So I might not be the best judge of this thread but here's my take on it, a guy that's been with Salomon for over a decade now and has been there through many of the ups and downs and see many of the internal workings of Salomon.
First off, yes, Salomon as at one point really fucking cool. The 1080, JP Auclair, Chris Davenport, the X-Scream (number 1 selling ski of all time btw) and even the Pocket Rocket were the quintessential of cool. Those products helped create the name that defines this site. From the first releasable binding to the first mass production twin-tip, they were innovators. And we all know how often innovators get laid. So that made them often-laid really cool innovators.
When the drop off occurred was actually a far bit behind when the author of this thread has stated. Salomon became uncool when foam cores were labeled shit, the Pivot binding failed miserably and they rested on their laurels designing standard stuff for the masses. Sales starting slipping from that moment on. From then on out, they were scrambling trying to figure out what to do. The company was bloated from a very successful run in the late ninety's/early aughts and the design and innovation process suffered because of this. Essentially everything from graphics to designs were a meeting of the middle to try to satisfy everybody while truly satisfying nobody because there were too many chefs in the kitchen and no solid goals. The company was lost as to who they were, who they were designing for and what they were doing.
Soon layoffs and restructuring were the name of the game and everyone left in the alpine side took a long look at themselves. There was a lot of soul searching within the company during that time period. A time period when from the outside, many, including NS, thought that they were still pretty dang cool. Unfortunately coolness doesn't pay the bills and they were still slipping. The hang over from that slip is what many are perceiving to be happening right now. When in fact, that couldn't be further from the truth.
When Salomon restructured, the few that were left just happened to be the most die hard skiers of the original Salomon crew. Instead of bloated office places filled with minions of non-skiers, the guys that the team for the first time in years started working with were the guys like JF, who invented the Driver binding, Jean-Phillipe, the original designer of the 1080 and Pocket Rocket and Pascal, the designer of just about every best boot Salomon has ever made. There were a small group of their athletes, a handful of local shredders from across North America and these guys that came together to make the Rocker 2 line-up of skis (a line that is being copied left and right), the Guardian Binding (best touring binding by far) and the many iterations of the Ghost boot (the boot Bobby and Sammy even shred in). I've seen the innovation of quality product in the past two years exceed the past 8 years because of this.
Right now, I wouldn't change anything about the products I'm riding with. And that's the first time in my entire tenure with Salomon I've ever felt that way. The Rocker 2 line of skis is so fuckingly amazing-fun-balls, the park skis are built tougher and more solid than ever, the bindings are less trendy than those orange butt plugs but they're still far better than anything out there when it comes to durability and safety and even the clothes have taken a giant leap forward in just about every way.
So personally, I think Salomon is cranking right now. What you guys might be seeing is the hangover from the past failures, the unfortunate ability to not keep some top athletes because others decided to pay them more and...um...I guess no more G-Suit. You all probably miss that still. I'll admit it was pretty dope.
Anyways, so that's my take on it. Salomon has had some failures, but right now, the product is firing on all cylinders and it might take a few years for the outside perception to catch up with that. For the time being though, I don't really care what people think of the company, I enjoy popping around on my skis and bindings, even if that doesn't make me "cool anymore".
