by The Editors on September 5, 2008
Vipe Desai and Project Blue got a nice write up by Laylan Connelly in the OC Register. We were planning on meeting up with Vipe to get all the behind the scenes info, but someone beat us to it.
Each of the companies (Billabong, DAKINE, Electric, Nixon, O’Neill, Reef) have set aside specific products, and with each item sold $2 of the purchase goes to San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation. This year, Project Blue is on track to make $100,000 from the sales to go to the non-profit. . . . The goal of Project Blue isn’t to get the companies to change their entire product line to environmentally-friendly substance, but to slowly get the companies thinking about how they can help the environment. Project Blue’s tagline is: “It’s not a charity. It’s a plan of action.”
Not bad at all.
[Link: OC Register]
by The Editors on September 5, 2008
While we were busy sitting through ASR seminars yesterday Quiksilver held their quarterly conference call. Luckily Reuters was there get all the details: “the company posted a quarterly profit that beat estimates, and stood by its fiscal-year earnings view, sending shares up 13 percent.”
Quiksilver said on Thursday that profit margins were fattened by a higher percentage of sales in Europe and at company-owned retail stores. Results were also helped by a tax benefit. . . . “We had a pretty decent quarter, given how tough the retail environment is around the world,” said Chief Executive Robert McKnight in a conference call with analysts.
Higher percentage sales at company-owned retail stores. . . wonder if that’s how Hollister does it?
[Link: Reuters]
by The Editors on September 4, 2008
It was a standing room only event at the Thursday September 4, 3 pm fashion show in Hall E at this year’s ASR show. For the first time, Seventeen Magazine took the reigns and title-sponsorship spot and the name they came up with, It’s Electric!
The packed house took in 54 different looks (ready-to-wear to bikinis) from companies across the show floor.
Follow the jump for some of our favorites (click the photos to see them full size).
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by The Editors on September 4, 2008
If listening to Quiksilver’s Bob McKnight read a statement and then answer anylists’ questions is something you find entertaining (like we do), then tune your Internet deck to www.quiksilverinc.com at 1:30 PST today September 4, 2008 and be enlightened and entertained all at the same time with Bob, Joe Scirocco, Marty Samuels, and Bruce Thomas.
[Link: MarketWatch]
by The Editors on September 4, 2008
Andrew Palmer is the new general manger at Ocean Minded (makers of some of the most durable stylish flips on the planet).
Mr. Palmer joins Ocean Minded with more than 20 years of experience in the action sports market. Notably, Mr. Palmer was co-founder of Animal, the leading action sports brand in the United Kingdom. As the CEO of Animal USA, Mr. Palmer was responsible for building the U.S. infrastructure while also overseeing global sales. Following his tenure with Animal, Mr. Palmer served as the Global Sales Director for Dragon Optical, Inc.
Company founder Gary Ward is “very excited to welcome Andrew to the team.”
Andrew’s global brand experience and proven entrepreneurial background will allow us to continue with our rapid growth plan. As GM, Andrew will take responsibility for the day to day running of the business and I will work closely with him to bring the Ocean Minded ideals to domestic and international markets,” Ward said.
You’ll get no snide comments from us on the Ocean Minded front. Not one.
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by The Editors on September 3, 2008
Here’s one more from the the “don’t try to tell us pro skaters aren’t working for their money” file: Bob Burnquist, Lincoln Ueda, Nilton Neves, and Andre Genovesi were forced to sign autographs for two hours at Macy’s department store in Pleasanton, California on August 30, 2008.
Wonder how many times they heard this: “Mom, who are those guys supposed to be?” To be fair, there were actually skateboards in two of the photos. To us it seems kind of sad that Hurley would even feature this kind of promo on their website. We know they’re Nike, but come on, this is a waste of a perfectly good skateboard team, isn’t it?
[Link: Hurley.com]
by The Editors on September 3, 2008
Guess sometimes people rob banks just to keep living their stylish lives. Like this guy in Temple Terrace, Florida who robbed a Wachovia bank today by implying that he had a gun.
The robber is described as a white male, late 20’s to early 30’s, 5′ 10″ – 6; tall with a short goatee wearing blue jeans, a baseball hat with the letters RVCA on the front, a long-sleeved white shirt with blue and pink stripes carrying an olive-green shoulder bag.
Nice hat. Actually, he looks kind of familiar? Anyone know him?
[Link: Tampa Bays 10]
by The Editors on September 2, 2008
For those in foreign countries, it’s a nice way to do business: set up the distribution of your favorite brand, get it rolling, and then sell it back to the brand. For the brand it’s a relatively cheap way to expand into foreign markets (with much less risk). That’s what Volcom just did with their Japanese distributor.
This acquisition is a testament to the strength of our brand in Japan after working with our distributor for more than 15 years,” says Richard Woolcott, chairman and CEO of Volcom. “We are excited to culminate a longstanding relationship with an opportunity to work more closely with our accounts in this important territory, while retaining our Japan-based distribution team.”
When it works out nicely, it’s amazing.
[Link: OC Metro]
by The Editors on August 29, 2008
The Orange County Business Journal has picked up the story about Quiksilver finding a buyer for Rossignol. Not much new in this story other than two interesting numbers:
Shares of Quiksilver were down nearly 4% near the close of trading Friday with a market value of $990 million.
And this one:
After fees, Quiksilver is expected to see about $100 million in proceeds from the sale, according to Kummetz. . . That stands to have a small impact on the company’s projected debt of $1.1 billion at the end of its fiscal year in October, the analyst said.
So, in layman’s terms: by the end of October Quiksilver will have more debt than market value to the tune of $110 million. We’re not analysts, but that doesn’t sound good.
[Link: Orange County Business Journal]
by The Editors on August 28, 2008
Each time there are an Olympics, Oakley sends out the press release saying exactly how many of the medals were won by their sponsored athletes. In Beijing it was 88. If Oakley would have been a country they would have lined up right behind the the USA and China, and just ahead of Russia who won 72 medals.
We couldn’t be more proud of the countless athletes from around the world that chose to use Oakley sunglasses as a critical piece of their performance equipment,” said Scott Bowers, senior vice president of global marketing and brand development, Oakley. “We developed High Definition Optics (HDO) to meet the demands of our athletes and there is no greater compliment than to see them earn their place among the world’s greatest.”
Actually, Scott, they weren’t “countless” as the same press release says “more than 600,” but either way, it was great coverage for the O.
[Link: Earth Times]
Vipe Desai and Project Blue got a nice write up by Laylan Connelly in the OC Register. We were planning on meeting up with Vipe to get all the behind the scenes info, but someone beat us to it.
