ROKA Sports Inc. of Dallas scored a four-year partnership with British Triathlon as the triathlon’s official swim category sponsor.
“One of the driving principles of our company is to serve athletes through innovation, and we’re excited to offer our latest collection of high-performance products to British Triathlon,” ROKA co-founder and CEO Rob Canales said.
The partnership, which extends through 2020, grants ROKA exclusivity in numerous product categories including wetsuits, swim skins, swimwear, goggles, and swim gear, including kickboards, pull buoys, and resistance aids.
“One of the driving principles of our company is to serve athletes through innovation, and we’re excited to offer our latest collection of high-performance products to British Triathlon.”
Rob Canales
British Triathlon is a federation whose members are the associations of Triathlon England, Triathlon Scotland, and Welsh Triathlon. It oversees the Great Britain Elite, Paratriathlon, and age-group teams. It also provides information about triathlon clubs, training, and activities for triathletes, who compete in events that involve swimming, bicycling, and running.
ROKA also announced that it has enhanced its global fulfillment by partnering with Borderfree, an e-commerce provider that simplifies international shopping by displaying prices in local currency, along with a final total, including duties, during checkout.
Canales and his partner, Kurt Spenser, were swimmers at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and began their sports apparel company after a dare to compete in a triathlon, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Frustrated by the fancy wetsuits they had bought while trying, Canales and Spenser worked in a garage in Austin on a wetsuit that fit better, and started to sell their product in 2013, the Morning News said.
ROKA HAS GROWN TO A 30-EMPLOYEE BUSINESS
ROKA went from that Austin garage to now employing 30 people, including five Boulder, Colorado-based salespeople. Spenser and a few marketing employees are based in Los Angeles.
The company, which has raised $25 million from investors, recently unveiled a line of running apparel and sunglasses, and has moved into a new office in the Design District, the newspaper said.
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