Industry: Anatom


Consolidating the Anatom


Stephanie Briggs spoke to Anatom about OutDoor and its work to promote awareness of better fitting footwear.


‘H


ow was the show for you?’ If you ventured to OutDoor this July, no doubt you will have heard a good deal of people posing that question and you will have undoubtedly seen it greeted with an enthusiastic ‘great thanks’.


But with retail sales struggling on the ground and everyone having to work that little bit harder just to stay afloat is that really how it is? “Honestly, we can put our hand on our heart and say, yes, this has been a great show for us” says Mark Staddle, sales director at Anatom. You’ve got to give his statement a little credence, as Anatom has been distributing Superfeet for 17 years and has an enviable record of having increased sales every year, year-on-year since.


So why was OutDoor 2011 so good? More footfall? increased quality of visitors? Heightened interest?


“Good meetings and good appointments,” says Staddle. “I would say we met with similar numbers of retailers to last year but this year saw more retailers taking on a wider range of our product.”


Gordon Fraser, Anatom’s managing director, says: “We like to think of ourselves as offering the complete foot package in terms of comfort and performance with Superfeet representing the chassis, Teko socks the interior and Anatom Footwear the bodywork.”


In addition, Anatom has a renowned performance footwear fitting academy and a reputation for providing excellent service to its dealers. Training is carried out in-store and on location, with courses generally lasting one or two days. The next set of Level 1 Performance Footwear Fitting courses take place around the UK this autumn. Staddle


explains: “If you’re going to buy walking


Anatom Q3M 8 www.sgboutdoor.co.uk


boots you’re most likely to buy them from a specialist outdoor shop. If that experience can be positive, customers are more likely to return for their other technical outdoor products. “I’ve seen it happen. I’ve been in-store when a customer has come into the shop and said that they were so impressed with their footwear fitting experience and the service they had previously received that they were completely committed to making their next big purchase there. “The fitting system starts with


customers having their feet accurately


measured using the Brannock device. Feet are then analysed for shape and volume and based on that and their planned end-use, we choose the appropriate footwear. “At the same time we select the right Teko sock and Superfeet insole for improved comfort and stability. If there are any issues remaining, we may use our Fine-Tune-Fit products to tailor the footwear to the customer so that could include a volume reducer, tongue depressor and/or heel lift.”


Anatom Footwear, launched last year, utilises two shoe lasts that Anatom’s research and development department developed after almost 20 years of measuring over 50,000 pairs of feet.


The boot’s shape and design are developed with


Anatom’s Italian partners and produced in European factories using single-source full grain Italian leather. All of the boots incorporate the company’s proprietary Tri.Aria System that encompasses waterproofness, breathability and aftercare in conjunction with Nikwax.


Men's Charcoal sandals


Says Staddle: “We launched Anatom


Footwear at the end of last year and we’re really pleased with how sales are


growing with our retail partners who include Cotswolds, Snow + Rock, Tiso’s, Craigdon Mtn Sports and Lockwoods.” Anatom has always been fascinated by socks and their importance in achieving a superior fit and as a result acquired Teko socks three years ago. The company’s mantra is ‘best socks on the planet, best socks for the planet’, which embodies Teko’s approach to the market. Teko makes high-performance, technical socks with a complete focus on the environment and reducing the impact of sock production on the planet. The brand has a stable of three performance fibres: tekoMERINO, a non-chlorine treated, mulesing-free, superfine merino wool; Evapor8 Ultralight, an ultra-fine, spun polyester that has been developed for use in hotter temperatures; and SIN3RGI, a fusion of the two previous fibres that provides a broader temperature and humidity buffer and 30-40 per cent more durability.


Fraser says: “In a survey carried out by Gallup in the USA, the results showed that 62 per cent consider it normal for their feet to hurt. That’s a startling statistic and one that we desperately want to address. By promoting better awareness and fitting techniques at the fitting stage we hope to eradicate this problem for the majority of the people we come into contact with on a day- to-day basis.”


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