Lasse Kjus is aware of a factor or two about harsh climate. The previous Olympic and World Cup champion Norwegian alpine skier spent most of his life battling the weather around the globe from Lillehammer to Nagano, Salt Lake Metropolis and in every single place in between.
Unable to discover a ski jacket that was as comfy, stretchy and insulated as he felt in his race go well with, Kjus launched KJUS in 2000. After being the primary model to introduce a stretch ski jacket to market in 2002, KJUS spent a decade manufacturing extremely engineered materials and merchandise centered on temperature administration, so wearers weren’t zipping and unzipping their jackets.
Leveraging its knowhow and expertise from the ski slopes, KJUS transitioned into golf by launching its first product line of premium rain gear headlined by the Professional 3L jacket in 2013.
“We figured that if we might hold a skier shielded from excessive wind, rain, snow, chilly components they usually’re extremely comfy they usually can transfer, we are able to additionally do this in golf,” KJUS President Brooke Mackenzie mentioned.
A Pure Transition
From the surface, transitioning from ski-focused merchandise to golf looks like a little bit of a stretch. The previous is finished at excessive speeds in a few of the coldest, wettest and windiest environments on the planet, whereas golf is usually performed in additional temperate climates and at a snail’s tempo compared.
However the similarities between the 2 actions, particularly because it pertains to how a skier and golfer strikes, made the enlargement of KJUS’ merchandise a no brainer. Whereas Mackenzie mentioned KJUS receives requests to get into biking, tennis and horseback driving, creating cold- and hot-weather gear for golf made probably the most sense as a result of three vital elements.
Whether or not you’re rushing down from a mountaintop within the Swiss Alps or are establishing an method shot on a flat golf course in Florida, unencumbered motion, particularly along with your arms, is a necessity. Providing safety with out hindrance for each skier and golfer is among the important causes KJUS bought into golf.
Whereas snowboarding is finished in chilly temperatures with snow and ice aplenty, golf might be performed in a lot of locales with unpredictable components, particularly in its homeland of Scotland, so various temperature patterns and extremes are current in each actions.
Lastly, fluctuating physique temperatures throughout every exercise was another excuse it made sense for KJUS to go from snowboarding to golf. The physique heats up whereas snowboarding down a mountain and cools on the elevate trip again up whereas, in golf, one heats up throughout a swing or whereas strolling to their shot, however cools whereas ready their flip or sitting in a cart.
Sizzling n Chilly
Not solely has KJUS transitioned from ski to golf however the model constructed on defending wearers from cold-weather extremes has expanded into hot-weather gear. Whether or not it’s with its half-zip or polo, KJUS warm-weather merchandise take moisture-wicking properties to the following stage.
The fiber construction aggressively pulls water off the pores and skin’s floor and pumps it to the outside the place it rapidly evaporates, leaving the wearer dry and cozy. The model’s VaporTemp expertise is particularly positioned on the product to additional speed up the physique’s pure capability to evaporate perspiration whereas regulating physique warmth. Pure minerals woven into the material convert infrared and visual gentle into vitality near your physique which will increase your tissue’s switch of oxygen.
A few of its newest merchandise characteristic collagen via KJUS Moisture Renewal expertise that retains pores and skin hydrated and smooth amid harsh situations.
“We’ve actually branched out throughout all temperatures,” Mackenzie mentioned. “The aim is to maintain you feeling wonderful regardless of how sizzling or how chilly it’s whilst you keep on the excellent temperature inside.”
Acushnet Acquisition
After proudly defending skiers and golfers from Mom Nature for almost twenty years, KJUS acquired an enormous enhance in help and validation, particularly within the golf trade, due to its acquisition by Acushnet in July 2019.
The dad or mum firm of golf trade titans together with Titleist, FootJoy and Scotty Cameron wasn’t impressed solely with KJUS’ success because it launched however its dedication to creating revolutionary, performance-driven merchandise to help golfers.
Letting KJUS proceed to construct its id and high-end merchandise, Acushnet hasn’t modified a lot on the consumer-facing facet however has taken over a lot of the back-end logistics together with authorized and finance.
“They’ve supported us and allowed us to develop however, on the identical time, allowed us sufficient room to remain distinctive to who we’re,” Mackenzie mentioned. “It’s been an unimaginable partnership.”
Shortly after the acquisition, the golf trade witnessed its biggest increase since Tiger Woods rose to prominence within the late Nineteen Nineties on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. With hundreds of thousands searching for secure, outside actions at a time of stay-at-home mandates and social distancing, golf turned the go-to social and bodily exercise.
Somewhat than making an attempt to simply trip the wave, KJUS used the peak of the pandemic to strategically set itself up for fulfillment post-COVID.
“It was type of a good time for us to take a seat again and take into consideration what we would like this new chapter with Acushnet to seem like,” Mackenzie mentioned.
The model, which put a ton of time and vitality into analysis and growth, relocated its headquarters from Europe to Boulder, Colo. Clearly extra of a hotbed for winter sports activities, the situation close to the Rocky Mountains nonetheless provides KJUS ample attain on the golf facet of the enterprise with easy accessibility to each U.S. coasts in addition to the Midwest and South.
With merchandise obtainable in additional than 20 international locations, a satellite tv for pc workplace in Risch-Rotkreuz, Switzerland, and showrooms throughout the globe, KJUS continues to function an revolutionary and premium attire ski and golf model whose precedence is to guard the wearer no matter no matter Mom Nature throws at them from the slope to the course.
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