PRESS RELEASE:
Phoenix Pro Scooters
announces new brand: SESSION by Phoenix
From:
Phoenix Sports, Inc. Date:
9/17/2013
Beaverton, Oregon – Phoenix Pro
Scooters announced today that it will debut a new line under the “SESSION by
Phoenix” brand name. For years, Phoenix
Pro Scooters has produced a high-end line of freestyle scooter decks and parts
handmade in the USA and aimed at the professional level rider. As the sport has grown, and more brands have
surfaced, Phoenix has stood alone as the leader in the high-end segment of the
market. While this has been a
prestigious position, it has also come with unique challenges and obstacles. Dan Barrett, recently appointed Marketing
Manager had this to say, “Being on Phoenix and growing my relationship with Tom
has been the best decision ever. The years I have been on Phoenix I've never
broken a part or had any major problems with my scooter. That being said, it's
one of the main reasons I'm a part of Phoenix. It's a huge relief not to worry
about my scooter. It's our main focus over here to make sure our scooters are
the best.”
In an interview, company founder, Tom Floyd
talked about the new line:
Q: What was the reason for starting a new
brand? -
A: From the beginning, when I started
Phoenix, I have always been dedicated to providing riders with the best decks
and parts I could make. I want riders to be able to trust our products and push
themselves and the limits of the sport.
As the sport has matured, we have found our retail pricing to be out of
reach for most riders. The reason for
starting this new brand is to make our products more affordable.
Q: How do you plan to accomplish that? –
A: I have always been dedicated to
manufacturing here in the USA. However,
with high manufacturing costs and long lead times, we have not had the ability
to lower our retail prices. It has
literally forced us to hold our pricing higher due to those costs. As the scooter scene developed and more
riders have come into the sport, Phoenix became an “Aspirational Brand”. We have done ok in America, but
internationally, we have never been able to offer big enough discounts to keep
our retail prices within reach of the riders in foreign countries. For that reason, our team has decided to make
the SESSION by Phoenix line in China.
Q: Do you think you can still produce
quality parts that live up to the Phoenix name? –
A: Yes.
All the parts in the line are still designed here at the Phoenix factory
with our riders input as well as our years of design and engineering
experience. We are not simply choosing
our new parts out of some catalog as others have done. For example; The SESSION deck was designed by
Evan Larson and myself and has been tested and produced here in the USA before
taking the manufacturing overseas. Any
parts we decided to make were carefully considered for the cost savings and no
compromises were made in material selection or manufacturing techniques. In fact, our lead welder and myself went over
and spent a week in the factory training workers in our welding and production
methods.
Q: What about keeping jobs here in the US?
–
A: I have personally struggled with this
and at the end of the day I am ok with what we are doing because it allows us
to continue to employ riders like Evan Larson, Cooper Klaar, Dan Barrett and
Chase Robertson, all of whom I met through scootering. My loyalty IS to my riders, employees and
their families. Phoenix is an American
company, plain and simple. My job is to
grow our business and protect our employees’ jobs. Everything we are doing ensures that our
employees and our Pro Riders will continue to get a paycheck.
Q: How can you be sure the quality will be
there? –
A: These are 100% Phoenix designs which
have engineering, material specifications, heat treating methods and production
procedures carefully spelled out.
Additionally, we have a production manager in place who works at the
factory every day to oversee that those standards are being met. Each
and every component has been submitted for testing and cannot be produced until
our riders sign off on the control sample.
Q: What about Phoenix Pro Scooters? –
A: We will still be making an exclusive
range of decks and bars here in the US under the Phoenix Pro Scooters
name. Reventon decks and SV2 bars will
still be made in our shop and our new Reventon V2 is in the planning stages and
our riders sig models are underway. I felt it was important to create a new
brand to preserve the prestige of the American Made product. Of course, it will also have the higher price
tag as well.
Q: So how does this move affect the sport?
A: It allows us to grow our marketing
budget and keep our team employed and travelling. Our riders have so many creative ideas for
filming trips and places they want to see the sport exposed. We believe that our riders involvement in the
scene is critical to keeping our brand message on point. Running a profitable, healthy business also
allows us support more comps and events and provides the resources to send our
team to those events on a more consistent basis.
Q: What will SESSION by Phoenix be
offering? –
A: We have a new 4.25 complete at $249 and
the new 4.5 complete at $349 US Retail.
We will be offering the SESSION 4.5 as a deck only in 20” and 21” lengths
and we have new wheels coming which the riders have already been testing and
love. Also, we will have grips, headsets
and griptape.
The new SESSION by Phoenix product range
will debut at the 2013 Interbike tradeshow in Las Vegas and be available for
dealers in November in time for Christmas.
