By Press Release

December 21, 1999

Seattle�Northwave N.A. is pleased to welcome two new reps and additional members to the Worldwide marketing department.

Northwave welcomes Mark McGuane as art director and graphic designer in its Seattle office. Mark brings with him a long history in graphic design, specializing in the action sports industry and related markets. In his new role, Mark will be supervising and designing all of Northwave and Drake�s catalogs, collateral and P.O.P materials and ad campaigns.

Action sports industry veteran Cindy Lum also joins the marketing department as marketing communications manager. Cindy has been working with Northwave and Drake for the past year, most recently as a freelancer, since her departure from Chemistry Communications in July. In her new part-time capacity, she will be managing public relations activity, coordinating and editing catalogs and marketing materials, conducting market research and copywriting for the brands. Prior to forming Chemistry, Cindy was the market analyst at Jager Di Paola Kemp Design and managing editor of ASR and Surf Business magazines.

Joining the Northwave, Drake and Bakoda rep force are Jenny Bell, covering the Alberta, Canada territory and Bernie Wheeler handling the Southeast. Both Jenny and Bernie both bring years of experience in the snowboard industry, both beginning as self-proclaimed "shop grommets". Jenny currently reps Westbeach in Alberta, Canada. After starting in retail at California BC, which later became the Westbeach store, Jenny joined the Westbeach headquarters and worked her way up to Canadian account manager before accepting the sales rep position. Bernie, who also reps Globe, the Realm, Droors and M3/MLY, has literally lived and breathed the winter sports industry for the past 14 years working as both a store manager and buyer and living at a resort in his territory for eight winters.

Northwave North America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Montebelluna, Italy-based Piva SRL. Northwave has been making superior-performance snowboard boots since 1992. It naturally evolved into the bindings market with the acquisition of Drake Bindings in 1997. In October, 1999, Northwave North America purchased the manufacturer Bakoda, maker of high-quality snowboard accessories.