Facing COVID-19 sales crunch, Boulder sports apparel firm seeks buyer

BOULDER  — Professional triathlete Nicole DeBoom has been building women’s sports apparel firm Skirt Sports for 15 years, but slowing sales — in part due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis — has pushed the Boulder entrepreneur to seek out a buyer for her business.

“There’s never been a better time to be a woman who wants to participate in sports, so Skirt Sports is more relevant now than it’s ever been because fitness is more accessible now,” DeBoom said.

Still, Skirt Sports is “a small business that doesn’t have millions of dollars in the bank to be able to weather every storm and every challenge,” she said. “We’ve had a trifecta [of challenges] over the past six months.”

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Those challenges relate to distribution partnership “setbacks” with Amazon, tariffs on imported materials to make the apparel, and COVID-19, DeBroom said. 

“When [the coronavirus outbreak hit] it took an immediate toll on our revenue,” she said. “There’s just so much uncertainty about what our economy will do and what people will spend their dollars on. It’s just time for us to find a partner with more financial resources and experience to help [the company] live on.”

While DeBoom would “argue that premium activewear is essential,” she recognizes that “people are just pulling back” on their spending. 

While all acquisition and partnership options are on the table, DeBoom said the best chance for Skirt Sports’ survival is a complete buy-out by a larger firm or investor.

DeBoom is looking to sell “not because I don’t love and believe in the brand,” she said. “It’s because I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and I believe there are other challenges out there for me.”

If the pieces come together just right, DeBoom said she would like to partner with husband and fellow triathlete Tim DeBoom on a fitness and lifestyle training program. 

“Tim and I are very much into researching longevity and what we can do to stay healthy, active and happy as we get older,” she said.