Reshoring Black Diamond revamps design strategy
Mountain sports brand Black Diamond Equipment has reorganised its teams and made senior appointments to bring apparel and equipment divisions closer.
It is also close to bringing all its manufacturing capabilities to Salt Lake City this summer.
Tim Bantle, managing director of Black Diamond, said: “Integrating our apparel and equipment design teams will allow us to focus on innovation holistically throughout the product development cycle.”
Doug Heinrich has been promoted to senior-vice president of product. He has served the brand in various roles and has previously worked for Patagonia and Icon Fitness.
Bill Belcourt has been hired for new role of director of R&D for both apparel and equipment.
Kasey Jarvis, who worked in the auto industry at GM and more recently at Nike in the Innovation Kitchen, will lead both apparel and equipment design, and Tara Latham moves into the position of design manager. Prior to Black Diamond, Ms Latham worked as an apparel designer for Arc’Teryx.
Mr Bantle added that moving production to the US will offer multiple advantages: “We can now move from early stage design through an iterative process using 3D printing into commercialisation, all in the same building. As a result, our product offerings for Spring 2016 and beyond promise to be some of the most powerful in the history of the brand.”
