• For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.

When the Lange rep stops by...

Doug Briggs

"Douche Bag Local"
Industry Insider
SkiTalk Tester
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Posts
7,483
Location
Breckenridge, CO
Our Lange rep is a great guy named Ed Green. Of the products we carry, he also reps Dynastar. He has the best swag and is quite generous with it.

He really outdid himself this year when he stopped by. T-Shirts, gloves, buffs, men's and ladie's underwear, hats and more. When he was at the warehouse he found some original, not reproduction, Lange girl posters and brought 5 of them for the shop. Most notable was the 'Keep those tips up' and 'Soft inside'. Chuck has 'allocated' them and has plans to display them. How he's going to pull that off without offending a few customers is anyone's guess.

IMG_20191129_114157850.jpg Here I am in my new T.

Ed was doing product demos in Steamboat and was excited to meet the lady in the poster.

1575076593950.png


1575076764524.png
1575076804716.png


1575076874906.png


She is wearing Lange Demon boots, of which I have a pair.

Ed also talked about ski boots.

A couple of the more interesting parts of his discussion was about the plastics used in the boots and methods of injection it into the molds. He had two balls, each of a different plastic. One was polyether, the other polyurethane. Dropping the balls yielded dramatic differences in rebound with the polyether, which is used in race boots, performing like a super-ball and the polyurethane being much less bouncy. Another thing to note about the manufacture of boots is that there are 5 points of injection which is apparently more than other makers use.

You will also note he is holding a boot that has been cut in two that illustrates the Dual Core feature. Plastics with different characteristics are injected into different areas of the boot to enhance flex, rebound and response from the boots.

IMG_20191121_184606467_BURST000_COVER_crop.jpg IMG_20191121_184606467_BURST016_crop.jpg
IMG_20191121_184606467_BURST015_crop.jpg IMG_20191121_184606467_BURST011_crop.jpg
 

Tom K.

Skier Ordinaire
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Dec 20, 2015
Posts
8,399
I actually owned the Tips Up poster as a youngster. Ordered from a magazine, where the size was microscopic. Upon seeing it on my closet door, my wonderful mother bought it back from me, and shredded it. Bygones!

My favorite thing about Lange's dual injection is it can provide a hi-po boot that is still reasonably easy to remove in the parking lot on a cold day. I suppose at least some other brands also have this going on. Head most assuredly does NOT with the Raptor -- but still my favorite skiing boot of all time.
 

TheArchitect

Working to improve all the time
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Posts
3,383
Location
Metrowest Boston
Great posters and shirt. I can only imagine social media reaction if any company tried to market that way today.
 

Swiss Toni

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Aug 26, 2016
Posts
586
A couple of the more interesting parts of his discussion was about the plastics used in the boots and methods of injection it into the molds. He had two balls, each of a different plastic. One was polyether, the other polyurethane. Dropping the balls yielded dramatic differences in rebound with the polyether, which is used in race boots, performing like a super-ball and the polyurethane being much less bouncy. Another thing to note about the manufacture of boots is that there are 5 points of injection which is apparently more than other makers use.

You will also note he is holding a boot that has been cut in two that illustrates the Dual Core feature. Plastics with different characteristics are injected into different areas of the boot to enhance flex, rebound and response from the boots.

Polyether is the type of polyol used in the manufacture of the polyurethane used to make the boots. Polyurethanes made with polyether polyol have better resistance to hydrolysis, microbial attack and have better low-temperature flexibility than polyurethanes made with polyester polyol so polyether polyurethane is prefered for the manufacure of high performance boots. In their Dual Core boots Lange uses polyether polyurethane in two different hardnesses, a harder grade in the white area and a softer grade in the blue area. This allows us to get the boots on and off easier and Lange to save some money on the cost of the molds, as they can sequentially inject (hard soft hard) the two grades into the same mold. Previously if you wanted to make a boot from polyurethane with two different hardnesses you had to have two molds made and either use two injection molding machines or buy a very expensive machine like the INPROS V500



On the Lange website there is a typo in the section titled “HOW DOES THIS WORK?”

Lange-DC.jpg


There shouldn’t be a comma between polyether and polyurethane, maybe this is the reason for the confusion. They also state that “DUAL CORE actively compresses and expands”, polyurethane elastomers are incompressible, so you should probably take “harnessing potential energy to deliver explosive power, snap, and rebound” with a very large pinch of salt.
 
Thread Starter
TS
Doug Briggs

Doug Briggs

"Douche Bag Local"
Industry Insider
SkiTalk Tester
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Posts
7,483
Location
Breckenridge, CO
Groupe Rossignol has the Rossignol, Dynastar, Lange, Look, and other brands.
https://www.grouperossignol.com/en/brands/

He could generate great brand interest by making those Lange shirts available.
Agreed, but there is a certain mystique for having some things only available to shop personnel and pros. Apple did the same thing when I worked there (and probably still does). It makes the swag more exciting somehow.
 

Wilhelmson

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
May 2, 2017
Posts
4,328
How do shops choose which brands to sell? Do different brands offer different markup margin with volume tiers?

Secondly, is it my imagination or do a lot of ski and boot combos come with Griffons?
 
Thread Starter
TS
Doug Briggs

Doug Briggs

"Douche Bag Local"
Industry Insider
SkiTalk Tester
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Posts
7,483
Location
Breckenridge, CO
How do shops choose which brands to sell? Do different brands offer different markup margin with volume tiers?

Secondly, is it my imagination or do a lot of ski and boot combos come with Griffons?

Of course a lot of the decision process comes from going to shows like SIA, but we have reps solicit us at the shop as well. We are very limited in size so are restricted to the number of brands we can carry. Apex aside, we are pretty mainstream: Lange, Dalbello (new this season), Atomic, Head and Fischer boots; Fischer, Atomic, Dynastar and Kastle skis. Bindings usually are decided by the skis as so many are either system or predrilled, especially the race skis. We carry Tyrolia/Fischer/Head and Look bindings.

We are race specific so carry the top lines of race skis. Chuck (and I) race exclusively on Fischer so that is a no brainer for us. ;)

Marker has affiliations with certain brands. Some are from the same company, others are just deals between two companies. I think Marker has been pretty aggressive in their co-marketting relative to other brands, but Tyrolia is in cahoots with Fischer and Head so we move a lot of Tyrolia product. They used to provide bindings on Kastles but most of those sold are flat these days.
 

Jilly

Lead Cougar
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
6,412
Location
Belleville, Ontario,/ Mont Tremblant, Quebec
Our local shop (which I get to help out and can get swag too) carries the Amer lines, Atomic and Salomon, plus Rossi. He can get Dynastar too. The Canadian Amer warehouse is just down the road, so a no brainer. Swag seems to have gone by the wayside here in Canada. Atomic used to have the best baseball caps. Last swag I got was buffs. Which are way too light for winter even.
 
Thread Starter
TS
Doug Briggs

Doug Briggs

"Douche Bag Local"
Industry Insider
SkiTalk Tester
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Posts
7,483
Location
Breckenridge, CO
Our local shop (which I get to help out and can get swag too) carries the Amer lines, Atomic and Salomon, plus Rossi. He can get Dynastar too. The Canadian Amer warehouse is just down the road, so a no brainer. Swag seems to have gone by the wayside here in Canada. Atomic used to have the best baseball caps. Last swag I got was buffs. Which are way too light for winter even.
You need to get the Lange swag. ;) Last year's T was a reproduction of the patent illustration for the first plastic Lange boot. This years is obviously nice, too. The gloves are really nice, too. Both workstyle (but less work than style) gloves and ski specific gloves great. Wicked nice leather on both pair.

lange patent t - IMG_20191202_130521351.jpg


Lange Gloves.jpg
 

Sponsor

Top