Once again this year, the Salomon Advanced Week brought together the mountain runners of the international Salomon Running team, this time in the Italian town of Limone Sul Garda, in the Lombardy region. Technicians and athletes once again pooled their knowledge in order to make further progress in research, with the aim of finding the best materials for high performance sports. Throughout the week, athletes tested the new prototypes during scheduled training sessions and evaluated their performance in order to achieve the best final result. Salomon Advanced Week is a turning point in the manufacture of Salomon products in order to offer the end consumer the material that best suits their needs.
Patrick Leick, Product Manager at Salomon, knows how essential these meetings are for the French brand in its desire to continue to advance and invest in R&D. "There is no way we can develop LAB products without the participation of athletes. It is thanks to them that we are experts in the manufacture of sports shoes and apparel. Without the athletes' participation, we would not be able to produce our best products". For Salomon, there is no better expert than the professional mountain runner. "Athletes push themselves to the limit and that forces us to think of solutions to meet their level of demand and needs," says Leick.
Athletes push themselves to the limit and that forces us to think of solutions to meet their level of demand and needs," says Patrick Leick.
Testing prototypes is one of the leitmotifs of these meetings, "but we also have the opportunity to test some products from the Salomon range so that they also understand the marketing strategy behind them". Without going any further, and based on these premises, "the LAB Sense gave birth to the Mantra", the Salomon Sense Mantra, which, mounted on the base of the S Lab Sense, achieved a higher drop and more protection without sacrificing lightness, as well as being suitable for all distances and types of terrain.
Binding link between brand and athletes
Hence the almost binding link between the brand and the athletes. "Not only do we have athletes working side by side with our testing and product development team, but we often use them during the focus group as well," emphasizes Salomons Product Manager.
We have the best practical experience, so we can apply it to create and modify products together with the engineers," says Cameron Clayton.
Among the runners in attendance, Cameron Clayton was present at the conference, sharing his experiences and knowledge of trail running, a discipline he is passionate about. "I think our participation is vital because we are experts in our disciplines. We invest a lot of time, also using the equipment, and working alongside the test team is very beneficial for them. We have the best practical experience, so we can apply that to create and modify the products together with the engineers. This week helps us to always incorporate something new, and working together is always better than working separately, because otherwise we can always miss a lot of important things.
Photos: Jordi Saragossa and Droz Photo.
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