores in the USA on 16 March due to the corona crisis. Nevertheless, there is good news for the more than 4,700 employees affected by this: Columbia Sportswear continues to pay its employees in full despite the closures.

In addition, according to media reports, CEO Tim Boyle is waiving a large part of his salary and is cutting it down to 10,000 US dollars for the entire year. For comparison: According to the newspaper "The Oregonian" Boyle earned 3.3 million dollars in 2018.

Like countless other companies, Vibram has been hit hard by the current Corona pandemic. Both the research center and production at the Vibram Tech Center in Guangzhou were closed for almost ten weeks and are now operating at about 80 percent load. The Albizzate production site near Milan is still closed.

In order to send a positive signal to its employees, the company has paid a bonus to its production staff despite the extremely difficult economic situation, which is intended to reward the successes achieved in 2019. At the same time, Vibram wants to send a positive signal to its employees, who are the cornerstone of the company in difficult times.

A further contribution of the family-owned company to combating the pandemic is the voluntary disinfection of all production sites. In addition, Vibram had already decided to close its plants before the relevant government decree in order to provide the best possible protection for its employees.

The ski clothing manufacturer Fusalp is supporting research in times of the Corona crisis: The French company is donating ten percent of all income from its online shop to the Pasteur Institute from 27 March to 30 April.

In response to the demand drop off caused by various government restrictions and mandatory shutdowns, Boardriders is implementing a series of measures, as the company declares in a press release. These measures include pausing a range of business activities and reducing associated costs to match the overall slowdown in commercial activity. In addition, the Company has made the decision to implement pay reductions across its global teams as well as temporary furloughs in certain functions and geographies.

Finally, the company has undergone a coordinated strategy and operations review and has begun to implement a series of initiatives to adapt its business to the new emerging marketplace. These initiatives are changing some internal structures, processes, and ways of working and will result in some role eliminations.

Boardriders CEO David Tanner said: “There is simply nothing worse than telling highly-valued teammates, who are the heart of our brands, that their paychecks are being impacted by things completely out of our control. In light of the magnitude of this crisis, we are working with all of our commercial partners, including our factories, landlords, vendors, customers, and athletes to share the burden of this unexpected disruption to everyone’s business. There is simply no way that our business, or any piece of our ecosystem, can fully absorb all of the financial impact of this event on their own. We all need each other to make it through this incredibly difficult time.”

In a representative survey of 1,000 households in the UK, the market researchers from Sports Marketing Surveys investigated how British people across the country adapt to initial restrictions and engage in sports, whether from home or within the permitted activities.

According to the survey, 46 per cent of respondents were already exercising at home when the corona crisis began. As many as 21 per cent of respondents did not train at home at the beginning of the corona period, but would now like to do so. Extrapolated to the UK population, that would be 11 million additional athletes who would be using products such as weights, treadmills, exercise bikes, rowing machines, yoga mats, personal training programs, online courses and many other equipment and services.

The Canadian lifestyle brand Dish and DUER will support North American retailers financially in this tough time with a revenue share program. Every retailer will receive a promo code to share with their customer base. These customers will receive 10% off the Dish & DUER website and the retailer will receive revenue share based on the usage of the code.

The Goggles for Docs program materialized in just a few days to support hospital need, and is based solely on volunteer support and product donation. Goggles for Docs is an effort to get used or new ski goggles into the hands of healthcare workers who currently have no eye protection as they treat COVID-19 patients.

Ski goggles company Smith is currently sending new and used goggles to fulfill hospital requests, and will continue to promote the program, encouraging our community to volunteer and donate on an individual level.⁣

"Amidst growing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and after having extensive conversations with many of you, we made the difficult decision to cancel Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2020", this statement is written on the Outdoor Retailer Homepage. 

The show in Denver was planned for June 23-25 in Denver. The OutDoor by ISPO had been canceled a week earlier.

Mountain Runner Kilian Jornet rewards donations in the fight against the corona virus. The Spaniard started a raffle via Instagram to win three pairs of signed trail running shoes that he has worn in iconic races such as the Sierre-Zinal 2018, the UTBM 2017 and the Golden Trail Series 2019 finals in Nepal.

However, only donors to the World Health Organisation and United Nations Foundation can win.

Jornet starts the competition just one day after his successful April Fool's joke, with which he brought beads of sweat to the forehead of alpinists: In a video, the 32-year-old announced his retirement as a runner in order to be able to devote himself completely to his supposed new passion: fishing.

The World Health Organization gives tips for a healthier life at home in times of corona with the hashtag #HealthyAtHome. Sporting goods manufacturers can also participate, as the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry announced.

The World Health Organization WHO has invited the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) to support the new social media challenge #HealthyAtHome.

In the campaign announced on Wednesday, celebrities are to give tips on sports activities, child education and mental health under curfew, among other things.

The sporting goods industry is invited by the WHO to promote the campaign through its social media channels. The WHO provides free social media tiles in its media centre.

The WFSGI reacted and published a detailed overview of fitness programs that help people of all ages stay fit and healthy at home.

The outdoor footwear and clothing manufacturer La Sportiva is taking up a proposal from the Confindustria Trento industrialists' association and is converting parts of its production in Val die Fiemme to the production of respiratory masks. La Sportiva had already completely shut down its production facilities one week before the corresponding ministerial decree, which required the closure of factories for non-essential goods.

Now part of the equipment intended for cutting and sewing materials such as leather and rubber is being converted for the production of respirators and gowns at the service of the Civil Defence of Trento. The first prototypes were produced last Friday and this week the first 1000 pieces will be produced per day thanks to the technical fabrics supplied by the Trentino companies Vagotex and Texbond. The aim is to be able to produce 3000 masks a day at full production capacity.

Equip Outdoor Technologies - owner of the outdoor brands Rab and Lowe Alpine - has established a risk management action plan to support its retailers.

As part of the action plan, Equip has decided that all remaining orders for the current spring/summer season will not be delivered unless specifically requested by the retailer. "This will help retailers keep their stock at a reasonable level during this period of reduced demand and enforced store closures," the company said. At present, Equip's warehouses in the UK and the Netherlands are open and continue to supply all markets where local restrictions apply.

To provide further support to retailers, Equip will offer a return of up to 50 percent of its Spring/Summer 2020 forward order on invoice at the end of the summer season to help retailers manage their end-of-season inventory risk, maintain the value of Rab and Lowe Alpine in the marketplace and assist retailers in their planned transition to the Fall/Winter 2020 range.

In order to support the Sport 2000 partners during this period, Sport 2000 has significantly intensified the final work for the go-live in the last few days to launch the sports platform as soon as possible.

"We are happy to be live with www.sport2000.com now. We have thus created an additional path to the customer for our trading partners, which is becoming increasingly relevant, especially in times like these," says Margit Gosau, the managing director responsible for the e-commerce project. "Even in the period after the crisis, the platform offers an ideal digital supplement to the stationary business.

Even in times of the Corona crisis, the European Fashion Award FASH 2020 is still looking for talented young people in the fashion industry. The prize is endowed with 5000 euros. In addition, up to 20 participants receive extensive support in the form of portfolio consulting, applicant training and workshops with top-class experts.

New is the special workwear award, donated by the company Engelbert Strauss. "Workwear is textile engineering, we use the most modern materials and the latest processing technologies. An exciting field for young people in design", says Henning Strauss.