But the sport is also a professional vocation

"I'll know what I'm worth."Matthew Bazil, the new boss of Oxbow, has the word sport, precise and agreed. His new job akin to a bet "Bet". Non. The chance factor does not play. I would say rather a challenge at Oxbow, the fundamentals are strong. "Backed Lafuma since 2004, the surf clothing brand based in Bordeaux however saw its sales decline by 14 last year. It is also very hexagonal with a low market share internationally.

Matthew Bazil measure the magnitude of the challenge with knowledge. A thirty-five years, it was vagrant from Quiksilver, the giant of the sector in which he spent nine years. Without yet being surfer originally. "I was part of the first generation of non-pratiquants in Quiksilver."Already avid windsurfing, he is caught up since with, in addition to surfing, snowboarding and kitesurfing. This falls well, also sports on which Oxbow implementation. But with his physical - a good metre eighty-five-, his true passion remains, however, rugby has long practiced in the French stage, after touching the basketball and tennis.

But the sport is also a professional vocation. In 1996, every young person graduate of Parisian business school, the Ipag, it does apply in a single company for his studies internship: Adidas. An internship which will turn into hiring at the siege of Strasbourg where he will also continue to play rugby with the reserve of the Racing Club team. For four years, he worked with the client central purchasing of the mark three bands: Sport 2000, technician of the Sport, and Decathlon.

A complete course

It is this power that makes spot by Quiksilver in 2000. Born in Australia in 1970 surf brand is located in Lacave on the basque coast since 1984. "With the strong growth of the surf at the end of the 1990s, there was need to restructure a little things", says Matthew Bazil. After working with the large central purchasing, it is dedicated to the opening of stores Quiksilver, but also Roxy, the brand for women. If it creates a rugby team in the walls of Quiksilver, this native of Nogent in the suburbs of Paris also definitively wife Southwest: "I am very attached to these values that revolve around rugby, buddies, meals...".

In 2005, he took orders for the France, and then soon Europe, DC Shoes, a skate shoe brand, acquired in 2004. A few years, DC Shoes, whose headquarters is located next to San Diego in the United States, has seen its turnover multiplied by four on the Continent. "An extremely rich experience in both human and professional, where I particularly enjoyed the fact to work closely with the United States and to be associated with all decisions", explains Matthieu Bazil.

So why come in a smaller competitor and not to the best of its form, not to mention the fact that this father of three children will have to move to the basque coast to Bordeaux First, because the contact parce que le contact est is excellent with the pattern of Lafuma, Philippe Joffard, who had already approached him. But also because this step integrates well in his career: "After having worked for a large German company, and then with the United States, I think that I wanted to know a French box."And, after all, Bordeaux is not the best of the destinations for a wine lover since a decade is patiently cellar