Seth
09-09-2006, 12:31 AM
Phil Pugliese at Epicski.com writes in with a query. Over in their forum they're arguing over whether Pre skis came from Sun Valley or Park City. The truth is: neither. Most of the skis were made in the K2 factory.
Corporate history of Pre
(originally Precision Skis) is more or less as
follows:
Around 1970, Chuck Ferries wanted to leave his job as
vp/marketing at K2 and move to Sun Valley. K2 didn't
want to lose his services, so Chuck and the K2 boys
set up a new brand name, Precision Skis, made in the
K2 factory on Vashon Island and sold by Chuck through
a new marketing organization based in Ketchum. A few
years later, Scott USA went into bankruptcy and Chuck
put together an investor group to buy it. They moved
Scott into the Pre offices. A few of the Pre GS skis
were actually made by Atomic, for a few years.
A decade passes=d, and some of the investors wanted out of
the ski business. Scott USA was sold, Chuck retired for a time,
and control of the Pre brand reverts to K2 Corp. They
hired Kip Pitou, formerly US distributor of Kastle, to
market Pre, and he set up his office in Park City.
This situation prevailed until around 1995, when
sagging sales led K2 to let the Pre brand die -- at
least in the U.S. It may be that they still sell some
skis in Europe under the Pre label.
Seth
Corporate history of Pre
(originally Precision Skis) is more or less as
follows:
Around 1970, Chuck Ferries wanted to leave his job as
vp/marketing at K2 and move to Sun Valley. K2 didn't
want to lose his services, so Chuck and the K2 boys
set up a new brand name, Precision Skis, made in the
K2 factory on Vashon Island and sold by Chuck through
a new marketing organization based in Ketchum. A few
years later, Scott USA went into bankruptcy and Chuck
put together an investor group to buy it. They moved
Scott into the Pre offices. A few of the Pre GS skis
were actually made by Atomic, for a few years.
A decade passes=d, and some of the investors wanted out of
the ski business. Scott USA was sold, Chuck retired for a time,
and control of the Pre brand reverts to K2 Corp. They
hired Kip Pitou, formerly US distributor of Kastle, to
market Pre, and he set up his office in Park City.
This situation prevailed until around 1995, when
sagging sales led K2 to let the Pre brand die -- at
least in the U.S. It may be that they still sell some
skis in Europe under the Pre label.
Seth