News 7/14: Helmet House discontinues AXO line

Company Had Been Exclusive Distributor For Five Years
** - press release -**(Calabasas Hills, CA) Helmet House, Inc. has announced that it is ending its association with the AXO line of motocross gear. One of the industry's best-known distributors, Helmet House has been the exclusive importer and licensee of the AXO brand in North, Central, and South America for the past five years.Like most business decisions, this one was bittersweet. "Sometimes in business, you do what you have to do, not necessarily what you want to do," said Helmet House owners Bob Miller and Phil Bellomy. "The AXO brand has a fine name, reputation, and product line. It opened a lot of doors for us in the motocross segment of the business. We met wonderful people, new retailers, and we learned a great deal. Unfortunately, we couldn't resolve differences in brand-management philosophy with AXO Italy, which we feel kept us from realizing the full sales potential of the AXO brand in our marketplace." David Kane, National Sales Manager, said, " We still have significant inventory of AXO products, so we will continue to service our existing customers until supplies run out."With the end of the AXO relationship, Helmet House will now be able to concentrate its efforts on its four top-selling brands, according to Director of Products, Mark Gandy. "Shoei helmets, HJC helmets, Cortech and Tour Master riding gear have all been growing consistently and rapidly, and their sales continue to be up significantly for the first half of this year. With AXO, our designs were well-received, our AXO retailers did very well with the line, but the classic 'irreconcilable differences' would not go away and we had to let our heads rule our hearts. Now we can focus even more on our four core brands and move forward."