 Poster: A snowHead
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While I was looking for something for someone, I happened to google the Westbeach brand and it appears they've shuttered their website and SocMed profiles.
I've been using WB gear for over 20 years and always found it to be good quality and very good value for money, but it looks like they've gone.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@musher, that's dated Feb 2012! Maybe they almost went down before or got picked up by a bigger fish back then and have finally been wound up. Doesn't look good for them now though...
::EDIT:: that 2012 article relates to their physical store in Van.BC which closed, the overall business kept going.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I think it was on the decline and had become a pricepoint brand from it's heady position at the turn of the millennium. Certainly saw less of the kit over here or on hill in US/Canada in recent years.
Interesting that the founder flogged it in other to found Lululemon and thus Westbeach has played a direct role in the entire athleisure industry and the infliction of billions of aspirational yoga selfies on the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_Wilson
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I bought a couple of things from westbeach in the last decade, at which point they were based in Manchester - that's Manchester in north west england. THe jacket I bought for Mrs NBT went back as it didn't have a ski pass pocket on the sleeve, which I think is pretty basic requirement for a ski Jacket (yes I know you can get round it but if you're spedning money, it should be right)
I bought a pair of insulated ski trousers which were great, except 1) they were snowboard trews, so no gaiters on the ankles to stop ski boots cutting through the fabric, and b) the seam in the crotch hadn;t been sewn correctly so there was a big hole where the fabric didn't meet. They did offer to fix it when I got back, so I sent them in, but the company lost them and could only offer a free replacement from whatever they had in stock. I got some but have never used them as they're uninsulated
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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They used to make jackets for Camp of Champions, and I had one of those. I like their logo still.
In the early days snowboarding apparel was massive and lots of people achieved amazing market penetration really quickly. The key driver, I think, was that they weren't the same old ski clothing companies, so "technical" stuff was a negative. They had to be new brands, old would not do. For a while. Eventually they all "went bank", selling to less nimble organizations.
I didn't realize he was the Lulu bloke - good for him. He really got the marketing right for escape velocity with that one.
Presumably from 1997 Westbeach was a cash cow; if you liked it before, you probably wouldn't like it later.
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They've not gone belly up. They've been sold back to (let's just say) a Canadian company.
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Oooh cryptic! It's Tim Hortons isn't it?
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