SAN DIEGO (BRAIN) — This summer 100% released its latest Peter Sagan special edition sunglasses — the brand has worked with the ProTour superstar since December 2016 — just before the opening stage of the Tour de France. And there's more on the roadie side coming soon from the moto and mountain bike accessory and apparel maker.
"We're not trying to become a full road brand. Our main focus for road is eyewear, but then we also want to have some accessories that cross over into road as well as mountain without going full crazy Lycra kit company. We're doing some collaborative stuff with Cadence, and then we're doing some basic accessories like a sweat hat or a cycling hat as well as some fingerless road gloves and Lycra arm and knee covers," said Nick Wozniak, the San Diego company's global sales director.
The new road products, which arrive at retailers next spring and will be on display at Interbike Marketweek in September, are part of the company's plans to grow its footprint beyond the gravity market that has been its primary focus in bike up to now.
"At launch [into the mountain bike category] it made more sense for us to have high-end gear and a high-end helmet focusing on gravity, with that being the pinnacle of the sport in terms of how people view riders and athletes and how they aspire to what they want to be in mountain biking. And then to flow down from there — getting into the other categories — helps us be a partner to the shops we want to sell into," Wozniak said.
For spring 2019, 100% is adding a new open-face all-mountain helmet and full-face enduro helmet, as well as leg and arm protection. The brand is also expanding its casual clothing line and adding a new range of performance socks. And at the end of August, 100% was set to release a revamped mountain glove line with an all-new chassis and ergonomic updates.
An expanded women's apparel line will include new entry-level price points, while juniors will get new gravity and all-mountain shorts in addition to the gravity pant and jersey 100% already makes for young rippers.
Overall in apparel, the brand is growing from two levels of gear to a "good, better and best" offering, including more trail- and XC-oriented items.
"Certain shops and even resorts want you to have a full array of product so the brand can be a full go-to for whatever they need, versus only being able to buy all-mountain and gravity gear and just one helmet. Now they'll have the ability to sell a gravity-based helmet, an enduro helmet and an all-mountain helmet. And they'll have the different price categories needed for that as well as protection. It's being the one-stop shop for good/better/best in terms of gear rather than being all high-end," Wozniak said.
In addition to its IBD sales, 100% sells direct to consumers on its website and through a handful of online retailers, including Backcountry and Jenson USA. But IBDs account for 85 to 95 percent of overall sales, and the brand is looking to tap further into that dealer base.
"Our focus is to support the IBD channel, versus online or third-party retail. The fact that we have a pretty strong MAP policy has enabled us to go out and open some of the better doors. That's given us brand strength and brand equity in terms of how we look online. The retailer has more opportunity to make full margin in the store with us because we're not on sale everywhere," Wozniak said.
"The hard part is we're still the new kid on the block, so they may not want to take the risk of bringing in every product category that we do. But across the U.S. you'll find anything from goggles, glasses, gloves, gear and helmets in the stores, but that doesn't mean they're carrying every single product in every single door we're in. We still have a ton of doors that we can not only open, but also where we can expand the product categories we're already in," he added.
