Motorsports gear company Strikt moves from Ontario to Golden

— Photo courtesy Strikt.ca.

For many who decide to do it on their own terms as an entrepreneur, particularly those in the Kootenays, achieving sustainable, managed growth that leaves enough time for outdoor pursuits is the ultimate prize.

Dan Rachmel, owner of the well-established Strikt Gear Company, has the prize is in hand, as he makes plans to move the manufacturing and R&D components of his mature business, Strikt Gear Company, to his home base in Golden.

Strikt has been quietly making innovative textiles for action sports apparel since 1997, when Dan, a six foot tall 16-year old who was competitively racing motocross found that he was unable to find well-fitting, high-performance gear.

“Back then, your options were limited in just about every respect”, he said, laughing.

And so, he began developing his innovative new textile, and then tapping into his Mom’s dress-making skills, started building the company that now employs a core team of 11, with 17 outside contractors.

This young entrepreneur has had a clear focus when it comes to growing his business, which includes not only profit, but building a sustainable company with strong buy-in from its employees.

“We’ve managed to retain most of the same people for more than 10 years by offering great pay, flexible work schedules and a lot of freedom. Our employees have bought into the dream with us, and we’re really like a family”, Rachmel explains.

By continually developing and improving their materials, Strikt has gained a reputation for high-quality, limited-run gear, which they have supplied to private race teams in sports varying from dirt biking to Formula 1.

“Our sewers have very particular skills, and can use up to 10 different specialized sewing machines. Finding people who know how to use these machines can be a challenge. Our employees are very diverse, in more ways than one”.

As a small player in an industry that’s grown significantly over the past decade, Rachmel has taken a decidedly different approach, focusing on building good will among dealers and distributors with high margin, high-end niche products and continually improving their small-run line of more than 180 different products.

“We always make sure that we’ve got a decent budget for R&D”, he explains. “to be able to react to opportunities in the market, and continually put more good ideas into our 2-year R&D process.”

Now, facing an aging workforce and an opportunity to move portions of the manufacturing of Strikt’s line from Ontario to the East Kootenay, Strikt is working on a 5-year plan to bring the manufacturing of its limited production gear and select product to a site that Rachmel has already purchased just outside of Golden.

Recent expansion into the United States, and working on deals in Iceland, Russia, Sweden and Norway, Strikt is now strategically planning for the next phase of their mature business, proving again that it can be done here.

As a participant in KRIC’s Business Coaching program, Rachmel added, “Andre, our business coach, has been instrumental in helping us with our international expansion by helping us ensure our logistics are as straight forward and efficient as possible without adversely affecting customer service.”

Source: KRIC newsletter