By John Stouffer

May 13, 2001

Although it has laid off two key employees and greatly reduced its team and advertising budgets, Morrow Snowboards is still in business and will still deliver boards, says Brent Turner, vice president of snowboards for K2 Inc., Morrow�s owner.

�The product�s really good, we�ve gotten good brand coverage in the magazines in the last year, and we�ll deliver [product] well this year,� he says. �We�re definitely in business and in the best shape we�ve been in a long time.�

He admits the need to market the brand and says the company has �a commitment and obligation to continue advertising.�

�There will still be some advertising, but at a reduced level,� he says. �In the Summer Issue of Snowboarder magazine there will be one of the best spread ads that Morrow�s done in a long time.�

�From a production standpoint, things are going great for shipping orders,� he adds.

However, he did admit that the brand had been losing money and the company decided to make some tough budget decisions. Turner says that a soft Japanese market also played a role in the cutbacks, although the board orders worldwide were up for next year over this year.

Rumors had been circulating that the brand would be shut down or be sold on a mass-market level. Turner says this won�t be the case. �One of our reps asked if the boards are going to end up in Costco and Sam�s Club and I told him that�s definitely not the strategy for this year or next year,� he continues. �We�re still paying commissions to reps on all orders they�ve taken this year.�

Turner says that the company has invested a lot more in one area this year over last: POP. �There�s been a lot of POP materials produced to ship to shops and help sell the brand.�

He adds that Gareth Knocker, who is product manager for Liquid and 5150 lines, will be the interim sales manager for Morrow.