After more than 20 years of licensing its brand name to an Italian entity for use outside of North America, Bell Helmets has announced the reacquisition of its global distribution rights in the powersports market.
“Our motorcycle helmet business is a growth engine for our portfolio and this acquisition marks a major milestone for the Bell brand,” said Terry Lee, Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. chief executive officer. “This positions our brand to regain share globally just as we have in North America.”
Previously, the powersports unit of Bell Helmets was only able to distribute into the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia and select countries in Latin America. With the reacquisition of global distribution, the brand will also focus on Europe, South Africa, New Zealand and Brazil. Additional expansion will continue throughout other countries and regions.
“This is a dynamic, exciting and challenging time as we re-stake our claim to the Bell brand, sales and product development on a global scale,” said Chris Sackett, business unit director – powersports. “This is what we’ve all been working towards, and we’re excited that everyone in these newly-acquired regions will know they are buying superior product from the original Bell.”
Bell recently announced several new hires, promotions and the reallocation of several key executives to support its global unification, which resulted in a product development team that has tripled in size. The product development team will be led by long-time industry veteran, Mike Lowe, who most recently managed helmet development across a portfolio of head protection brands including Bell cycling helmets, Giro snow and cycling helmets, Riddell football helmets and Easton hockey helmets.
Matt Schumann, the director of sales, will take over global responsibility. His most recent hire was Brett Conley, international sales manager. Conley joins Bell from Fox Racing, bringing eight years of international sales experience. Conley will manage and support Bell’s international distribution partners, focusing specifically on Canada, Latin America and Pacific Rim regions.
Bell is also actively recruiting a sales and marketing leader and a sales operations manager based out of Europe, who will handle Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
