by The Editors on April 2, 2009
After the January 2009 ASR show we’d be surprised at nothing, but ASR today announced that they are moving the dates for 2010 to February 3-4 and August 14-16.
“By realigning ASR’s dates we believe the industry can best position itself for future growth,” says Andy Tompkins, ASR Group Show Director. “Through ongoing dialogue with both our exhibitor and retail attendees, it became apparent that the timing of the ASR January show was too early to completely service fall line breaks. In the future, August show dates will allow buyers to preview the entire landscape of action sports product before making purchase decisions.”
And according to quotes from VeeCo’s Tom Ruiz, and Lost’s Joel Cooper these dates are great. Follow the jump for the entire release.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 1, 2009
[April Fools Day Story 2009] With the warm shred weather finally hitting, 686 is happy to announce the release of their newest light weight jacket: the Multiple Wind Breaker.
Available in Kelly Green and Black, this lightweight, all-over printed shell jacket keeps you just the right temperature while tearing up the spring snow, yet is long enough to trap flatulence for extended personal enjoyment.
“There is nothing like smoldering on the lift and basking in the warmth of your own ass breeze,” said 686 social stench marketer Hoo Cheit. “In the winter wearing heavy gear it’s easy to trap odors, but in the spring it’s much more difficult. That’s why we added 8 inches to the waist of the jacket. But the best part is our patented third ‘multiple’ sleeve.”
The third sleeve? Yes, 686 has added an exhaust sleeve that runs up the back of the jacket from the seat and over the shoulder for riders who are more interested in mainlining their crack steam. Cheit says the sleeve can be placed over the nose and mouth for full force anal emission ingestion.
The Multiple Wind Breaker features reverse 1,000MM waterproofing/1,000 GM breathability rating to make sure the farts won’t get out until you let them.
[Link: 686]
by The Editors on March 31, 2009
TEC, the Ketchum, Idaho based producer of the ScotteVest has sued 32 jacket manufacturers including: Bonfire, Burton, Helly Hansen, Nike, Nikita, Quiksilver, and V.F. Corporation over a patent (US Patent Number RE 40,613) that among other things allegedly protects a pocket design which includes a slot that allows a headphone wire to pass through, according to a story on Sports One Source.
According to the complaint, “each and every defendant named herein makes, uses, sells and/or imports at least one jacket and/or model of jacket that is designed to provide the wearer with wire management capabilities for portable electronic devices, including, for example, cellular telephones, mp3 players, iPods, and the like, that facilitates the management of wires running from the electronic device to the user.”
According to his myspace page TEC owner Scott Jordan, 44, is “a corporate lawyer with no design experience.” This entire lawsuit will probably get more interesting before it goes away. We’ll keep you posted.
[Link: Sports One Source]
by The Editors on March 30, 2009
by The Editors on March 30, 2009
In recent article in the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research titled Ten Problems with Technology writer Raphael Cohen listed out ten reasons why even though the US military sinks “billions of dollars into new technology” it isn’t always used by the new “i-pod generation” of American Fighting man.
Number 10 on the list was “The Coolness Factor” and here Cohen said this about Oakley eyewear.
In terms of ballistic protection, a cheap set of no-name ballistic sunglasses will work just as well in most situations as a $100 pair of Oakley M Frame sunglasses, but they will not look as “cool” and certainly do not carry the same status. Soldiers often choose equipment that highlights their machismo. Just as teenagers model their look on what movie stars wear, young soldiers take fashion cues from their “movie stars”–usually operators in the special operations community.
Raphael’s suggestion: let them wear Oakleys when they’re out killing people to protect our freedom.
[Link: AEI]
by The Editors on March 30, 2009
Sole Technology’s Don Brown and Pierre Andre discuss the re-release of their seminal skate shoe the etnies Rap in a new video clip up on the etnies site. Say what you will about the state of the skate fashion industry, but it’s still nice to see the big guns out on the interwebs pitching their own products. . . . isn’t it?
[Link: etnies]
by The Editors on March 30, 2009
It’s like it’s just not making it in the world anymore unless you appear in a video game. Ken Block has reportedly signed on to be a character in the rally car video game Colin McRae Dirt2, according to a post on Gamers Daily News.
X Games team-mate of the late Colin McRae, Block is at the forefront of a new breed of pro drivers, competing as Subaru Rally Team USA Driver #43 in the Rally America National Championship and the world-famous X Games. He has also gained notoriety for his mind-blowing stunts in his Subaru WRX STI. For Colin McRae: DiRT 2, Block is working with the development team at Codemasters Studios as technical consultant, lending his wealth of knowledge to the game and advising on car handling.
Ken is apparently stepping in as the new face of the game after McRae died in a 2007 helicopter crash with his son and two family friends. Click here to watch Ken’s new promo video for the game.
[Link: Gamers Daily News]
by The Editors on March 27, 2009
What would an Ipath shoe be without a little hemp? The Darius classic boat-shoe stylings features saddle stitched hemp, canvas, a shock absorbing mid sole, and not surprisingly, a secret stash pocket. This is a shoe even some of us Vans fans might wear.
The Darius drops May 15, 2009.
[Link: Ipath]
by The Editors on March 26, 2009
Stephen Teran is a 6’5″ shoe salesman from Tucson, Arizona who happens to have Volcom as his Twitter username. He has 60 followers and likes to update with comments like “Taking the trash out. I want to go home already. Supposed to leave 2 hrs ago,” and “buying some sonoran hot dogs.”
Tonight Mr. Teran got the following tweet from the Volcom marketing division’s Willie Marshall: “@volcom yo hit me up, I got a proposition for you.”
We’re guessing that Willie is hoping to obtain Mr. Teran’s username. It will be interesting to see how this little proposition turns out because there are a couple more Twitter brand squatters out there who may be waiting in line for some propositions of their own: Burton, Billabong, Quiksilver, Electric, Roxy, Nixon, Dakine, Hurley, Adio, Rip Curl, Independent, Vans, O’Neill, Etnies, emerica, Gravis, K2 and more.
Looks like Twitter caught the action sports industry by surprise. Why does that not surprise us?
by The Editors on March 26, 2009
Shocker: It was announced today that Andy Irons is joining Billabong’s Kustom Footwear program. A “delighted” Kustom GM Harry Truscott has released this seemingly un-ironic statement:
‘Kustom and Andy Irons are a natural fit,’ says Harry Truscott, General Manager at Kustom Footwear. “Andy will be a huge addition to our team.”
Huge addition? Absolutely. Natural fit? Okay, if by “natural” Truscott means that AI is pretty much strapped to the Billabong wagon right now (not a bad wagon to be strapped to, but strapped is strapped) then his quote makes perfect sense.
[Link: Global Surf News]
