When CSS, one layer of parent company to Forge+Bond wheels, disappeared in the night with nothing more than an e-mail to let its customers and partner brands know it no longer existed, the industry was shocked. The epilogue to this story, though, is where it gets weird.
One month after the surprise-closure, sympathy of the apparently-struggling CSS is fading faster than customer’s hopes of their lifetime warranty’s being honored. That’s because a new company, F+B, barely-rebranded but legally distinct from Forge+Bond, emerged to sell…. pickle ball rackets.
A sudden and unexpected exit
At the time of CSS’s closure, there was little indication that the brand, Forge+Bond, or the OEM suppliers, CSS Composites, was in financial difficulty. Rave reviews, an expanding list of partnerships that included names like Chris King and Bontrager indicated that FusionFibre, the recyclable carbon fiber used in CSS-made rim construction, was a positive light in cycling and, in particular, U.S. manufacturing. The announcement prompted concern, for the brand, its employees, for the promising technology, for the partners it supplied rims to and, finally, for the customers that had purchased wheels in part on the expectation that the lifetime warranty would be honoured.
What happens to a lifetime warranty when a carbon supplier suddenly disappears?
As reported by Escape Collective, though, concern for the brand and at least some of its employees may be unfounded. Customers and partner brands are still very much in the lurch, with the brands forced to find patchwork and probably expensive ways to cover its customer’s lifetime warranties. The fate of Forge+Bond is more complicated.
F+B Pickleball
F+B rises from the ashes of … Forge+Bond
As covered in Escape Collective’s excellent expose, both Forge+Bond and its parent company, CSS Composites, did, in fact, cease to exist at the end of September. The newly emerged F+B is owned by Future Corp. All four are part of an extended layering of corporations and businesses operating out Gunnison, Utah. If all four existed at one time, they would be under the same umbrella of companys.
The striking similarities between Forge+Bond and F+B, as well as the too-convinent timing of the one’s demise and the others rise, are raising questions, though. All this could be above board, if still very questionable. Though if I were a Forge+Bond customer that was told it was no longer comercially viable to honour a lifetime warranty on a wheel, I would not be too excited about picking up a pickleball racket from F+B. Is it actually legal? I guess we’ll find out eventually. Maybe. Or maybe not.