Salomon has sent a letter to all those interested in the S-core project, announcing that they were momentarily stopping the whole thing and that they were concentrating all their efforts on the original market they are a leader in, i.e. snow. I had access to the letter and may translate it if anybody is interested. Just tell me.
if you can post it as an attachment, it’d be cool. If you can’t for privacy . . . i guess I can give ya an email to send it to . . .
I wonder if they suddenly realized how difficult surfboards are. Or possibly, despite their marketing (nearly every major surfshop that has them has their display item with the zippered open surfboard showing the insides) they’re just not making sales.
Maybe the marketing team was expecting ski / snowboard like sales . … which isn’t possible since surfers are much less in numbers than ski / snowboards . . . and fewer are actually shortboarders (that would buy the s-core) and fewer of those shortboarders would consider buying one . . . then fewer of those that would consider, actually have enough money to buy one.
wow … any official news media or announcements? I browsed their site, nothing saying about it.
Hi Balsa,
Please send it to me in French. I lived over 4 years in France during the early 90’s. I would love to read about this. At ASI (American Surf Industries, LLC) we make XPS Blue blanks out of Blue Billets. We love the material. www.americansurfindustries.com
Kind regards,
Michael Ward
Hi Michael,
if you want to read it in French, go to http://surf4all.com (surfing oriented french website), click on “forums” then on the “Salomon out: the news” thread by Kami.
For some reason, when I try to attach it or to post the link it doesn’t work…
I suspect with the lowered availibility of carbon fiber, most of the companies of hollow will back off the marketing, promoting, and production of boards.
Whoa, thanks for the update LeeD, a carbon fiber shortage . . . good info always (and on surfermag, even though few people give you props for it)
French surfsite . . .
Uhhh. . . .
surf4all.com leads to a yoho.com site . . . saying its for sale?
not a French surf site . . . I checked into surf4all.com
This is current as of 10 PM PST . . .
surf4all.com .IP is 66.98.162.15
owned by:
OrgName: Everyones Internet
OrgID: EVRY
Address: 390 Benmar
Address: Suite 200
City: Houston
StateProv: TX
PostalCode: 77060
Country: US
Did they lose their domain over the weekend? Cuz something doesn’t fit.
Hey balsa can you just post in text on a post? Thanks!
Sorry, man, it’s actually .NET… So: http://www.surf4all.net. I’m gonna post the letter and the translation that I did. Just gimme a few minutes. I was out yesterday and couldn’t do it before.
here is the stuff from balsa. (thanks mate)
So, here you go: http://www.surf4all.net, then “forums”, then look for the post: “Salomon out: les news” (or something like that) by Kami. But, of course it’s in French…
Here is a quick translation:
"Dear partners of the S-core project,
Thanks to your commitment and to its fanatics team action, the S-core Salomon project has obtained considerable success in a very short time, bringing to surfers a number of innovative products and designs. We are proud to believe that this work is being more and more acknowledged by the surf community worldwide.
Unfortunately, Salomon must now devote its energy and ressources to its basic original products and brands linked to the snow, outdoor and cycle markets. In this context, we have decided to suspend surf products sales as from the 2007 spring/summer season.
Salomon will keep and protect the assets that have been created by the S-core team, especially its technologies and brands. These assets might be used again in the future in a not yet defined frame.
Right now, our main objective is to get off this project in the fairest way possible, with respect towards all our partners who took part in this.
2006 spring/summer and autumn/winter sales will continue as usual with all the necessary support and help so that our partners can keep doing business in the most profitable ways possible with S-core products all along the year 2006.
Salomon’s organization as a whole, as much as several key actors of the S-core team will actively work towards this aim and they will get in touch with you very soon to discuss and envision the consequences of this situation.
I want to thank you sincerely and personnally for your contribution to this project.
Yours sincerely,
Jean-Luc DIARD, President."
Of course, as I said, this is a QUICK translation and I am not a professional translater, but I believe it gives the true meaning of the original french letter.
If I may be of any help for anything, just ask me, OK?
Sorry to answer so late but I went to bed after posting the news and I found your message at six this morning and still had to translate the letter…
Cheers.
(Or should I say better: “Catchya mate”, as Chip told me?)
Guilhem. (GUETHARY SURFBOARDS)
________________________________________
I suspect it has more to do with this process than any recent technological or raw material developments:
The acquisition of Salomon by Amer Sports was announced last October.
-Samaiam
S-core was a dumb idea from the get-go.
The problem was starting with the notion that you are going to re-engineer the core of a surfboard. The core is the lowest density and least important in load bearing. You could do a lot more by dialing in multiple stringers, or playing with the shell, than the core would EVER give you.
Someone who really knew not much about composites took that idea and ran with it and blew a wad of cash in the meantime, all for a much more expensive result with no performance improvement…
As has been said before, I believe that the idea behind the S-CORE thing was for Salomon to create a “surf implicated company” image to later try and catch a piece of the big surfwear cake… Nothing to do with surfing, plenty to do with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$… Or €€€€€€€€€€€€€€…
Quote:
As has been said before, I believe that the idea behind the S-CORE thing was for Salomon to create a “surf implicated company” image to later try and catch a piece of the big surfwear cake… Nothing to do with surfing, plenty to do with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$… Or €€€€€€€€€€€€€€…
You may be correct. However, I checked the salomonsports web site, and their surfing (added 7/10- S) clothing and accessories products are given a pretty low profile.
I work for a very successful international corporation that has grown mainly by acquisition, as it appears Amer Sports has. What usually happens after acquisition is that each business line of the acquired company is evaluated for how well it fits into the corporation’s overall strategy, what its current book assets and liabilities are, and its long term upside and downside (gross margin) potential (most of those items are related, but they are not identical). Any line of business that does not meet certain criteria in each of those evaluations is axed - sold if possible, otherwise discontinued. Sentiment does not figure in to the equation. I did see speculation in another thread here that Burton had purchased the Salomon S-core business prior to its acquisition of CI. I have no idea whether that has any validity, but it would be consistent with this kind of merger activity.
Reading between the lines of the press release I linked to, it would appear that Salomon became available because of poor financial results. It would be interesting to know how many of those 370 layoffs were connected to the surfboard division. Based on this dim look into the crystal, I wouldn’t volunteer to bet any serious money on the future of Salomon surfboard products one way or the other, but if I was forced to make a guess, it would be that “it’s dead, Jim”.
-Samiam
Sweet, thanks for the update . . . good point Blakestah.
The letter
Voila ce que j’ai recu ce matin par courrier
Chers Partenaires du projet S-CORE,
Gràca à votre engagement et à l’action de son équipe, de passionnés, le projet Salomon S-CORE, a obtenu en peu de temps des succès remarquables, en apportant aux surfeurs des produits et design particulierement innovant.
Nous avons la fiérté de croire que ce travail est de plus en plus reconnu par la communauté des surfeurs dans le monde entier.
Malheureusement, Salomon doit maintenant consacré son energie et ses ressources liés au pilier de ses marques et de ses produits dans les domaines du sport d’hiver, de l’outdoor, et du cycle.
Dans ce contexte, nous avons pris la décision, de suspendre la vente de produits surf a compter de la saison printemps/été 2007.
Salmon conservera et protegera les valeurs créé par l’équipe S-CORE, notamment ses technologies et ses marques.
Ses actifs pourront a nouveau être utilisé dans le futur, dans un cadre non défini à ce jour.
Nous nous donnons maintenant pour objectif prioritaire de nous désengager de la manière la plus équitable et dans le respect des partenaires qui nous accompagnés dans ce projet.
Les ventes Pintemps/Eté et Auomne/Hiver06 se poursuivront normalement avec tout le soutien et le service necessaire, pour permettre a nos partenaire de poursuive leurs activitées de facon profitable avec les produits SCORE tout au long de l’année 2006,
L’organisation de Salomon dans on ensemble et plusieurs prsonnes clés de l’équipe S-CORE vont se consacrer activement a ce processus, ils vous contacteront très prochainement pour vous en discuter en envisager les conséquences de cette situation,
Je tiens a vous remercier personnellement et très sincèrement pour la contribution que vous avez apporté a ce projet,
Avec mes meilleurs salutation
Jean-Luc Diard
Président
here is my crappy translation
Veiled what I received this morning by mail Dear Partenaires of the SCORE project, Gràca with your engagement and the action of its team, from impassioned, the project Solomon SCORE, obtained in little time of remarkable successes, while bringing to the surfers products and design particularly innovating. We fiérté to believe that this work is recognized more and more by the community of the surfers in the whole world. Unfortunately, Solomon must now devoted his energy and his resources related to the pillar of his marks and his products in the fields of the winter sport, the outdoor, and the cycle. In this context, we made the decision, to suspend the sale of products surfing as from the season printemps/été 2007. Salmon will preserve and protegera the values created by the SCORE team, in particular her technologies and its marks. Its credits will be able has new being used in the future, within a nondefinite framework to date. We are now given for top priority to disengage us in the most equitable way and in the respect of the partners who accompanied us in this project. The sales Pintemps/Eté and Auomne/Hiver06 will continue normally with all the support and the necessary service, to allow has our partner of continues their activitées in an advantageous way with the products SCORE throughout the year 2006, the organization of Solomon in one together and several prsonnes key of the SCORE team will be devoted actively has this process, they will contact you very soon for you to discuss it to consider the consequences of this situation of them, I hold has to thank you personally and very sincerely for the contribution that you brought has this project, With my best greeting Jean-Luc Diard President
additional from Kami
<span style="font-weight:bold">Source Magazine European Sport business a écrit:</span> Amer sport Corp, a annoncé des ventes en hausses pour le premier trimestre...
Bien qu’Amer Sport Corp ait achevé l’acquisition de salomon en octobre dernier, la compagnie a publié son bilan trimestriel en se servant des chiffres utilisés pour l’acquisition de salomon a partir de janvier 2005.
En Avril 2005, Amer avait annoncé un bénéfice de 14 200 000€.
L’acquistion de Salomon qui a atteint 485 000 000€ a augmenté la dette d’Amer Sport Corp, qui se monte desormais à 600 000 000€, tandfis que le nombre d’employé est passé de 4000 à 6700 .
Aujourd’hui la société emploie près de 7000 personnes.
L’acquisition de Salomo, a aussi apporté à Amer, les marques Bonfire (haut de gamme en vetement de snow, Cliché skateboard).
Autre fois plus gros fabricant de cigarettes de finlande, Amer à revendu l’intégralité de ses activitées liées au tabac en 2004, pour se concentrer exclusivement sur le matériel de sport.
xlation:
Source Magazine European Sport business wrote: Land-mark Corp sport, announced sales in rise for the first quarter… Although Amer Corp Sport completed the acquisition of Solomon last October, the company published its quaterly statement while being useful of the figures used for the acquisition of Solomon from January 2005. In April 2005, Amer had announced a benefit of 14 200 000?. The acquistion of Solomon who reached 485 000 000? the debt of Land-mark Corp Sport increased, which is assembled from now on to 600 000 000?, tandfis that the number of employee passed from 4000 to 6700. Today the company employs nearly 7000 people. The acquisition of Salomo, also brought to Amer, the Bonfire marks (top-of-the-range in clothing of snow, Cliché skateboard). Another time larger manufacturer of cigarettes of Finland, Land-mark with resold the integrality of its activitées related to the tobacco in 2004, to concentrate exclusively on the material of sport.
La réorganisation social de Salomon SA se poursuit
Salomon SA continu son social de reorganisation (ou plan social pour nos syndicat) commencé en décembre.
Le plan devrait durer 3 ans et devrait assurer le futur de Salomon, Amer sport éspère economiser 40 000 000€ d’içi fin 2008
xlation
The reorganization social of Solomon SA continues Continuous Solomon SA social sound of reorganisation (or social plan for our trade union) started in December. Should the plan last 3 years and should ensure the future of Solomon, Amer sport éspère economiser 40 000 000? of içi at the end of 2008 Continuous Solomon SA social sound of reorganisation (or social plan for our trade union) started in December. The plan should last 3 years and would have
sorry for the really bad translation, I’m English as first language . . .
Read that Solomon is downsizing in more areas than just surf. Reorganiztion for a business that has not seen a profit in many years.
This is bad news, maybe one day in the future someone again may have the guts to put up the $$$$ needed to drag us out of the technological dark ages. As with most things new and different, many were quick to dismiss the S Core project and say these boards did not perform. Not true, the performance was possibly to advanced for the average surfer.
Pretty sad really, because it was never suggested that S core would replace conventional surfboard manufacture, but simply be an alternative in ones quiver. For those who wanted to take surfing to another level or had so much ability that conventional surfboard technology could simply not provide a platform that allowed them to progress beyond the current boundaries, S Core held that potential. Mr Slater is but one example.
Yeah, we all know the $$$ story and the Frogs did make some stupid moves played out by Addidas as the owners, but a handful of people like Dave Mac who worked on it in WA from day one with the original brains of the project, Eric Metrot had a vision and fought hard against those controlling the purse strings to try and bring that into play in a legitimate way.
To witness Dave Mac, Kieran Perrow, Kelly and many more ride these boards from 2 to15 foot and get excited by the potential was a glimpse of a future we now may never see. Just imagine the technology that could be embraced within a hollow board and the combination of variations of measured and controlled flex, weight distribution and radical new fins.
A few have dreamed of this, just to see what could be done, but politics of big business and selfish $$$$ chasing has once again put us back to the drawing board.
VALE S-Core.
Quote:
As with most things new and different, many were quick to dismiss the S Core project and say these boards did not perform. Not true, the performance was possibly to advanced for the average surfer.
Gee, what a smart business idea, huh? Formula 1 cars are probably too advanced for the average driver, too, but no one is trying to sell them average drivers!
Or maybe it’s just another version of the usual “you’re not good enough to realize the benefits of our fancy schmancy surfboards,” bs spewed by makers of surfboards that most people just don’t want.
Quote:
Quote:As with most things new and different, many were quick to dismiss the S Core project and say these boards did not perform. Not true, the performance was possibly to advanced for the average surfer.
Gee, what a smart business idea, huh? Formula 1 cars are probably too advanced for the average driver, too, but no one is trying to sell them average drivers!
Or maybe it’s just another version of the usual “you’re not good enough to realize the benefits of our fancy schmancy surfboards,” bs spewed by makers of surfboards that most people just don’t want.
Good point, and I maybe screwed up in trying to make my point. That is, that without someone breaking new ground and advancing technology across all parts of our lives, we live in darkness. We don’t drive Formula 1, but the flowdown effect of that technology exists in every car. Some would argue that the twin fin, thruster, leggies, traction pads and fin boxes were “fancy schmancy”, but few of us would choose to be without some element of them today.
The funny thing is, that S core technology, made to siutable shapes and thickness were ideal for average surfers. But because they had to be marketed as expensive hi tech pro type blades to gain acceptance and recognition by the industry, the average surfer never got a chance for that flow down effect to happen.
Quote:
glimpse of a future we now may never see. Just imagine the technology that could be embraced within a hollow board and the combination of variations of measured and controlled flex, weight distribution and radical new fins.
A few have dreamed of this, just to see what could be done, but politics of big business and selfish $$$$ chasing has once again put us back to the drawing board.
i dunno about that mate
just cuz s core pulled out doesnt mean others arent doing it
firewire and heaps of other home builders are trying and developing this stuff on a day to day basis
to be honest i couldnt care less what people are riding
and it always give me a laugh when i see a broken pu/pe in 2 ft surf
also this site seems to bag surftech, but personaly i think there great boards
i think i can make a better one, but if i didnt have a spare space id prolly just go and buy a surftech.
ps. i saw the inside of a broken s core on this site and wasnt to impressed to be honest.
dont know about the newer ones ,maybe there better
to the people that bag new technology and surftechs and such.
they just whingers
boo hoo dont crowd our lineups with epoxy asian shit
boo hoo i cant get waves cuz its sp crowded, even on a 10 ft longboard
boo hoo surfings just not what it used to be
when i was a boy etc etc etc
just deal with it…
i remember when a a japanese electric guitar was so cheap.
like 100 dollars from a second hand shop
and alot of them were better then gibsons and fenders (ibaneze artist,tokai,early bc rich,yari accoustics etc etc)
but everyone was saying they were crap
these guitars are worth alot of money now
He Blake,
What are you absolutely enthusiastic about? Either your own sutff or any other companies stuff?
Regards,
Wouter
I would be interested in seeing that letter (translated please).