For all the Polaris/ Klim lovers out there!

[Reg2view]

Buy your KLIM gear now, gents. It's all downhill within two years. The quality, and guarantee, will begin to suffer, then the innovative design will end. This was an inevitibility, with KLIM's success - the money just gets too big. The seller really wants to believe the sales pitch for greater opportunity, but in the end, the wealth creation factor allows you to rationalize anything. Congrats to Justin and his family. He's earned it. It's all part of the unique lifecycle of businesses, and will eventually open the door for the 'next' KLIM, whoever that is. I will boil this down for you.

A. Polaris is an OEM, not an apparel mfg. Conglomerates rarely, if ever, work, the are just part of the lifecycle of companies, driven by core industries that stops growing. Connect these dots. That is what Poo has become - a conglomerate. I won't go into the capital allocation BS that only appeals to geeks like me. They are a poor conglomerate, now, and it won't get better. Their model is GE, but their ability to execute is closer to Krispy Kreme. To bring it closer to home, look how they ruined the M10 rep. Just like cat ruined the DD. And those were only licenses. Finally, the OEM biz and the apparel biz are VERY different species. There is little to no synergy. Poo will spin this. Yada, yada, yada. Words here mean NOTHING. This is about $$$. Reality bites.

B. KLIMs core competencies, rapid, innovative design and flexible, rapid, high quality production (dedicated vendor in China), will not be sustainable. Innovative design is an art, and Poo will not be able to maintain and motivate this handful of designers. The unique manufacturer relationship Justin has will be doomed - it will get destroyed by Poo within a few years, as they chase other vendors based on cost, insisting on lower quality, compressed product line, and violate the past personal partnership between Justin and his manufacturer.

C. KLIM has just become a competitor of all the other OEMs, bikes, sleds, atvs, utvs, etc. They just lost 50% or more of their potential markets. Between Poo's overly large egos and pure brand competition, within two years, few Doo, Cat, Yammy, KTM, Honda, etc., riders will be buying anything owned by Poo. It's just the way branding and marketing work.

I'm sharing these opinions ONLY to encourage you, if you have KLIM dream gear, get it within the next riding season. As much as I like the RMK, and have been a big KLIM gear customer since 2000, I don't see this as a value creating (accretive) deal for poo or KLIM customers. This is all part of the American dream, and what made this country the greatest in history. Congrats again to Justin and his family. And there is a budding entrepreneur out there who has just been given more opportunity for their American dream, the 'next' KLIM.

 

[FatDogX]

I think it's quite comical the extreme differences in everyone's opinion on this topic. We have the "end is near" guys and the "life is great" guys, but when you really think about this, does it really matter in the end?????

If they continue to make a great product and have good customer service, then continue to use their product and all is good.

If they screw things up, then quit buying their product, and try the next best thing, and life is still good, is it not?

Life is about change, whether it's things we can directly control and things out of our control. But ultimately, this is something you can control by choosing what you want to buy.

So............give it time, see what happens, because that's all you can do.

 

[baarrk]

Buy your KLIM gear now, gents. It's all downhill within two years. The quality, and guarantee, will begin to suffer, then the innovative design will end. This was an inevitibility, with KLIM's success - the money just gets too big. The seller really wants to believe the sales pitch for greater opportunity, but in the end, the wealth creation factor allows you to rationalize anything. Congrats to Justin and his family. He's earned it. It's all part of the unique lifecycle of businesses, and will eventually open the door for the 'next' KLIM, whoever that is. I will boil this down for you.

A. Polaris is an OEM, not an apparel mfg. Conglomerates rarely, if ever, work, the are just part of the lifecycle of companies, driven by core industries that stops growing. Connect these dots. That is what Poo has become - a conglomerate. I won't go into the capital allocation BS that only appeals to geeks like me. They are a poor conglomerate, now, and it won't get better. Their model is GE, but their ability to execute is closer to Krispy Kreme. To bring it closer to home, look how they ruined the M10 rep. Just like cat ruined the DD. And those were only licenses. Finally, the OEM biz and the apparel biz are VERY different species. There is little to no synergy. Poo will spin this. Yada, yada, yada. Words here mean NOTHING. This is about $$$. Reality bites.

B. KLIMs core competencies, rapid, innovative design and flexible, rapid, high quality production (dedicated vendor in China), will not be sustainable. Innovative design is an art, and Poo will not be able to maintain and motivate this handful of designers. The unique manufacturer relationship Justin has will be doomed - it will get destroyed by Poo within a few years, as they chase other vendors based on cost, insisting on lower quality, compressed product line, and violate the past personal partnership between Justin and his manufacturer.

C. KLIM has just become a competitor of all the other OEMs, bikes, sleds, atvs, utvs, etc. They just lost 50% or more of their potential markets. Between Poo's overly large egos and pure brand competition, within two years, few Doo, Cat, Yammy, KTM, Honda, etc., riders will be buying anything owned by Poo. It's just the way branding and marketing work.

I'm sharing these opinions ONLY to encourage you, if you have KLIM dream gear, get it within the next riding season. As much as I like the RMK, and have been a big KLIM gear customer since 2000, I don't see this as a value creating (accretive) deal for poo or KLIM customers. This is all part of the American dream, and what made this country the greatest in history. Congrats again to Justin and his family. And there is a budding entrepreneur out there who has just been given more opportunity for their American dream, the 'next' KLIM.

ARE YOU ON CRACK

 

[knifedge]

Reminds me of the tv show Shark Tank. --at this point it is about company profit and offer only as much value as they can get away with. -- the Pro is a good example. -- it's apparently cheaper to offer great extended warranties than offer a great motor or high quality drivetrain. Yes there are and will be other choices when the time comes

No hard feelings as I may have sold also, it is the nature of business

 

[Matte Murder]

EastSeattle and Reg2view are right on. The Poo fanatics are the only people who see this as a win for Klim's customers. Same guys who ripped anyone who said the driveshaft disaster is a disaster. Klim makes great gear but the difference that made them a great company was their AWESOME customer service and their agility and speed in design. When Klim made a mistake in design they stopped making that product quickly and put it in redesign and fixed the issue. Polaris has proven over and over now that they suck at customer service and when they make a mistake they keep producing the bad product and just gloss over it with marketing or at best put a band aid fix on it. I wonder how long Justin's non-compete clause is.

 

[Slick]

Well I agree with all of you, and here's what I'm gonna do, but I warn you..... It's radical. I like the Klim gear, works well, but whenever I need new gear, I'm gonna snoop around at that time and buy what has the best reviews and I like best. So keep on telling Poo and Klim and the world what's gonna happen, my question, who cares, buy it don't buy it, and if Poo fails with it , I don't care, why would I.
And the sleds and those ranting about how stupid poo is and how they have all this screwed up customer service and bad product and lack of client customer relationship, I suggest that their product sales of Pro's, rush's, Rmk's, quads, razors, Victory, all of which have been annually increasing to record setting benchmarks,.......... Probably makes them think they're doin something right. People buy their product,........ Us.
Love em or hate em, they are operating no different than BRP or Cat or Yammy, if you think they are of a different ilk, you probably are wearing goggle with a brand name on the heads up display.
On a positive, Great news for the Klim group, good for them, probably set up pretty well for all their hard work, they earned it.

 

[mrquick68]

The difference between these two companies is most easily understood by one simple fact: Klim is/was a privately held company and Polaris is publicly held. No company can keep it's culture the same when making this transition. All companies must be profitable in order to survive, and there is nothing wrong, evil or greedy about profit - it's required for longevity and improvement. But a publicly held company is required to be profitable to satisfy it's stockholders instead of one person, or small group of people. Private business owners typically own businesses to be profitable as well as accomplish other goals such as leadership, influence, flexibility, success, family legacy, and more. Shareholders want only profit, and therefore the direction of the company is always forced to be more focused on short term success. Typically product quality and customer service suffer under such a regime and focus, but growth is more limited when privately held. All this to say, Klim will change. But how much is to be seen.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[snowbikekits.com]

Klim partnered with Yamaha and people still bought Klim gear. Klim will change but not because of Polaris. Klim will change because it now has shareholders. Now they need to have a certain level of profitability to keep the people that let their money do the work for them happy. Where it will go wrong is there is a difference between the owner of the company who sold it was looking at building the best product he could. Cost factored in, but he knew people were going to pay premium prices for premium gear. He hired premium people to have the best company out there and build the best gear and provide the best customer service. He did an excellent job building a brand. So, the new challenge is that if I'm sitting at my big corner office desk and I'm looking at everything we are doing and try to determine how we are going to increase our profits - what kind of ideas do I come up with?

Sell more product. Which goes to this: How? sell it for less. How? Build it cheaper. How? build it overseas. Already do that, how? Reduce overhead. How? Buy materials cheaper? Can't. How? Buy different materials. (cheaper)

The big problem they are going to face it increasing profitability as I can almost guarantee that under the current Klim system they have saturated all markets. Think about how many people you see wearing Klim gear every time you go for a ride!

And that will spell the end for Klim. Could happen tomorrow - could take 10 years.

 

[POLZIN]

As a fan of Klim and Polaris I can only hope Big Corporate Buracracy(sp) doesnt affect KLIM . I have a feeling that is the root cause of Polaris' failings. Lets hope the can get it sorted out and the two can continue to dominate there industries.

 

[Race]

Why did Klim sell out to Polaris ? They have a great product and great customer service . Was Klim hurting for customers or just a slow economy . I am just trying to figure out why the merger .

Isn't there a sale off of a lot of companies. Not just Klim, but because of a obama tax penalty or something of that nature that is coming in 2013? Could it be Klim is just trying to fly under the wire before that happens?

 

[knifedge]

--When you see the former owner of Klim "retire", you then know what to expect. At least till then, it should still be a great product. I think the sale of Klim was timely for tax purposes and marketing reasons. Klim has probably peaked out in market share with increased competition and it was a good time to pass the ball.

--My Klim gear has always worked great for years

 

[Rick!]

NOTHING will change, Klim will stay Klim and Polaris will stay Polaris. No co-branding, no elimination of Klim, no pricing increase. Polaris approached Klim, Polaris wants to build a better garment for the OEM clothing consumer and Klim needed a bigger "BANK" as they grow. To me it's a win/win, Klim can move forward with expanding their line of products and Polaris has access to Klim's garment building expertise. Nobody will lose their job and Klim's day to day will continue as normal. Rigby ID, will be a booming metropolis in the coming months and years with Polaris moving their entire clothing development group there. Polaris will be creating a lot of jobs in that area and I'm sure Klim will be hiring as well.

The only real change is taking place on the business side of things which will not effect either company in a negative way.

No disrespect to Rigby or my good friends there but "a booming metropolis" is bit of a stretch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[POLZIN]

Isn't there a sale off of a lot of companies. Not just Klim, but because of a obama tax penalty or something of that nature that is coming in 2013? Could it be Klim is just trying to fly under the wire before that happens?

Could be? I sold my business this year not wanting to be holding the bag in the economic future I see ahead.

 

[Matte Murder]

I would love to know what it costs Klim, in percentage of sales, for their excellent return/repair/replace policy? Total cost of it all. Shipping, labor, inventory etc right down to the penny. I bet it is at most 3% of sales, probably more like 1% or less. For that tiny little slice of the pie they get almost fanatical brand loyalty. Something that can't be bought with advertising or even earned in less than 5 years but more like 10 years. I can just see the Imperial Grand Dragon of Polaris Industries at a policy meeting and the customer service VP explains how if a customer sends back a pair of 5 year old pants with a giant hole in the knee and they repair that but when they test the GoreTex for integrity and it fails they send the customer a new pair of pants. At no charge. Somebody is going to be looking for a new job...

 

[EastSeattle]

Matte's opinion is spot on.

Like the title of this thread says "For Polaris-Klim lovers out there!" that is exactly what it is. Polaris first klim second.

A week ago if you asked an average guy in Klim that is would be good, you can guess the answer. There was no way that would be good for us. but I am sure it was carefully explained to them by management how this won't change a thing.

Again, I know what happens. I know what the people (and that's what matters here) will be effected.

Budget cuts will come or whatever the excuse will be. The privately owned business will be what it is then. A small portion of Polaris budgets that for a small entity that will face all the cuts that everyone else does. It will be only one piece of the chain.

 

[155Assault]

bummer.
there goes klim's CS....

now we'll have to prove that we weren't running aftermarket oil while riding our snowmobiles or we won't get warranty work done on our klim boots........


and now klim will be plastered w/ a bunch of polaris logos... /sigh

i should have gotten my klim jacket sooner.

Wow, you didn't even read the press release, did you?

 

[joel97mustang]

“business as usual”

That's what everyone says right after they take over a company, you never hear anyone say" Sorry folks everything is going to change now, but please keep buying from us"[/QUOTE]

Don't forget layoffs so they can offshore to China

 

[sureman]

bad news

glad I got me some new boots this year.. even though I am a Polaris guy I know their clothing is sub-standard and I can see this crossing over.. at least I have some time to see "what they change" before I need to buy something

 

[mountainhorse]

You guys are bellyaching over nothing.

Klim gear will remain high quailty gear...It keeps improving every year... and I see that trend continuing.

Excellent customer service is what keeps Klim customers coming back year after year... I don't see that changing.

There will be no "muddying of the waters" with the entry level gear that polaris offers.

Time will tell...

 

[RMOD800]

The primary goal of a CEO of a company is to maximize shareholder equity. It sounds like the owner/shareholders of KLIM did just that. There comes a point in the business cycle that the companys value needs to be analyzed and compared to the goals of the shareholders. If the opportunity to "take profits" arise, and it meets the goals of the shareholders, sell the company. Most people don't start a business to establish, grow, proifit and then die owning it. It's pretty normal to cash out and reduce the shareholder risk. Pretty straight forward business practice.

Also, in this economic environment, companies have a large amount of cash on the balance sheets and are looking for businesses that compliment theirs. Why expand by building more plants/capacity when you can buy it? Interest rates are extremely low, so go shopping for a good company.


KLIM has had good gear for as long as I have purchased it. I hope they continue and aren't influenced to use cheaper or lower quality material to increase the profit margin. I hope both companies use this opportunity to improve the gear....because all the users win!