For several months now, rumors have been circulating in the cycling industry that the American fitness equipment manufacturer Nautilus (brand owner of Schwinn Spinning, among others) wants to sell off the clothing and shoe manufacturer Pearl Izumi. Insiders expected a change of ownership to be announced soon. The fact that Shimano is now the new owner of Pearl Izumi is surprising. The component manufacturer from Japan has been a successful manufacturer of cycling shoes for many years and has also been offering a complete clothing line under its own name for several years. In addition, it has not previously been part of Shimano's market strategy to buy up other manufacturers.

Pearl Izumi remains independent
As Shimano writes in a press release, the two companies fit together perfectly. Both companies were founded by Japanese people and felt a strong connection to the bicycle. What they also have in common is that both companies attach great importance to innovation and have correspondingly strong development departments. The two companies also had similar ideas when it came to product quality.

In purely legal terms, Pearl Izumi will become a subsidiary of Shimano USA. According to the press release, however, Pearl Izumi will not be integrated into the group structure. Pearl Izumi will remain an independently operating company with its own management and will retain its existing company locations in the USA and Germany. In addition, Shimano will retain and further develop the shoes and clothing under its own name independently of Pearl Izumi.

No distribution changes
It also fits in with this concept that Pearl Izumi will continue to work with its existing distribution partners. When asked by Ride, Chris Bättig from Swiss importer Chris Sports Systems confirmed that he will continue to offer Pearl Izumi in Switzerland. "We have long-term distribution agreements with Pearl Izumi. And as Shimano allows the company to operate independently, we will remain the Swiss importer of Pearl Izumi in the future," says Bättig. He himself sees the takeover by Shimano as entirely positive. "Pearl Izumi was not able to develop optimally under its previous owner Nautilus. The fact that the company now belongs to a group with strong ties to bicycles will help Pearl Izumi much more than if some investor group had become the new owner. After four changes of ownership in the last 16 years, the company is unlikely to be sold again so quickly. This consistency will be good for Pearl Izumi".

Pearl Izumi was founded over 50 years ago by a Japanese family. Since 1981, the company has also been active in North America and since 1989, part of the collection has been developed near the mountain bike mecca of Boulder/Colorado. It was only two and a half years ago that the previous owner Nautilus took over the brand. Pearl Izumi has been represented in Switzerland since 1992 and has been imported by the company Chris Sports Systems from Münchwilen/TG since the beginning.