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- <text id=90TT2654>
- <title>
- Oct. 08, 1990: Business Notes:Sporting Goods
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Oct. 08, 1990 Do We Care About Our Kids?
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 66
- Business Notes
- SPORTING GOODS
- The Hottest Ride on Snow
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> The ski business is doing anything but schussing these days.
- Equipment sales have been logy, in part because of last year's
- snow drought in Europe. A company would need a lot of nerve to
- launch a pricey new board right now, but France's Salomon is
- plunging ahead with a ski that the trade magazine Snow Country
- called the "most talked-about product to hit the ski market
- since the plastic boot." A leading manufacturer of ski boots and
- bindings, Salomon spent six years and $40 million developing its
- first ski ever. The result is the S9000 Equipe, a superfast,
- lightweight model that is winning raves from the ski press.
- </p>
- <p> The ski's breakthrough feature is the "monocoque," or
- single-shell construction, which allows the skier to transmit
- force directly to the edges more easily than with the multilayer
- sandwich construction of other skis. The S9000 costs $600 a
- pair, but may become a hot property among racers and aggressive
- recreational skiers. Salomon (1989 sales: $613 million) aims to
- become the leading maker of top-flight skis within the next five
- years. But the climb will be no cakewalk against the industry
- leaders, France's Rossignol and America's K2, which have carved
- out loyal followings.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
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