Swag Buys Twist
Brand to be marketed to mainstream.
by John Stouffer
(9-2-98)

The company hasn't been around for a year or so. But for those of you who remember it, Twist was a cutting-edge, fashionable, functional snowboard clothing line prominent in the snowboarding world for quite a few years. With top riders, great marketing, and a strong rep force, the company seemed to be a mainstay in the market.

Swag's Andrew Friesen, Paul Wisniewski, and Roger Sgarbossa.

But in the spring/summer of 1997, the owners decided the ride was over for the brand burdened by past debt. The San Francisco office closed and employees were let go while the original founders, Trent and Troy Bush, frantically searched for a buyer to keep the thing rolling-to no avail.

Almost a year after Twist shut down, snowboard apparel manufacturer Swag has bought the name and trademarks for Twist from the Japanese owner Carmate for an undisclosed sum of money. The deal didn't include Twist's sub brands Titan or Tuesday and the Swag management has no plans to bring back either of those lines.

According to Swag Owners Andrew Friesen and Roger Sgarbossa, they see the brand name as viable and well-known, and plan to position it as a high quality, pricepoint product for mass merchants. Twist will fill the void Swag was reluctant to go after with its specialty shop-focused Swag and Prom lines. "Now we have a brand we can sell to Sports Authority, Oshmans, and other chain retailers," says Friesen. The company plans to use the existing staff and rep force to sell the rejuvenated line, which will be previewed to retailers this December for Fall '99 shipments.

The Swag crew also plans to support Twist with advertising and a small team. This will set the brand apart from competitors like Pirate Snow, Black Dot, and Ripzone who also sell to the big chain accounts. Other strengths the brand will have are great product quality, competitive prices, and on-time delivery-things Swag and Prom are known for. According to Friesen, the brand could add twenty to 30 percent to the total size of company in its first year, and he believes it could be quite larger in the future.

While the brand has been off the market for more than a year, the management believes it still has a strong name recognition. "We couldn't wait any longer to buy it because people still remember it now, but probably won't by next year," says Sgarbossa.

While there will be a rush to get the brand designed and back into shops, Sgarbossa and Friesen point out that they don't need the extra business to support the Swag and Prom lines. "There's still room for those two brands to grow," says Sgarbossa. But having the new brand definitely gives the company new business.

Sgarbossa, who will be designing the line, will try to carry over some of the same colors and logos from the last Twist line to keep brand-image continuity to the brand image.

The Swag management originally began in the snow apparel business with the high-end Effe ski line in 1989. By 1992 they started Swag and now focus primarily on the brand, with Effe licensed out. The company has officially changed its name to Generator Distribution Company Ltd., and is one of the few independently owned and operated snowboard apparel companies left in the industry.

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