100+ Winter Outdoor Companies Stand Up to Congress

COVID-19, the ongoing pandemic affecting millions around the globe, has drastically impacted the economy as a whole, forcing many operations to permanently close their doors. However, among those, the hardest-hit businesses have been the smaller-sized companies struggling to stay open. With winter just around the corner, the ski industry is facing financial struggles and uncertainties, which has urged over 100 outdoor companies to step up.

• Related: Recreating Outdoors During COVID-19: Can You Stay Safe?

It became widely recognized early on in the year that certain businesses were going to suffer from economic losses as a result of the pandemic. In an effort to navigate the challenges presented by COVID-19, business owners sought out Paycheck Protection Program loans to assist business needs, as well as conserve jobs. While this proved to help greatly, it is apparent that the virus has outlasted the assistance initially provided. As a result of this, U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Todd Young introduced the Reviving the Economy Sustainably Towards a Recovery (RESTART) Act to provide loan forgiveness, PPP flexibility, and further funding for businesses most affected through the remainder of 2020.

With an unpredictable winter season ahead, over 100 winter outdoor industry companies including REI, Burton, Spyder, Aspen Skiing Co., and K2 have joined together to sign a letter urging the federal government to base the next round of stimulus funding on the Restart Act. Initiated by SIA, the letter, featured below, will hopefully convince legislators to focus on the small and medium-sized businesses needing continued support through the remainder of the year.

The letter reads:

August 6, 2020

TO:

• The Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House   
• The Hon. Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader
• The Hon. Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader
• The Hon. Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McCarthy,

Snowsports Industries America is the national trade association representing the winter outdoor sports industry, including manufacturers and retailers of outdoor gear and apparel, generating $73 billion in annual revenue for the US economy. Our winter sports retailers are the backbone of many of our rural mountain communities, driven by annual winter tourism.

As you know, businesses across America are in the midst of one of the most challenging economic downturns in history, and our industry is no different. Winter 2019/2020 was one of the best winter seasons we can remember, with record participation at ski resorts and retail sales to match.

But over a weekend last March, ski resorts closed and our industry has been on-hold ever since. Our retailers and manufacturers were unexpectedly forced to lay off workers and dramatically downsize in hopes of making it through the summer, and bridge to the fall, the start of our critically-important sales season.

However, with the pandemic is still amongst us, this plan is in jeopardy. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has provided short-term relief and helped many remain employed and in business, but unfortunately, the pandemic has outlasted the relief. Most small businesses don’t have the financial stability to survive more months of reduced sales revenue, so they’ll require longer-term support from the federal government.

At this moment of real crisis, we urge you to build consensus and pass another assistance package to help our struggling small businesses and, in turn, tens of millions of Americans. We urge you to consider Senator Michael Bennet’s and Senator Todd Young’s RESTART Act—which has bipartisan support and recognizes the current challenges and specific needs of the most vulnerable small and medium-sized businesses.

We believe that assistance should embrace the following principles:

• Federally guaranteed loans, at favorable terms, that will enable small businesses to transform and sustain themselves through 2020 and well into 2021. Support must last for longer than just the next two or three months.
• Businesses should have flexibility in how loan funds are used.
• The hardest-hit businesses should be eligible for at least partial loan forgiveness. Any forgiveness should be limited to small and mid-sized firms that have suffered significant revenue declines and are not publicly traded.
• Relief needs to be delivered expeditiously. Building on the existing PPP infrastructure would be one way to quickly stand up a new loan program.
• These funds must flow to all small businesses in need, particularly those run by people of color, who have traditionally had less access to capital. A portion of funds should also be directed toward strengthening community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and minority depository institutions (MDIs).

Our businesses are the core of an $73 billion industry that supports over 700,000 jobs nationwide. Our small and medium-sized retailers and manufacturers are the cornerstone of our entrepreneurial future and make up the essential fabric of hundreds of rural mountain communities, all who have been forced to reduce or shutter their business due to a situation beyond their control.

Through the PPP and other federal and state aid, many have been able to stay afloat until now. However, it appears unlikely that the fall sales season, which begins next month, will be the economic lifeline for our industry that we were hoping for. Alongside the over 100 winter outdoor businesses that have signed on to this letter below, we are urging you to consider additional support for all of the small and medium-sized businesses now, before we see permanent closures in the winter outdoor industry, and job losses this fall.

The bi-partisan RESTART Act is the framework for a package that we hope you will consider.

Sincerely,

• 360 Adventure Collective

• Adventure Ski School

• Alpine Skis & Boards LLC

• Andrew Miller Sales

• Anomaly Action Sports, Inc.

• Anthem Branding

• Arlberg Sports, Inc.

• Armada

• Aspen Skiing Company

• Baselayer Group

• Basin Sports

• Bentgate Mountaineering

• Black Tie Ski Rentals LLC

• Buchika’s Ski & Bike

• Buff, Inc.

• Burton

• C3

• CEC Sports / Select Sportbags

• Christy Sports

• Coalition Snow

• Colorado ski shop

• Crossed Sabers Ski & Sports

• Delaware Hotel and Delaware Mercantile

• Endurance Enterprises Inc.

• Erik Sports Inc.

• Faction Skis

• Fera Intl. Corp.

• Fire On The Mountain

• Four Seasons Ski Center

• Gateway Trade Funding

• Geiger’s

• Handout Gloves

• Happy Tunes!, LLC

• Hestra Gloves LLC

• Indigo Ski, USA

• Indy Pass

• Inn Shop Rentals, LLC

• JANS Ltd.

• K2 Sports

• Kemper Snowboards

• LEKI USA

• Lucky Bums

• Lucky Zone Design

• Malakye.com

• Mazel Tec Inc

• Meier Skis

• Mervin Mfg.

• Meteorite PR

• Metropolitan New York Ski Council

• Never Summer Industries

• NILS

• Nitro Snowboards

• Norski Sports LLC

• Omni Promotional LLC

• On The Edge Tuning

• Outdoor Divas

• Outdoor Gear, Inc

• Park City Sport

• Peak Sales

• Performance Products Warehouse, Inc.

• Performance Ski Rentals and Repair

• POC

• Polarmax

• Powder7

• Regina Imports LLC

• REI

• Rodgers Ski & Sport

• Scott Sports

• Seirus Innovative Accessories Inc.

• Sims Collective Inc

• Skea Ltd.

• Ski Center LLC

• Ski Dazzle LLC

• Ski Fanatics, Inc.

• Ski New Mexico Inc.

• SKI PNW LLC

• Ski Pro Shop Inc.

• Skirack

• Sno Skins, Inc.

• SnoCountry, Inc.

• SOLE

• Sports Accessories America

• Spyder Active sports

• SSL

• Stockli USA Inc.

• STRAFE Outerwear

• Sturtevants Sports

• SuperFluent sales and marketing

• Surefoot

• T. Nelson Associates, Inc.

• Tecnica Group

• Terramar Sports Inc

• The Raven Workshop, LLC

• Trollhaugen Outdoor Recreation Area

• TWIO Brand

• VivienSales

• Wasatch Reps

• Westlife Distribution LLC / 686

• Wintersteiger Inc

• Winterstick Snowboards

• WWSRA

• Zeal Optics

• ZeroPoint Compression