Evolution of KORE
“We had tried before, but to be honest, at that time we were not a relevant brand in freeride. This was more or less the last chance for us.“
– René Harrer, Director Global Sales and Marketing Ski division
From time to time you may find yourself with the back against the wall. Doubts building up, but at the same time a panting flame is lit. Like the great poet Eminem once said, “Success is my only m********n' option, failure's not.” And with a similar credo the team within HEAD Ski division went to work. The task ahead was not a small one though. And based on previous attempts a fresh start was clearly the only option.
So a strategy was formed. The ski should combine lightness, floatation and control. Be able to hold up for the Freeride World Tour athletes but be playful enough for everyday shenanigans around the resort. As a technology driven brand, solutions for the construction were within reach. But to get it just right, the taskforce needed help. Men and women of the mountains was summand, and at the core of that group stood the HEAD freeride team.
After a significant amount of time spent spraying powder, smashing into rocks, taking flight on the most massive backcountry jumps and carving through groomers on the way home a formula was ready, the recipe of new freeride ski from HEAD.
During this whole process, a specific word had been mentioned more than others, often in connection to describing the ambition of the project, to find the essence of a great freeride ski – it’s very core.
“The ski was worked on and almost finished … but the name. I had an idea that had been growing on me for a while. I shared my thoughts with René and the team, and it landed pretty well. We were on to something, but the last piece to the puzzle came when I was talking to our Alberta sales rep John Pettigrew about the use of Koroyd in the skis – the Koroyd gave the K in KORE and the rest is history. It just felt right” says Chris Vanderknokke, VP Winter Sports Head Canada.
The stage was set, the skis in production, but still a few of those doubts lingered.
“We knew we had something good, we just didn’t know how good just yet. But when we came to the big trade shows in Europe and the US in 2017, people directly came up to me and asked; Can you show me the KORE? It’s seriously one of the proudest moments in my career, when even the product managers from other brands came up to me and said: This is the best ski we skied all day, out of all the brands.” René Harrer
From this point, mentioning HEAD and freeride in the same sentence became much more natural. The foundation was set and the range kept developing and growing into what it is today.
“The feedback from the athletes has been instrumental in this process. The entire new line-up is based on their input and especially the KORE 111 – that’s more or less a team ski. All in all this is the most successful product launch in the history of HEAD skis – and it still just the beginning” René Harrer.
