Pyranha kayaks recently named Brian Day to head its U.S. operations. Day is a 25-year veteran of the paddlesports industry who has spent the past five years working closely with former director Jim Hager to make Pyranha, P&H and Venture premier brands among specialty dealers in North America.
Jim Hager will be moving into a position with Joy Sports/Feelfree Kayaks to develop their new North American sales and distribution network.
This new sales division will allow Joy Sports to better support its private label molding production for volume retailers and to develop new product lines. Pyranha US will continue to support and distribute Feelfree Kayaks through July 31st, at which point Joy Sports will assume all sales and distribution of the Feelfree brand.
“Joy Sports are choosing to strengthen their programme with ‘box movers’ and that’s never been our focus. We’ve always been by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts, and our focus has always been supporting specialist dealers alone,“ Pyranha founder and owner Graham Mackereth explained as to why he thinks the change makes sense.
Change brings challenges but also opportunities, said Mackereth: “We’ve spent a lot of effort over the past several years helping Feelfree to develop their products and sales. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to redirect that energy into our own brands. We’re very much looking forward to showing our new products and expanded direction at Outdoor Retailer.”