Quiksilver’s local operation Ug Manufacturing has appointed Jeff Sweeney to head its Wintersports Division and bolster its Mervin distribution arm including Mervin snowboard brands Lib Tech, Gnu and Roxy. Whilst Quiksilver Inc have owned the Sequim, Washington based Mervin Manufacturing for some 12 years, Mervin’s previous local distribution was managed by Melbourne based Sidelife Distribution.

“We understand the core values of our brands and intend on nurturing those characteristics running with the bent humour, environmental effort, wild graphics and the same limited distribution that Sidelife have worked with,” said Sweeney. “We intend on raising the bar in regards to service and product education.”

Ug Manufacturing’s first official Mervin involvement will be for the sell in of the 2011 snowboards at the SIA on snow demo at Perisher and the SIA trade show in October. The good news for Aussie snow dealers is that Mervin founders Mike Olsen and Pete Sarri are set to tour Australia in October. In addition Ug Manufacturing have appointed a new sales team representing Quiksilver, Roxy, Lib Tech and Gnu to fully service local retailers.

“The Mervin story is a unique and classic one,” says Sweeney, “and we’re really looking forward to telling that story. Quiksilver have owned Mervin for about twelve years, and we’re really excited about now being able to distribute their creations here in Australia.”

To kick off the new distribution arrangement, Ug Manufacturing will roll out Freedom Dolly skateboards, a new range of skateboard models accompanied by six Roxy and three Quiksilver skateboards developed with the guys at Mervin. These boards will be the forerunners to a range of skateboards designed in collaboration with Quiksilver’s surf team.

Quiksilver Inc’s move ‘off the coast’ follows the hiring of Mike Nusenow a former top Burton executive as Quiksilver Inc’s Wintersports Senior Vice President of Marketing and General Manager. Nusenow will report to Quiksilver Americas President Craig Stevenson. “While our company logo clearly reflects the ‘mountain and the wave,’ we have not yet fully leveraged our ‘off the coast’ capabilities,” said Stevenson. Nusenow is charged with identifying, planning and developing market strategies for new products and categories, including licensed and/or company-owned mountain concept stores.