Latest news with #Aspen
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Obermeyer's Next Ascent: How A Legacy Mountain Brand Is Scaling New Heights
Obermeyer's Next Ascent: How a Legacy Mountain Brand is Scaling New Heights Legacy can be both a gift and a burden. For heritage outdoor brands, the pressure to stay relevant has never been greater. Amid accelerating climate change, digital disruption, and shifting consumer values, Obermeyer is redefining longevity – not by abandoning its heritage, but by thoughtfully evolving its core without compromise. Obermeyer's Next Ascent: How a Legacy Mountain Brand is Scaling New Heights Now under the leadership of CEO, Kris Kuster, formerly of Mammut Sports, the longtime alpine brand is entering a new era grounded in reality and defined by humility, speed, and sustainability. Kuster is not trying to rebrand Obermeyer from the ground up. Instead, he's building from the foundation laid by founder Klaus Obermeyer — who, at 105 years old, remains active as Chairman of the Board. 'You can never fill a legend's shoes,' Kuster says. 'You have to pave your own way, while protecting what made the brand matter in the first place.' In an industry where headquarters have moved to city centers and brands sell dreams of the outdoors from office towers, Obermeyer remains firmly rooted where it began: Aspen. That decision isn't nostalgic, it's strategic. For Kuster, Obermeyer's physical proximity to the mountains is an extension of its purpose. 'We're Aspen born, Aspen lived, and Aspen worked. We are Aspen,' he says, pointing to how Klaus Obermeyer helped shape the town's spirit as an innovator and civic force. That legacy — grounded in mountain values and lived experience — is now being revived for a new generation of outdoor enthusiasts. Aspen itself has changed. 'I thought winter was our high season,' Kuster notes, 'but now Aspen in the summer goes off even more. It's insane — busy traffic, packed hotels, people coming for the lifestyle, not just the skiing.' In response, the brand is expanding beyond its winter identity, without compromising its roots. 'We're still a ski brand in a ski resort,' Kuster says. 'But it's time to fully embrace the year-round mountain lifestyle — and Aspen gives us the blueprint.' Obermeyer's Next Ascent: How a Legacy Mountain Brand is Scaling New Heights While many competitors are only now working to earn credibility with female consumers, Obermeyer has long been ahead of the curve. Women have always been central to its product line, voice, and growth — a fact that's not widely known, but deeply embedded in the brand's DNA. 'I didn't realize just how deep it ran until I dug into the numbers,' says Kuster. 'We've always been 60 to 70 percent a women's brand. Add in kids, and it's even higher. We've never had to pivot to women — we've been serving them from the beginning.' That foundation is now being strengthened. 'Seventy-five percent of discretionary spending is made by women,' Kuster notes. 'So why wouldn't we go even deeper?' Rather than market to women, Obermeyer is building with them — designing fit-first products, creating more inclusive storytelling, and building out its digital experience for the people who already define its brand. 'It's not a campaign,' he adds. 'It's a commitment.' While sustainability has become a marketing ploy for many brands, Kuster believes the outdoor industry needs a recalibration: less posturing, more transparency. 'We're not the most sustainable brand yet,' he admits, 'but we make insanely good quality at a very affordable price. And that's sustainability too.' For Kuster, longevity is the untold sustainability story and perhaps the most powerful one. 'The most sustainable product is the one that lasts the longest,' he says. 'If your jacket lasts ten years and gets passed down to your kid's kid, that's circularity. That's impact.' Obermeyer's sustainability approach centers on durability, resale, and accessibility. The company is developing buy-back programs for kids' gear, a crucial offering in a sport known for its expense and exclusivity. 'We know a five-year-old is going to need a new jacket next year,' he explains. 'So we take the old one back, and offer 30% off the new. It's better for the family, better for the planet, and it keeps people in the sport.' Kuster also challenges the illusion of 'perfectly sustainable' apparel. 'You see a lot of campaigns,' he says. 'But at the end of the day, recycled nylon is still oil-based. We can't lie to ourselves or our customers. Let's build the best possible gear, make it last, and improve where we can – without pretending we've solved it all.' That realism isn't an excuse. It's a strategy rooted in truth, durability, and continuous improvement. Obermeyer's Next Ascent: How a Legacy Mountain Brand is Scaling New Heights With all the talk of digital transformation and margin pressure, Kuster is clear: culture is the engine. 'As they say, 'Culture eats strategy for breakfast,'' he says. 'You can have the best playbook in the world, but if your people aren't bought in, it goes nowhere.' At Obermeyer, that belief is reflected in everything from internal development to community co-creation. When Kuster met a 14-year-old aspiring designer during a chance encounter, he invited her to spend the afternoon with the brand's creative team. What was meant to be a quick tour turned into a two-hour session and may soon become a youth-led capsule collection. 'She showed up with these unbelievable sketches,' Kuster recalls. 'Our whole team was floored. It wasn't just cute, it was visionary. So now we're looking at a Project Runway-style initiative where kids design for kids. Because that's culture too.' This sense of openness – to ideas, people, energy – is helping reestablish Obermeyer not just as a gear brand, but as a values-driven platform rooted in purpose. Legacy brands built on wholesale are now playing catch-up in a consumer-led world. Obermeyer is no exception. The company only began investing in direct-to-consumer three years ago and Kuster is the first to acknowledge they're late. 'But we're moving fast,' he says. 'We're investing in our site, our content, and our storytelling because the consumer expects to connect directly now. The retailer is no longer the destination. It's the vessel.' What's filling that vessel is shifting, too. 'People say influencer marketing is new,' Kuster notes. 'It's just digital word-of-mouth. And word-of-mouth has always been the most powerful force in marketing.' This consumer-first mindset is reframing everything from brand communications to ambassador strategy, reinforcing the idea that storytelling isn't just about what's said, but who says it. Obermeyer's Next Ascent: How a Legacy Mountain Brand is Scaling New Heights When asked how his measure of success, Kuster doesn't default to revenue targets or EBITDA multiples. Instead, he returns to something far less common in a performance-wear boardroom: legacy. 'If I can look back in 20 years and say we kept Klaus and Annamie's dream alive – that we helped more people get outside, live healthier, stay humble – that's success,' he says. 'Whether it's $10 million or $100 million, that part is priceless.' That doesn't mean financial results don't matter. But they follow culture, not the other way around. 'I've seen it again and again,' he says. 'When the culture is strong, the numbers come. When it's weak, you can chase growth all you want, it won't stick.' His final call is one for mindful urgency: act quickly, but act with intention. 'Speed will be the decisive factor in the future,' Kuster explains. 'But not sloppy speed. In the military, we used to say, 'Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.' That's how I lead. That's how we build.' In a world of green claims, digital noise, and brand reinvention, Obermeyer offers a different kind of blueprint: one rooted in place, integrity, and deeply human values. It's not the loudest brand. But it just might be one of the most honest – and in this new sustainability era, that's what resilience looks like. 'We don't need to be everything to everyone,' Kuster says. 'We just need to be exactly who we are and do it really, really well.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Down Almost 30%, Should You Buy the Dip on Rigetti Computing?
Key Points Rigetti Computing aims to be a leader in the promising quantum computing industry. For the time being, this is a highly speculative, pre-revenue business. Even though it's cheaper than it was a few months ago, this is a stock with a very binary outcome, so invest accordingly. 10 stocks we like better than Rigetti Computing › Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI) has been one of the best-performing and most volatile stocks in recent history. Over the past year, Rigetti shares have gained about 1,400% as quantum computing hype has accelerated. However, since peaking in January of this year, the stock price has been rather volatile, plunging by as much as 70% from the peak before rebounding. As of this writing, Rigetti is trading for about 30% below its all-time high. With quantum computing still in the early stages and Rigetti trying to establish a leading position before the technology goes mainstream, is now a smart time for patient investors to take a closer look? Impressive progress so far The basic idea is behind quantum computing is that the use of traditional bits of information create an upper limit on the performance of traditional computers. By using "qubits," which can be in many different states simultaneously, the idea is that quantum computers could be several orders of magnitude faster than traditional computers and therefore could solve problems much more efficiently. In theory, a quantum computer could solve a problem in seconds that would take a traditional computer years. However, the key phrase is "in theory." Rigetti has some of the more impressive quantum computing achievements so far. The business goal is to build quantum computing systems that customers can access remotely through the cloud. So far, Rigetti has 237 issued or pending patents on its technology and has started to gain early-stage commercial traction through partnerships with governments and other customers. Just to name a few achievements so far: The company launched its first 32-qubit system on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2019. Rigetti demonstrated its first scalable quantum chip in 2021. The Aspen quantum computer became commercially available on AWS in 2022. The company's first quantum processing unit became commercially available in 2023. Is Rigetti Computing a buy? Of course, Rigetti Computing is more attractively valued than it was in January when it reached an all-time high, but this is not a cheap stock by any definition. Its current stock price gives a market cap of about $5 billion, and while Rigetti has generated some sales from things like prototypes and experimental products, but this is mostly a pre-revenue company. Long-term, Rigetti sees a massive market for quantum computing. While it believes the market will be in the $1 billion to $2 billion range by 2030, it believes that's around when the technology will start to become mainstream, creating a $15 billion to $30 billion market opportunity during the 2030s and growing to well over $100 billion by 2024. Now, there's a lot that needs to go well for the company, and the industry in general, for these market estimates to become reality. And there's also a lot that can go wrong, even if quantum computing does become the next big thing. For example, Rigetti has enough cash to fund its development for now but could need to raise additional capital and dilute shareholders. Plus, Rigetti isn't the only company that wants to be an early leader in quantum computing, and it isn't just startups -- some big players like Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) Google are developing quantum computing technology as well. The bottom line is that if quantum computing proves to be a viable mainstream technology, and Rigetti maintains a technology lead over competitors, this stock could be a home run for patient investors. But it could also go to zero if things don't go well. Keep this in mind when investing. It would be wise to only invest money you can afford to lose if things don't work out. Should you buy stock in Rigetti Computing right now? Before you buy stock in Rigetti Computing, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Rigetti Computing wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $641,800!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,023,813!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,034% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Matt Frankel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Down Almost 30%, Should You Buy the Dip on Rigetti Computing? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Home Office launches probe into asylum seeker gambling as lax rules let migrants use taxpayer handouts at betting shops and casinos
Lax rules that have let asylum seekers use their taxpayer handouts for gambling are 'very concerning', a Cabinet minister has admitted. The Daily Mail revealed this week that there have been thousands of transactions using pre-paid cards meant to fund basics such as food and clothing. The Home Office, which initially said the abuse was impossible, yesterday launched an investigation into the scandal. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds confirmed that the use of the Aspen cards for gambling was not allowed. Asked about the Mail's revelations, he said: 'It's already forbidden. It shouldn't happen. We've seen that story. 'Support for asylum seekers in the UK is, it 's not a lot of money, it's about £7 a day, I think, for essentials. You shouldn't be able to use it for this. So it's very concerning. 'There's an immediate investigation to find out exactly what has gone on here.' Home Office data revealed up to 6,537 asylum seekers have used the government-issued cards at least once for gambling in the past year. The shock figures were released under Freedom of Information laws to the PoliticsHome website. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said it was 'a complete abuse of taxpayers' money' and called for an immediate clampdown. Fellow Tory Ben Obese-Jecty said: 'It is scandalous. I raised the issue of Aspen cards directly with both the Home Secretary and the border security minister earlier this year. 'Their only concern was that 'disclosure could undermine the ability of the Home Office to secure maximum value for money in future contract negotiations'.' Aspen cards are issued to asylum seekers while they wait to have their claims dealt with – a process that can take months or even years. Those in self-catered accommodation receive £49.18 on the card each week, with 80,000 currently issued. Home Office figures do not reveal how many of the attempts to use the cards in amusement arcades and casinos were successful. A spokesman said it had 'begun an investigation' and added: 'The Home Office has a legal obligation to support asylum seekers, including any dependants, who would otherwise be destitute.'
New York Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Pentagon Suspends Its Participation in Think Tank Forums
First, the Pentagon pulled out of the Aspen Security Forum, an annual national security and foreign policy conference where government officials share their thoughts with private sector and think tank types about national security priorities. Now, the Pentagon is suspending its participation in all national security events held by think tanks. In a statement on Thursday, the Pentagon said the move was an attempt 'to ensure the Department of Defense is not lending its name and credibility to organizations, forums and events that run counter to the values of this administration.' Previous defense secretaries, including Lloyd J. Austin III, Mark T. Esper, Jim Mattis, Ashton B. Carter and Chuck Hagel, routinely flew to security conferences in such places as Munich, Singapore and Halifax to meet with defense partners, allies and even adversaries in some cases. It was almost a rite of passage in disseminating American doctrine and policy points to a wider audience. But the current man in the job, Pete Hegseth, has not been so keen to mix and mingle in the world of national security. In February, he skipped the Munich Security Conference, which is usually an important event for new defense secretaries. And during his first trip in the role, to Europe for a NATO meeting, he posted photos of his workouts with troops, even as critics complained about his rocky start. The Pentagon's chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said in a statement that the Defense Department's Office of Public Affairs would conduct 'a thorough vetting of every event where Defense officials are invited to participate.' The decision was reported earlier by Politico. Earlier this month, Mr. Hegseth abruptly canceled the department's participation in the four-day Aspen event, saying the forum's values did not align with the Pentagon's. In that case, a Defense Department spokeswoman, Kingsley Wilson, said that Aspen promoted 'the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country and hatred for the president of the United States.' John Phelan, the Navy secretary, and Adm. Samuel Paparo, the head of the military's Indo-Pacific Command, had been scheduled to address the gathering. They did not attend.
North Wales Chronicle
6 days ago
- Politics
- North Wales Chronicle
Home Office launches probe into use of asylum seeker payment cards for gambling
More than 6,500 transactions were attempted online and at sites such as casinos, slot machine arcades and national lottery retailers in the past year, according to a Freedom of Information request made by PoliticsHome. The payments online were blocked each time, while in some other cases cash withdrawals were made in or near gambling venues, located using the terminal's ID number. When asylum seekers arrive in the UK, they are given a chip and pin debit card called an Aspen card, which is intended to provide weekly support to buy essentials such as food, clothing and toiletries. For people being housed in hotels that provide meals, the allowance is £9.95 a week, and for those in self-catered accommodation the allowance is usually £49.18 a week. The cards are taxpayer-funded and there are around 80,000 users in the UK. The data showed a peak of 227 attempts to use the cards to gamble in a single week last November. At the lowest point, there were 40 attempts to use the cards to gamble in a week last July. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: 'This Labour Government is allowing illegal migrants to gamble using taxpayers' hard-earned cash. This madness has to end.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The Home Office have begun an investigation into the use of Aspen cards. 'The Home Office has a legal obligation to support asylum seekers, including any dependants, who would otherwise be destitute.'
