H E X C E L   M A R K E T S
    sports and recreation

Hexcel’s leading-edge technology and advanced structural materials have played a key role in the revolution in sports and recreation equipment. And the company has branched out into many segments of the sports and recreation market.

Hexcel’s carbon honeycomb, between layers of carbon fiber, makes Trek mountain bikes lighter and stronger.

Total 1998 Pro Forma Hexcel Sales: $1,235 million

Total 1998 Pro Forma Sports and Recreation Sales: $56 million, or 5%

SURFBOARDS: Hexcel’s warp glass fabric is thinner and lies flatter than conventional fabrics, so less resin is required in board construction.
The result is a stronger, lighter, more durable surfboard.

SKIS: While the company no longer markets its own brand of skis, it remains at the forefront of ski technology, partnering with many major ski manufacturers, including Atomic, Elan, Head, Salomon and others.

HEXCEL’ S PARTICIPATION in the sports and recreation market began in 1971, when the company brought a number of materials and technologies together into a single finished consumer product and introduced the Hexcel brand of snow skis. The fast, lightweight, durable skis quickly became a status symbol on slopes the world over.

L e a d i n g - e d g e   T e c h n o l o g y

In the years since then, Hexcel’s leading-edge technology and advanced structural materials have played a key role in the revolution in sports and recreation equipment. And the company has branched out into many other segments of the sports and recreation market.

Hexcel materials offer unique advantages to consumers demanding higher performance from their sports and recreation equipment. They add strength without adding weight, and they are more durable than traditional materials under the stresses and strains of the active outdoor lifestyle. Moreover, the company’s global network of research, manufacturing, sales and service capabilities enable it to serve customers the world over, quickly and efficiently.

S e l e c t e d   N i c h e s

Today Hexcel participates in a number of selected niches within the sports and recreation market:

  • While the company no longer markets its own brand of skis, it remains at the forefront of ski technology, partnering with many major ski manufacturers, including Atomic, Elan, Head, Salomon and others.
  • Over half of the snowboards in the world today contain Hexcel materials, in different combinations of prepregs, laminates, polyurethane formulations and honeycomb.
  • In the market for golf clubs, Hexcel has played a key role in the move to carbon and glass/carbon shafts, which are rapidly replacing steel shafts because they are lighter, stiffer and stronger.
  • Hexcel’s graphite and fiberglass prepregs provide the stiffness and weight reduction needed in tennis racquets today. The introduction of these composite materials has dramatically expanded the range of racquets available to consumers.
  • Premium-priced fly-fishing rods are being made with Hexcel prepregs reinforced with intermediate-modulus and high-modulus Hexcel carbon fiber.
  • Hexcel’s fiber-reinforced composite materials used in the hulls of racing yachts can reduce their weight by as much as 25 percent, compared with conventional materials.

Innovative partnerships play a key role in expanding the use of advanced structural materials in the sports and recreation market. Hexcel’s research and technology and product marketing staff worked with bicycle manufacturer Trek to develop a resin system that met Trek’s stringent requirements for a lighter, stiffer, stronger frame for Trek Y frame mountain bicycles. The solution was a Hexcel graphite unidirectional tape and graphite fabric. Today Trek mountain bicycles are marketed with a tag identifying Hexcel materials as “The Strength Within.”

This broad range of sports and recreation applications represents an attractive source of profitable business for Hexcel.

TENNIS RACQUETS: Hexcel’s graphite and fiberglass prepregs provide the stiffness and weight reduction desired in tennis racquets today. The introduction of these composite materials has dramatically expanded the range of racquets available.

GOLF SHAFTS: Carbon and glass/ carbon hybrids are rapidly replacing steel golf shafts due to their lightweight, stiffness and strength. Hexcel provides unidirectional carbon tape to the highest quality standards.

RECREATIONAL BOATS: The same advantages enjoyed by composite materials in fast ferries and high-speed trains—strength, lightweight and impact resistance—also make them ideal for canoes, kayaks, sculls and other recreational craft.

FLY-FISHING RODS: Hexcel prepregs, reinforced with Hexcel carbon fibers have helped create a high-end fly-fishing rod that is stiff and durable while also being lightweight.