Adidas has been making a big push in the trail scene. Is HOKA trying to form a super team with Kilian and Jim? Is this Nike's last ditch effort to be trail relevant? Where does he end up?
None of these companies offer the dual sport sponsorship for skiing..
He said he's not going to an existing company. Doing something of his own instead.
EKJ wrote:
He said he's not going to an existing company. Doing something of his own instead.
He has to be starting his own line of clothing/shoes etc then? Why else would he need to leave a clothing sponsor? So, Jornet shoes?
If I shall wager a guess I think he will join/start a company that either rents/lend out outdoors equipment or with a company that recycles used outdoors equipment. Or maybe just an initiative that focuses on prolonging the life of what you have rather than buying new.
I think these are good guesses. Also, I think this might mean he is moving on from competitive sport? Maybe not completely but he must think his days are numbered because unless he is joining another sponsor or startup in progress I dont see how he could keep up the amount of training he does while also leading a new business.
Total guesses here, but I wonder how much of this is on his own doing and how much of it is Salomon pushing him to do more races and him just not wanting to do that. At this point in his career/life, he really has nothing left to prove. A previous poster could be right, he could be getting more into the used gear/eco friendly side of sport as he has posted about some of that stuff recently.
Would be interesting to hear a take of someone who lives in Europe on this, as I know that Salomon is way bigger over there than they are in the US. They are quite honestly, an absolute bit player in the trail running scene here in the US. About all you might see are some Salomon packs, but I really don't see much in the way of shoes. That is seemingly dominated by Hoka at this point.
Might depend where you are in the US. I see plenty of people wearing Salomon shoes and apparel at all of the races I do (usually about 4-5 ultras a year). For sure Hoka is probably the most popular for shoes though. Salomon is also really big in Asia from an outsiders perspective. But it really depends on the types of terrain you are running in. Salomon makes some of the best shoes for winter and sloppy or technical trails. If where you run is mostly dry and smooth trails then yeah almost no reason to pick a Salomon shoe. Still I would argue they make the fastest trail shoes on the market. I mean yeah you can run fast in a Hoka but its not nearly as fun of an experience (at least IMO).
trldude wrote:
I think these are good guesses. Also, I think this might mean he is moving on from competitive sport? Maybe not completely but he must think his days are numbered because unless he is joining another sponsor or startup in progress I dont see how he could keep up the amount of training he does while also leading a new business.
I have nothing to back this up, but he definitely has talked about not racing as much in his posts. When it comes to "being green" this is something he has been for years, many of his youtube videos has summed up the Co2 equivalent emissions for his different expeditions (f.ex: in the description of this vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G29Xr6rBVI).
I honestly think he has taken this to heart and can't really promote buying new and shiny stuff anymore. I also think that he feels that he should use some of his influence and position to (further) promote what he think is the greater good. In addition maybe even he god a bit sour taste of the whole thing after his failed world record attempt in the 24hour race. I can imagine it got a bit rushed due to commercial obligations and interests.
However, it seems like he have an ongoing project to beat different vertical kilometer world records, so I don't think its the last we see of him.
It's a shame in that Salomon also put out high quality content, so he'll lose access to that.
Maybe if he's not going to an 'established' company it's something like On an he will promote the Cyclon range
OK he said existing not established so that rules that out.
Anyway good luck to him. Excited to see what it is so long as it's not a weird Everest double summit push
Not In the Know wrote:
Total guesses here, but I wonder how much of this is on his own doing and how much of it is Salomon pushing him to do more races and him just not wanting to do that. At this point in his career/life, he really has nothing left to prove. A previous poster could be right, he could be getting more into the used gear/eco friendly side of sport as he has posted about some of that stuff recently.
Would be interesting to hear a take of someone who lives in Europe on this, as I know that Salomon is way bigger over there than they are in the US. They are quite honestly, an absolute bit player in the trail running scene here in the US. About all you might see are some Salomon packs, but I really don't see much in the way of shoes. That is seemingly dominated by Hoka at this point.
Kilian still have things to prove, like winning pikes peak against Seth James Demoor, or winning Western States vs Jim Walmsley
NORman12 wrote:
If I shall wager a guess I think he will join/start a company that either rents/lend out outdoors equipment or with a company that recycles used outdoors equipment. Or maybe just an initiative that focuses on prolonging the life of what you have rather than buying new.
Sounds like a profitable business model.
Fascinating development.
I would have wagered that Jornet would become for Salomon what Jordan became for NIKE and created a sub-brand with shoes named after him.
I think he opens his aperture for partnership with the likes of Red Bull, etc., to continue his personal pursuits of excellence.
alpha lobster wrote:
NORman12 wrote:
If I shall wager a guess I think he will join/start a company that either rents/lend out outdoors equipment or with a company that recycles used outdoors equipment. Or maybe just an initiative that focuses on prolonging the life of what you have rather than buying new.
Sounds like a profitable business model.
Profits isn't everything. He lives on a small farm and probably has enough money to not do anything the rest of his career.
stravaKOM wrote:
Not In the Know wrote:
Total guesses here, but I wonder how much of this is on his own doing and how much of it is Salomon pushing him to do more races and him just not wanting to do that. At this point in his career/life, he really has nothing left to prove. A previous poster could be right, he could be getting more into the used gear/eco friendly side of sport as he has posted about some of that stuff recently.
Would be interesting to hear a take of someone who lives in Europe on this, as I know that Salomon is way bigger over there than they are in the US. They are quite honestly, an absolute bit player in the trail running scene here in the US. About all you might see are some Salomon packs, but I really don't see much in the way of shoes. That is seemingly dominated by Hoka at this point.
Kilian still have things to prove, like winning pikes peak against Seth James Demoor, or winning Western States vs Jim Walmsley
I don´t think he cares about 2nd tier American races.
Could be going Nike to do a Nike Nature Trail series. Eco friendly and could get Nike prevalent in trail. Would need a name like his to do it.
He has said that he would like to break the record at Pikes Peak. But I do not think he cares at all about beating SJD or Jim since he has beaten Jim multiple times at multiple races and doubt he cares to ever run WSER again. I think the other poster is right, he will continue to go after specific records but seems like his monster seasons might be over.
Nike doesn’t care about trailrunning.
LarsL8 wrote:
alpha lobster wrote:
Sounds like a profitable business model.
Profits isn't everything. He lives on a small farm and probably has enough money to not do anything the rest of his career.
He lives in a super expensive country. People who say money doesn’t matter are always focused on money and have a lot of money (either earned or given to them).
Companies don’t exist without profit. People don’t work for free. You don’t work for free.
alpha lobster wrote:
He lives in a super expensive country. People who say money doesn’t matter are always focused on money and have a lot of money (either earned or given to them).
As we live in a material world , money matters up to a point.
However, there is a big difference between Europe and USA. We in Europe have on average more holiday days and work less. And we in Europe believe most people in USA just care about money and not much more. We have a complete different social system too.