by The Editors on March 18, 2011
A photographer who wanted to get a shot of Johnathan Washburn’s updo on the streets of Austin, Texas got a skateboard to the head, according to a story on The Smoking Gun.
According to cops, Washburn clobbered the shutterbug in the head with his skateboard after the man refused to delete the image from his camera.
Washburn is now facing felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges and is in jail with a $12,000 bail set. Not only that, but now everyone gets to see a photo of Johnathan and his lovely hair
[Link: The Smoking Gun]
by The Editors on March 16, 2011
by The Editors on March 15, 2011
Last week we were going to write up the latest financials from Quiksilver’s first quarter, however, we lagged and now it looks like Jeff Harbaugh has done it for us. He says:
For the three months ended January 31, 2011, Quik reported a loss of $16.3 million compared to a loss of $5.4 million during the same quarter the prior year. Sales fell 1.45% from $432.7 million to $426.5 million. Sales in Asia/Pacific were essentially the same from one quarter to the other and rose $6.8 million in the Americas. But European sales fell 7.1% from $177.8 million to $165.2 million.
CEO Bob McKnight appears to be happy about the company’s recent performance according to the conference call transcript posted on Seeking Alpha.
I’m very pleased to report solid first quarter results that were in all aspects better than we expected when the quarter began. Revenues of $426 million in the first quarter exceeded our plan, and were up in constant currency when compared to the first quarter of 2010. This marks the first time in the last nine quarters that we’ve grown revenues and constant currency and demonstrates that previous revenue declines are abating.
Guess the best way to feel good about losing $16.3 million is to plan on losing much more. For Mr. Harbaugh’s analysis on these numbers (including thoughts on Quik’s aggressive DC growth strategy) click the link.
[Link: Market Watch]
by The Editors on March 15, 2011
Canadian retailer Below The Belt is apparently planning to open a 3,300 square foot Volcom retail store in the West Edmonton Mall in April, according to the Edmonton Journal.
“The new store will be one of the largest Volcom stores in the world at 3,300 square feet and will offer the complete assortment of Volcom and Electric apparel for men, women and boys,” spokesman Rob Whetstone said.
Below The Belt owns 30 retail locations in Western Canada, according to the story. This will be VeeCo’s second Canadian mall store.
[Link: Edmonton Journal]
by The Editors on March 11, 2011
No, we did not get up at 6:30 this morning to listen in on VF Corporation’s The Next Five Years conference call (we were a little distracted by the tsunami), but we did read their most recent press release in which Chairman and CDO Eric Wiseman explained his plans for Vans and The North Face to carry the company into the future, yet, oddly, he made no mention of Reef.
Over the next five years VF plans to grown their business by $5 billon dollars. And $3 billion of that is projected to come from the Outdoor & Action Sports division (aka Vans and The North Face):
Building on well-established and highly profitable domestic, international and direct-to-consumer platforms, The North Face(R) and Vans(R) brands, which account for 75 percent of total coalition revenues, are targeting annual growth of 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively. By 2015, Outdoor & Action Sports should account for at least half of VF’s total revenues.
How are they going to do that? One of the ways is by serving more “consumers directly:”
Growing direct-to-consumer revenues to 22% of total revenues by adding branded retail stores and building stronger consumer relationships through brand websites and social media.
Ah, social media. The cure for all that ails. Follow the jump for the rest of VF’s plans for world domination.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on March 9, 2011
Abercrombie & Fitch, whose entirely derivative faux-surf brand Hollister Co. has built a business out of appropriating surf iconography, is reportedly suing Florida-based retailer Surf Style because the company uses the image of a flying gull on several of its products, according to a story in Columbus Business First.
Abercrombie (NYSE:ANF), which declined to comment on the lawsuit, is seeking monetary relief and undisclosed damages and asking that Surf Style be barred from using the gull. . . This isn’t the first run-in between the two businesses over the gull design. Abercrombie said in the lawsuit it sent a cease-and-desist letter to Surf Style last May and that the chain agreed to quit selling the allegedly offending merchandise by September – but didn’t.
From now on designers will have to think twice before they put a bird on it.
[Link: Columbus Business First]
by The Editors on March 7, 2011
There is no doubt that many male surfing fans have been finding themselves paying more attention to the 2011 Roxy Pro Gold Coast and as much as we’d like to think it is due to the massive advances in women’s performance surfing, there is a chance that at least some of this new focus has more do with all that rocket ass bobbing in the lineup at Snapper.
This seems to have gotten the Courier Mail wondering if the whole “sexy surfer girl” thing isn’t going too far.
At the Roxy Pro, at Snapper Rocks, many of the young males interviewed by The Sunday Mail admitted they were watching the heats for the women, rather than for the surfing tips. . . Manu Maier, 20, said he believed it was impossible for beauty not to be a factor in judging the heats. . . “They look great, don’t they? I heard about this surfing competition. I said to myself that I had to get here,” Maier said, as a female competitor turned her back on the right-hand break, her small bikini shrinking to a G-string.
Follow the jump to see what wisdom Rabbit Bartholomew had to add to the discussion.
[Link: Courier Mail via Sports Grid]
by The Editors on March 3, 2011
After a winter of “technical issues” the 686 website is back up to full “on” status with their new 2011 Spring Collection. Here’s what they have to say about it:
We do apologize greatly for our internet absence the last few weeks. If we told you what happened, you wouldn’t believe us, so we’re just going to keep it quiet and tell you that the offending parties responsible for the collapse of the 686.com empire have been dealt with appropriately. We made them take a few runs nude during the last big storm and now all is right in the world.
Having experienced similar issues (June 2010) we feel for them and are glad the’re back.
[Link: 686]
by The Editors on February 25, 2011
Looters emptied the Quiksilver outlet store in New Brighton, New Zealand (a suburb of Christchurch) following the Monday, February 21, 2011 earthquake in which at least 123 people have died, according to a story on Stuff.co.nz.
Staff hastily secured the store after the quake before rushing off to check on their families. . . Employee Marcel Hoogerwerf discovered the looting on Wednesday morning when he went to assess the damage. . . “They’ve just stolen jeans, hoodies, shoes and shorts,” he said. “I know I don’t own the gear but I feel semi-responsible for it. . . “They’ve taken luggage to put the stolen gear in. They’ve gone shopping when no one’s been here.”
Looters also made off with what Stuff reported as “a small amount of cash was also taken.” Classy.
[Link: Stuff.co.nz]
by The Editors on February 24, 2011
Volcom today (February 24, 2011) released their fourth quarter and full-year financials along with news that they will purchase 10 of their outlet stores from a licensee. Not a bad way to build the retail portfolio while managing overstock.
As part of the company’s direct to consumer strategy, Volcom has signed a definitive agreement to terminate the current Volcom outlet license agreement and purchase the assets related to the operation of the 10 existing Volcom outlet stores, which are located in California (4), Nevada (3), Washington (2) and Utah (1). The company anticipates completing the transaction by mid-2011. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Here’s how the quarterly numbers looked according to a filing with the SEC:
For the 2010 fourth quarter, total consolidated revenues increased 22.4% to $78.6 million, compared with $64.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. Total revenues in the company’s U.S. segment were $54.3 million, compared with $46.0 million in the prior-year period. Total revenues in the company’s Europe segment were $12.8 million, compared with $12.9 million in the same period in 2009. Total revenues in the company’s Electric segment were $6.4 million, compared with $5.3 million in 2009. Total revenues in the company’s Australia segment were $5.1 million.
Revenue for the year grew 15.2 percent to $323.2 million and the company netted $22.3 million.
Click here for the entire transcript of the conference all from The Street.
[Link: SEC]
A photographer who wanted to get a shot of Johnathan Washburn’s updo on the streets of Austin, Texas got a skateboard to the head, according to a story on The Smoking Gun.
