TRYSIL, Norway (BRAIN) — Swix Sport Group has changed its name to BRAV. Ferd, which bought Swix in 1978, remains the group's parent. The new name will not be consumer-facing, but will serve internally to unite the company's several brands, officials said.
The company has sales of over 1 billion Norwegian kroner ($126 million) and is best known for its nordic ski products; it owns the brands Swix, Lundhags, Toko, Ulvang, Helsport, Hard Rocx, Skisporet and Original.
Hard Rocx is a Norwegian bike brand that Swix bought in 2015; the company continues to market Hard Rocx in Norway and offers bikes and some bike accessories under the Swix brand in other markets. At the Outdoor Retailer/SIA Snow Show in Denver this year, Swix showed mountain, road and gravel bikes as well as bike lubes and cleaners under the Swix brand.
The company does about half its sales in Norway and the rest outside the country.
"This is our natural next step," said Brav's CEO, Tomas Holmestad. "We now have a diverse portfolio of brands — all deeply rooted in our Scandinavian heritage in the outdoors — and it made sense that the group name shouldn't be the same as one of our brands."
"Swix and the other brands will remain unchanged and continue to grow and inspire our customers around the world," said Holmestad. "The new group name Brav won't be consumer-facing, but will align our brands with common values and goals — and unite us across all operations."
Steve Poulin, Swix USA CEO and naming committee member, said, "Swix is part of a strong, growing group of brands, and the U.S. market is rife with potential to bring other brands here in the coming years — exciting consumers with exceptional products they haven't seen before."
More than 300 employees worldwide participated in the renaming process, and a dedicated group was formed to process all suggestions and input. "We received more than 100 name suggestions, resulting in Brav," said Poulin.
