Maple skate
| Maple skate | |
|---|---|
| legal form | BV |
| founding | 1990 |
| Seat | Heerenveen |
| Branch | Sporting goods |
| Website | www.mapleskate.coml |
Maple Skate is a Dutch manufacturer of ice skates and inline skates that was founded in Oosternijkerk in 1990 . The company has been based in Heerenveen , near the Thialf ice rink, since 2014 . The company specializes in speed skating , short track and speed skating .
Company history
Maple Skate was founded in 1990 by in Oosternijkerk. In 2005 the company was bought by Gert Jan de Wilde and the speed skater Erik Hulzebosch . In 2010 they sold it to Taeke van Lingen, who had already run the business, and to operations director Gerrit Pierik. In 2010 the company already had 15 employees. At that time, Maple was already the market leader for short track ice skates.
In 2011 Maple Skate took over competitor Raps . It was only after the takeover that an imminent decline in sales of rapeseed was determined and a lawsuit was filed in court, which was rejected. In 2012 Maple Skate became a co-sponsor of the speed skating team 1nP (now New Balance). In May 2014, Maple moved its production sites from Oosternijkerk to a former printing plant in Heerenveen.
Products
Maple Skate mainly manufactures ice skates for short track and speed skating as well as inline skates for speed skating. The product range extends from plastic shoes for beginners to competition skates for the world's elite, on which the main focus lies. Maple also makes ice skate accessories such as abrasives, protectors and blade benders. The company sells its products across Europe, Asia and America. Except for the shoes, which are manufactured in Guangzhou, China, all production takes place in Heerenveen.
athlete
Well-known international speed skaters have been using Maple ice skates since 1996. The Americans Shani Davis and Brittany Bowe and short trackers Apolo Anton Ohno , the Czech Martina Sáblíková and the South Korean short tracker Noh Jin-kyu and speed skater Lee Sang-hwa . Maple's biggest competitor is Viking Schaatsenfabriek, founded by the Dutch speed skater Jaap Havekotte . Eight out of ten world records in speed skating and the same number in the short track were set on Maple skates. At the Winter Olympics in Sochi , 70% of the speed skaters and short trackers skated with Maple.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ New owners ( Memento from February 20, 2015 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ Viking wint zeker op Winterspelen. Dutch manufacturers van schaatsen direct zich op het topsegment, zoals wedstrijdschaatsen voor Olympische sporters. De bulk komt uit China. on the NRC Handelsblad website.
- ↑ Takeover of rapeseed. ( Memento from April 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Lawsuit after taking over rapeseed. ( Memento from August 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Maple Skate binds to 1nP. ( Memento of May 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Maple Skate is linked to 1nP) schaatsen.nl, January 25, 2012
- ↑ Jarenlang op zoek naar iets petitioner. (Looking for something better for years) In: Nederlands Dagblad . February 23, 2015.