It’s hard to believe, but it appears that eventually every dead fashion brand ends up in Jamie Salter’s hands. So it should be no surprise that he was able to add Volcom to his arsenal of 50 zombie brands which also includes Airwalk and Vision Street Wear.
“We are thrilled to have completed the purchase of Volcom,” said Jamie Salter, Chairman and CEO of ABG. “For nearly three decades the Volcom family has created one of the most iconic brands in the skate, surf and snow markets. During the last few years, the brand has been consistently gaining traction with broader audiences around the world while staying true to its core. We could not be happier to finally get to work with this team.”
Yes, this is an over-simplification of the deal which includes the creation of a new operating group run by Todd Hymel and the current Volcom management of which ABG is a minority partner, but hey at least Vee-Co is out from under the French and zombie brands live forever.
For the official word and no mention of how much ABG paid for Volcom (last time it sold for $607 million, this time we’re guessing much, much, much less) please follow the jump.
At this point see skate, snow, and surf headlines in our sleep and though we don’t seem to have time to snark this batch up, we still want them in an easy-to-scan format. So here they are as of March 25, 2019. Click the link for all the headlines you should have seen in the past few weeks (in no particular order, sadly) and enjoy the news.
We’ve been out of the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association loop for more than a minute so please forgive our ignorance, but we were pleased to discover that SIMA is still doing an annual awards show. Yes, in 2019. Their 15th, apparently. And last night (March 20, 2019) they got their membership together for a “sold out” show at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California to pat (Parnell) each other on the backs for surviving another year and to swap awards for all the great work they’re doing.
Brands to grab awards included Vissla, Billabong, FCS, Vans, and a few others. There were 116 nominees from 41 brands. The breakout brand of the year award went to Seea. Who? Seea, you know, the swim brand that “is dedicated to the pioneering women who first braved the waves, and to every woman who has ever searched for a suit that is feminine, comfortable, and fun.” Now you know. Billabong was the night’s big winner with five awards. Quiksilver was nominated in six categories (eight if you count Roxy) and they didn’t win a thing. Volcom didn’t get a mention, and Hurley, well Hurley is no longer a member of SIMA, and you can’t win if don’t pay play.
SIMA even had an award from what’s left of surf media for something called the “Consumer Media Feature of the Year.” It was won by Stab Magazine for The Electric Acid Surfboard Test. The other media in the running were Surfer, Surfline, and something called The Inertia.
For the official word from SIMA including all the winners and nominees, please follow the jump.
Burton Snowboards continues with their work supporting dead artists with a new capsule featuring the artistry of trail blazing NYC graffiti artist Keith Haring who died February 16, 1990.
The collection includes a Keith Haring Deep Thinker snowboard, a Keith Haring Anorak jacket, and a Keith Haring tech T-shirt. Would Keith have loved this collab? Unfortunately, we’ll never know.
It is, right? We’re not usually into the whole Adidas sporty spice thing, but look at that. The 3ST.004 doesn’t look too sporty, or too skatey. It looks like Adidas got their stripes going backwards on this one, but we’re okay with that. Tyshawn Jones will look smooth in these flip catchers, for sure. Here’s what Adidas says about them:
“Building off the design mentality of the 3ST family, the 3ST.004 is positioned to further progress and challenge skateboarding footwear. The low-profile forefoot and super tacky wrapping on the sidewall provide board feel like no other. With such great board feel, the intent is to never bail, but let’s face it, it happens. Therefore, we’ve placed BOOST in the heel of the shoe for protection and support when bailing.” says the brand’s Senior Footwear Designer, Scott Johnston. “Considering that Tyshawn Jones was the muse for the project, the shoe needs to not only perform, but look iconic and stand out. The shoe incorporates classic adidas aesthetics and modern design lines to keep you looking fly in the streets.”
And yes, we all want to be “looking fly in the streets,” Scott. We certainly do. The 3ST.004 will be in specialty retailers and Adidas online starting February 7, 2019. If you’ve got $120 they can be yours.
In a farewell letter published on Hypebeast outlining exactly why he is ending the Benny Gold brand and handing his SF retail space back over to HUF, Benny Gold (the person) outlines the situation successful artists often get in when their “brand” becomes bigger than themselves — better in one paragraph than many have been able to do in 30 page Keynote projects. He explains exactly how it feels when the beastly machine begins driving the master and creating its own reality. Here is the paragraph from Hypebeast.
We have a beautiful flagship location in San Francisco and an outstanding staff that has helped me realize my full potential. The brand has become bigger than myself and I am forever grateful for this. . . But with this success comes it’s own set of challenges. I now find myself growing less creatively as my days are spent managing people, budgets, and production issues. I am feeling increasing pressure to follow trends and go more “urban” in the attempt to capture more market share. A brand becomes a living, breathing thing and every brand has a life cycle -— well it’s become increasingly clear to me that the Benny Gold brand is nearing its end. I would rather bring it to a close and celebrate it’s life with integrity rather than push it to become something I no longer believe in.
How’s that? It answers so many questions we’ve had about other emerging clothing brands. How do you keep doing the same thing over and over? Season in, season out? It’s nice to see someone admit it straight up — you can’t. Not unless you change everything that got you there in the first place.
Congrats Benny. Well done. We look forward to seeing what you’re working on in the next phase.
We’ve always felt a strange disconnect between East Coast “streetwear” and skateboarding in general. Nothing brings our confusion into clearer focus than Supreme. Yes, James Jebbia has done a stellar job of appropriating all the right stuff to create a billion dollar clothing company, starting with artwork from Barbara Kruger and then logoing pretty much everything and marketing it to NYC’s label obsessed kids. But, really? Is a collection of 248 “limited edition” Supreme skate decks really worth $1 million dollars? Guess we’ll find out soon enough, at Sotheby’s, according to a story on The National.
The 248 boards, which will be sold as one lot through Sotheby’s, offer a unique archive of Supreme’s work and present a rare opportunity to see all of the designs together. Not surprisingly, this adds to the value and, with no buyer’s premium, the collection is expected to sell on January 25 for between US$800,000 and $1.2million (up to Dh4.4m).
Go get ’em Ryan Fuller. What are the chances the new owner will be an EDM producer? Pretty high we’d guess.
What makes a copyrightable stripe? Looks like Vans and Primark are going to find out as the footwear giant sues Primark over what it considers “identical knockoffs” according to story on Cosmopolitan.com.
A lawsuit alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition and false advertising was filed in New York last month. . . The two designs in dispute are the Vans Old Skool sneaker, featuring the iconic side stripe, and the Vans Sk8-Hi sneaker, a lace-up high top also with the classic stripe. The court documents state that Primark’s use of a side stripe on its trainers is confusing to the consumer. . . “The Side Stripe Trademark’s prominent placement and often-contrasted colour make Vans’ shoes immediately recognisable to consumers even at far-off distances,” say the documents.
When you compare this to all the skate brands that have boosted Vans designs over the years, it looks pretty mudane, but they have to protect their IP.
We’d like to think that Burton itself is the product of Jake Carpenter’s “creativity,” but it seems that corporations outgrown their founders by design. It’s nice to see Jake getting back to doing the stuff he likes to do with the Mine 77 collection . . . even if it is made up of $700 jackets, $400 backpacks, and $60 tee shirts.
It’s hard to believe, but it appears that eventually every dead fashion brand ends up in Jamie Salter’s hands. So it should be no surprise that he was able to add Volcom to his arsenal of 50 zombie brands which also includes Airwalk and Vision Street Wear.
