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In The News: Balega, Outdoor Retailer, Altra Running, Allbirds

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Implus-owned sock brand Balega is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Going forward, the brand will continue to lean into sustainability efforts and says it plans on growing and diversifying its field teams, marketing, and product teams “to provide greater support for run specialty retail partners.” Balega reports that the brand is committed to becoming Climate Neutral Certified. This includes measuring their climate impact, setting further reduction targets, and purchasing offsets to address the remaining carbon emissions of the Balega brand. The brand is currently pending final verification and hopes to be Climate Neutral Certified starting July 31, 2023. Balega also has plans for a full-scale national marketing campaign launching this summer.


Outdoor Retailer will have a reimagined floor plan at its upcoming OR Summer show, set for June 19-21 in Salt Lake City, with the show floor organized by activity. The new floor plan, along with the exhibitor list and education and events schedule for this summer, are available now on the Outdoor Retailer website.


Altra Running has appointed industry veteran Joe Toth to the position of Head of Sales, North America. Toth will lead Altra’s North American sales strategy with responsibility for the wholesale channel in both the US and Canadian markets. Toth is joining the Altra brand from Saucony where he worked for almost 10 years and most recently served as the VP of Sales. Altra also announced the appointment of Michael Dobbs to Eastern US Sales Manager. Dobbs has spent 15 years in the footwear business working for several brands in roles ranging from retail sales, buying and wholesale sales.


Allbirds’ Q1 net loss widened to $35.2 million from $21.9 million for the period ended March 31. The San Francisco company, which has already revealed plans to slow the pace of U.S. store openings to three this year, wants to generate $35 to $40 million in annualized cost savings with some of the total generated by its sourcing shift to Vietnam. First quarter revenues fell by 13.4 percent to $54.4 million, but sales outside the U.S. increased by 6.5 percent in constant currency and were strong in Asia.