L to R: Nikita Freyja Jacket 5/5, $TBD; Nikita Valkyrja Jacket 10/5, $TB
As a small, female-focused brand based out of Iceland, Nikita has been working to provide fresh and fashion-forward designs in outerwear since it was founded in 2000. This season, Founder and Head Designer Heida Birgisdottir has been working with her team to create the best products at fair prices, and says that the brand has been working with its more than 1,500 retail doors to match supply and demand. “We try to be smarter with our whole business without it effecting our commitment to our team riders or events like the Nikita Chickita,” Birgisdottir says. “We are more focused and put less effort into breaking into new territories, but rather try to support the current customers well.” Birgisdottir also had a chance to answer a few more of our questions. Here’s what she had to say:
How are you working with retailers to match supply with demand?
We don‘t push them to do any minimum orders, but in return we don‘t carry a stock of product for AO‘s during the winter. We work closely with each account trying to make the whole thing work. And then sometimes we get to go snowboarding with them…
What are the three biggest trends you see shaping the outerwear market?
Make it look like streetwear. Since our outerwear is designed by the same people that do Nikita streetwear, this comes automatically for us. We put a lot of attention to detail when designing Nikita Outerwear, and love adding details that you can‘t maybe see the first time you wear some of our styles to our designs.We are snowboarders inspired by fashion, and fashion designers inspired by snowboarding.
Make me stand out in a crowd. Wild colors, prints and patterns on the hill make snowboarding even more fun. At Nikita we‘ve never been afraid to be different so we have plenty to offer to the fashion forward snowboard girls, but we also make sure to offer every style in some more subtle colorways.
Technical yet affordable. Snowboarding in Iceland can be really, really cold. You can be sure that our outerwear is made to keep you warm in the gnarliest conditions. However, we know that our customers also like to spend some of their money on our streetwear so we make sure they can afford both style and functionality.
What fabrics, colors, technologies are you focusing on for next season?
Nylon herringbone, shiny polyester twill, nylon twill, waterproof/breathable denim in some of the pants. We try to offer a good variation of styles, and fabrics that fit every style/design. In colors we use a mixture of very bright colors and more solids like black and white. We‘re loving different kinds of blue, and some of our colors for FW10/11 are called Dazzling blue, Scuba blue and Blue Radiance. Our main technical focus is keeping our customers warm and dry with style!
Outerwear was one of the few bright points of last season. What opportunities do you see in the outerwear market?
Being an all girls brand on an ever-growing snowboard market, we see a huge opportunity in being the brand that has always been all about “girls who ride.” The economy may suck right now, especially in the US, but we‘re doing well and now when the economy gets back on its feet we‘ll be strapped in and ready to ride.
What’s your outlook for next season?
Number one: Let it snow! We have a lot of fun things going on and are stoked on all the positive feedback we‘re getting straight from girls all around the world. Shops are careful with pre-orders, especially from smaller companies (yet at the same time [they] claim to be tired of the big ones), but Nikita has been here exactly long enough to get a break with all the dealers who want to sell product to girls and we love it.
TAGS: kelly stoecklein, nikita, product previews, snowboard industry, snowboard outerwear
