by The Editors on April 17, 2012
Billabong has officially closed on the sale of controlling interest in Nixon to Trilantic Capital Partners, according to a story in The Australian.
The company said it needed the cash from the sale to clean up its balance sheet, and halve its debt from $525.6m to about $250m. . . Billabong’s largest shareholder, Perennial Investment Partners, criticised the company for selling one of its best-performing assets, while another private equity group, TPG Capital, made a $765m takeover offer for the company on the condition that it not sell the Nixon stake.
All that and they still have $250 million in debt to go. Hmm, wonder how much Billabong could get for Dakine?
[Link: The Australian]
by The Editors on April 16, 2012
The Richards at the US Government have finally removed the restriction from the Nixon.com domain and handed it over to the proper Encinitas, California based watch designers. And now, they’ve put the domain to good use with an entirely new online presence.
Whether you are a first time visitor, a returning customer, or a die-hard fan of the brand the new website increases engagement upon every visit. Expanded product photography and video, real-time team and event updates and enhanced customer service are a few of the many upgrades reflected on Nixon.com. The newly revamped Nixon.com was also the recent recipient of a “Site of the day” award from Design Licks.
Click it and see.
[Link: Nixon]
by The Editors on April 16, 2012
by The Editors on April 16, 2012
The students of San Clemente’s Clarence Lobo Elementary School had their handball courts turned into Volcom billboards last week as a surprise in what VeeCo calls a “community service project,” after the school’s student body president called them for help, according to a story in the Orange County Register.
“We saw that the handball courts were kind of ugly,” said Randi (above right), daughter of Chris and Stacey Jones of San Clemente. She came up with a plan and consulted with her mom about how to get it done. . . The handball walls had been “plain gray” and kind of dirty back in November, when Randi began working on the project. Now there are murals on one side and fresh blue paint on the back, sporting the school’s name.
Get ’em when they’re young and you’ll have them for life.
[Link: OC Register]
by The Editors on April 16, 2012
ActionWatch, the “action sports industry’s premier source for market intelligence,” has formed a joint venture with Australasian Surf Business Magazine to provide market intelligence from the independent surf retail channel to the Australian surf market.
“The experience we have gained developing the ActionWatch program in the U.S. makes us much more efficient with launches in other countries,” said ActionWatch co-founder Cary Allington. “We’ve wanted to better utilize the infrastructure we have developed by expanding into other countries for a long time, but we needed a perfect partner. It is clear to us that ASB is the perfect partner for us in Australia.”
For the official details follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 16, 2012
When we heard that Burton Snowboards was hosting a party at the Palm Springs Ace Hotel during Coachella we were kind of bummed that we learned about it on a Hollywood gossip site. Then we saw who showed up and it all made sense.
Vampire Diaries couple Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev posed with fans at the Coachella Burton Snowboards party in Palm Springs. . . Ian was so enamored with the free Burton sweatshirt he received at the party that he posted a picture of himself wearing the sweatshirt’s logo over his posterior.
Apparently, Somerhaider and Dobrev are celebrities of some sort and celebrities reportedly help sell clothing especially when they put your logo on their ass. See how that works?
[Link: Daily Mail]
by The Editors on April 16, 2012
Supra’s light, sleek, smooth runners the Owen got a new dual color way upgrade. Royal blue mesh, royal blue microfiber, and neon accents sit atop a neon EVA sole with royal blue traction pods (above) and a Grey mesh, black microfiber, red accents on a white EVA sole with black traction pods. This brings the Owen to a total of 9 styles. Not bad for a sneak around shoe.
[Link: Supra] [click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 12, 2012
Last week more than 300 workers fainted at a Sabrina Manufacturing plant in Kampong Speu while making Nike shoes. Now a group of Nike executives are reportedly traveling to Cambodia to find out why, according to a story on UPI.com.
“Workers faint every week at Sabrina,” Free Trade Union Leader Chea Mony said, adding that the incident was only picked up by the media when fainting occurred en masse. . . Nike has yet to comment on the issue.
They’re probably fainting from the sheer joy that comes from making shoes for the number one footwear brand in the world. Seriously, wouldn’t you?
[Link: UPI]
by The Editors on April 12, 2012
Allen Ginsberg saw the best minds of his generation “destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix” and it looks like Jed Anderson, Laurent-Nicolas Paquin, Jake Kuzyk, Darrell Mathes, Danny Larsen, Jake Olsen-Elm, Gus Engle, Nima Jalali, Nick Dirks, Jonas Michilot, and Desiree Melancon are right there with him on the Howl team. Click Howlltd.com for all the infos.
[Link via Snowbroader]
by The Editors on April 11, 2012
Sometimes things just get uglier and uglier. The Street Ratings downgraded Quiksilver’s stock today (April 11, 2012) from a hold to a sell, accordion got a post on The Street.
The company’s weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow, generally weak debt management and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself.
But the downgrade didn’t seem to bother the stock all that much. It was up a penny midday. Click the link for more of the details.
[Link: The Street]
Billabong has officially closed on the sale of controlling interest in Nixon to Trilantic Capital Partners, according to a story in The Australian. 
