News about the Sled Dogs Company

Reported by Todd Murray - Click here to contact me.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news to tell you... a story of my own that did not turn out the way it should!" Lawrence Barryman-Crazyman

For those of you who haven't been following the Minneapolis newspapers or other financial news sources, the Sled Dogs Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as of November 5, 1997. (I saved a copy of the Star Tribune article here.) Basically, they had credit problems with one of their major creditors, Norwest Business Credit They also had trouble paying off their vendors such as the producers of the Yellow Snow infomercial and the Taiwan company that manufactures some Sled Dogs parts.

Looking back at some articles filed on Edgar, the SEC's Web service, it's not hard to see how this happened. Here are some of their articles. (Note: There's a lot of technical stuff in them and it isn't terribly interesting reading.)

So, what does this mean? Well, basically, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy means the business files a plan where it reorganizes and can negotiate with creditors to pay off its debts while it still continues operating. They aren't going out of business and liquidating entirely -- that's a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Sled Dogs is planning to implement a direct-sales program targeted toward the primary market of aggressive inline skaters. And, best of all, they plan to reduce the price from $329 to $149 to get their skates moving.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was worried about the state of Sled Dogs or whether the company was going to continue. In fact, if they go under, I'm not sure if I'll still have a winter sport; I might have to learn snowboarding. (But I don't have a criminal record, so that might hold me back.) Then again, there are other manufacturers such as Salomon and Lazer Blades that sell similar equipment.

In the meantime, I'll keep my eye on the Sled Dogs Company and hope that they can recover and reorganize. It's not the end of the world, after all.

Update 11/16/98

OK, so it's been nearly a year and there's been very little information about Sled Dogs. I e-mailed them to ask what their plans are like, and I didn't hear anything. Other people have mentioned that they've tried to reach the company but haven't gotten through. Finally, Janet Deming got a hold of them and reported the following:

I talked to Sled Dogs a few days ago in Minneapolis and they have many pairs left that they will sell to anyone that will buy them. They are not making them anymore and are trying to sell the sled dogs to some company that will take the idea and run with it.

That doesn't look like very encouraging news; it basically sounds like the company is on a shoestring operation and they're trying to sell the patents to some company that has better finances. Of course, now that skiboards are getting more popular, I'm not sure what demand there will be for Sled Dogs (or whatever they'll be called in the future), but we can only hope something happens. (It's eerily similar to the story of the Amiga and how they've tried for a number of years to find someone to buy the company.)

Update, long after this was news

I guess I didn't spend a lot of time updating this page after the previous update, but here's a recap of what happened:

A Norwegian company, Sled Dogs AS, bought the designs and other materials from the Sled Dogs Company. They're now producing Sled Dogs models of their own, including the new SD350 model. Unfortunately, they don't have a retail presence in the United States yet.
The remains of the Sled Dogs Company became xdogs.com, an extreme sports E-commerce site.
I discovered skiboarding, and I still have a winter sport.
I also discovered snowshoeing, although I haven't written a page about that yet.

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