Rapp pointed out earlier that Potts is in Sketchers after 15+ years with Asics. Looks like he's also no longer with Shimano, but using FSA wheels and Bont shoes

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

Maybe at a warm up/photo op, but he raced on a Slice. Photo #26.

http://www.triathlete.com/...top-70-3-peru_300968

yes, wow it appears he was on an un-super slice after all. funny, that bike took a victory in men's and women's races under potts and HJ. i know cannondale actively said they sacrificed some aerodynamics for comfort when they unveiled that bike, but it certainly does not appear to be slow!

IIRC, he was on the disc Slice at Oceanside.

Probably still just getting it dialed in.

And yes, he's now with Skechers. My guess, just knowing how things are shaking out, is that Skechers offered significantly better support for his AP Racing team than Asics would have.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

And yes, he's now with Skechers. My guess, just knowing how things are shaking out, is that Skechers offered significantly better support for his AP Racing team than Asics would have

Ryan,

As you and I have noted - it's interesting times in the specialty running shoe business - both in running and triathlon. With the flatness in the market (running race participation down by 1% in 2016), many of the "bigger" brands are cutting back on marketing expenses. So you see a lot of this - athletes either being dropped from sponsorship, and/or shifting over to brands like Skechers, that are taking advantage of the flat market and being more aggressive & progressive, in a down-market - which has some significant advantages - but few seem to understand this nor take advantage of it!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

So, Saucony's taken a sizable step back in terms of their marketing dollars, likely pushed from Wolverine corporate. Asics has been hemorrhaging cash for years, but I don't think they were taking much of a step back on the marketing front. Rather, I really think in their case it was that they wouldn't support a team philosophy for individual sport. But that's getting pretty far down a rabbithole with regard to insider stuff.

Skechers has already proven out some of the team dynamic with their work in the UK. I think that they're still scrambling for a distribution model (IMO, it's going to be exclusively D2C versus B2B) that allows them to better control the narrative.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Skechers scooping Meb up out of Nike's discardings pre-2014 Boston was genius - hope Andy gets that Skecher's-bump

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

Skechers scooping Meb up out of Nike's discardings pre-2014 Boston was genius - hope Andy gets that Skecher's-bump


Indeed!

It was a good move, and well timed for Skechers to sign-on with Meb at the time. Went right out and won Boston!

Ditto with Kara Goucher!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

But that's getting pretty far down a rabbithole with regard to insider stuff.


The reality is that triathlon, for most of the more "main-stream" running shoe brands is pretty small-beer. I'm interacting with them regularly ( the shoe companies), and for them, from their lack of interest, almost across the board, my feeling is that the market is so small to them that, they really don't feel it's a worthwhile expenditure of resources.

That's why you often see smaller, upstart show brands having a go at the triathlon market - ON, Salming, Newton(in the past), Hoka & Skechers (although both these brands have MUCH bigger parent brands behind them) . . etc . .

Agreed on the Skechers distribution and sales model/plan - that needs to be worked on. In my travels, I don't see them a lot at the core specialty run shops!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

In re: Skechers - it hasn't been for lack of effort. Their technical and sales representatives worked very, very hard to get a foot in the door at run specialty. But most owners laughed them out of their stores, despite having a relatively decent product to sell at the time. The stigma of Shape-Ups and everything else simply followed them. They should've gone with an alternative brand name...and perhaps it would've gotten store owners behind it.

Triathlon running is not truly, substantially different from road running. If you're a larger brand...I don't think it matters to "focus" on triathletes. There are characteristics of shoes triathletes tend to like, which converge with what a lot of road runners like, which is something I have in the hopper right now (finally out from underneath a massive work issue). You don't need to market to triathletes to be successful in road running. But you can market to triathletes initially to get your foot in the game, and if you choose some wise brand ambassadors and start to cultivate the right dealer relationships, you can have the success that Newton and now Hoka have.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

In re: Skechers - it hasn't been for lack of effort. Their technical and sales representatives worked very, very hard to get a foot in the door at run specialty. But most owners laughed them out of their stores, despite having a relatively decent product to sell at the time.


Oh yes - the challenges of selling to small independent business owners! I know it well.

You don't see this as much now as you did say 15 years ago when the internet was not what it is now and direct selling by wholesalers/manufactures was not what it is today in anyway, and was actually frowned upon in the business. In other words - today, as a wholesaler/manufacturer, you have other options other than the traditional wholesaler-retailer sales model.

I used to always laugh at this, because so many consumers, in running or triathlon, would be quick to blame the brand for the lack of availability of a certain brand or product. Where the "blockage" was, was with the retailers saying "no" over and over again to that brand/product. It did not matter, that the brand/product was cutting edge or game-changing. It did not matter that there was demand in the system. It did not matter that you often had good sales-people out on the road selling the brand/product. It did not matter that you had great pricing, good reviews etc . . . The conservatism of these many independent running, cycling and triathlon shops, trumped everything! That's what was holding things back! Ask Phil White or Gerard Vroomen (co-founders of Cervelo), how many times they had bike/tri shops say "No" to them in the late 1990's and early 00's?

In 1997 Sugoi launched a run line of apparel. We had an awesome net work of sales-reps across North America trying to sell it into the many independent run retailers - we were getting lots of "No's" and "No "Thank You's". We were getting great reviews. The Woman's Apparel Reviewer/Tester at the time, and the Editor of Runner's World at the time loved the Sugoi apparel. It mattered little. We needed something more audacious. My plan - a cover shot on Runner's World Magazine. NOT something that I could control, but something that with hard behind-the-scenes work I could influence. After and year of working on that - we got the RW Cover-Shot . . and . . . wouldn't you know it, surprise, surprise, many of those No's and No Thank You's, with many independent run shops started to turn into Yes's!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Look how tall his position is! Makes me realize I am way to compact and need to invest in a good fitting session...

Looking through these photos, I see Jesse Thomas on the bike with duct tape wrapped around his chest??? What is that for?

The zipper broke on his jersey so he grabbed duct tape from some volunteers to make his jersey stay on.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

His zipper broke coming out of the water so he had to tape it together.

ah gotcha. Quick thinking on his part!!!

This isn't just a cut back on marketing dollars from the brands, its a shift in where it is being spent

Asics dropped a bunch of athletes across multiple sports, happens every year, even more after Olympic years.

Brands may cut event or athlete support but I know my allocation of support from my vendor partners has increased significantly this year and last. Most brands are shifting to spending more/offering more support to fewer accounts. Nike is the leader of this and everyone else is finally catching on. Hell even Newton is now saying they want to partner with the sellers not the stockers (sell more via fewer but better accounts)

Sure Skechers had to overcome their brand name at run specialty. They have also had to show the ability to service the best accounts in a modern way. They have been "if you can fill out a credit app you can get an account" that does not work long term, so many brands have proven that over the history of our industry. There has to be a managed long term plan to grow together

And Fleck, I stocked Sugoi starting 13 years ago, never needed a RW cover shot to sell the product as the tech aspects stood on their own. They've since died at run specialty as they place no focus on servicing the accounts well

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Boots
Fleet Feet Rochester, NY
Fleet Feet Buffalo, NY
YellowJacket Racing, Rochester, NY

I think that's right. And a lot of that investment has gone towards Fleet Feet Sports, IMO (I look no further than the Hoka Facebook ads encouraging me to try the Arahi at the local FF shop). That's not a bad thing...well, it might be a bad thing if you're not a FF franchise. But I digress...

I think a lot of brands could learn from the "fewer doors, greater service" model. But, when you're just starting out, I think to some extent you have to start with credit apps and hoping your partner with some of the right doors. I think a lot of the "old guard" was unlikely to open the doors to them, just from a series of meetings with a few store owners in 2012-2013.

Don't get me started on Sugoi right now. They've been an absolute PITA to deal with this year. Between not informing partners about delays due to Chinese New Year and other factors...they're making it very easy to consider new vendors for future years. So frustrating. That and you can buy Sugoi easily at LL Bean.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

And Fleck, I stocked Sugoi starting 13 years ago, never needed a RW cover shot to sell the product as the tech aspects stood on their own. They've since died at run specialty as they place no focus on servicing the accounts well


Boots,

Thanks Man - from a long way back!

As you know well, sometimes/often, when small companies, get bought out, things do change - some for the better, some for the worse.

Back then, late 1990's early 00's, Sugoi was still owned by it's original owners and the staff and all the sales-people shared their vision and passion. Business magic can happen when this all lines up. But it can easily be lost as well. I hear that Sugoi's total business now is not much bigger, than it was in the early 00's. In the 4+ years I was there we doubled the business!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Yup a new brand has to make choices from the very beginning.

Look at ON. They have done pretty well with keeping a tight distribution and designing programs that work best for both them and their dealers. They don't want to be in every door in a market, they are not really looking at big box and they are pulling off of amazon. That is taking the long approach. They grow at a reasonable pace (already about $100 million globally) and their dealers have the ability to have a profitable brand.

asics is doing a complete reset of where and how they distribute their product and how they then support those accounts. More support to those that operate at the level asics is looking for, less for those that don't

I recently was at meetings with about 24 other stores, hosted by the senior management team at Brooks (only 2 FFS in attendance) Between this room of owners and FFS as a whole I'd bet it was a very large majority of Brooks US business being represented, They totally understand where to focus their resources, not all brands do

The industry is going through a crazy time, I certainly would not want to be a pro endurance athlete these days, let along one at the tail end of their competitive career as the good options out there are slimmer than ever

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Boots
Fleet Feet Rochester, NY
Fleet Feet Buffalo, NY
YellowJacket Racing, Rochester, NY

Brooks has been very, very good at getting the run specialty channel invested, and in turn investing in it. (This is where Dan usually pisses on my parade by reminding me how little they care about triathlon and Slowtwitch coverage. Fair point...)

Asics has been searching for its soul for a while. I think they still haven't quite figured out where it is they want to go yet, but at the very least they're starting to pull in the same direction between the sales team and the remainder of the company.

ON has been interesting. They always had a foothold to return to in Europe. Skechers, for better or for worse, didn't have that luxury, and they also had a big brand stigma to overcome. A friend of mine, who used to work there, said it best: the best and worst thing that happened to them was Meb winning Boston. It validated the product, but it still meant contending with the big S on the side of the shoe. The chance they had at rebranding themselves was pre-2014.

I'm still intrigued as to where this all winds up going.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter