Chris Engelsman, the former Publisher of Snowboarder magazine has been promoted to Director of Sales Strategy for the ASG/Grind Network and former Snowboard Magazine Publisher Jeff Baker is rolling in to replace Engelsman at Snowboarder. ASG’s SVP Group Publisher Norb Garret is making strong moves, apparently.
“Both of these moves serve to strengthen our team and help advance the growth of the ASG/Grind Networks and the individual brands such as Snowboarder,” said Garrett. “In his new role Chris will work alongside Elisabeth Murray to help drive our businesses forward across all media as he has done at Snowboarder over the past several years. With Jeff we are thrilled to bring his insights and creative talents back to Snowboarder and anticipate continued growth with our print, events, digital and video platforms.”
Congrats to Engelsman and Baker. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
We always thought it would be cool to have rollercoasters take us up the mountain during the winter. Apparently, Snowbird Resort wants to have a rollercoaster for people to ride down the mountain in the summer. As usual it appears we get everything backwards. Environmentalists currently oppose the plan.
NYC’s Shut Skates skateboards are made in America and owners Rodney Smith and Adam Shatz are proud of that.
“I’d feel guilty if I were to manufacture a product that the person purchasing didn’t know where it was manufactured and if it was gonna be top quality,” says co-owner and founder Rodney Smith.
It’s a shame that more large skateboard brands can’t be as proud.
The latest company that Shaun White has taken a bite out of is Kraft Foods. Their chewing gum brand Stride has signed a two-year contract to have Shaun be an official brand spokesperson. White appears happy to make room on his helmet for another logo.
“When Stride approached me about partnering with the brand, I knew it would be a great fit and I am looking forward to working with them on some pretty exciting things,” said White.
White will reportedly be involved in a variety of exciting things like “promotional activities throughout the coming months” including “giveaways, digital and social media campaigns, and public relations efforts.” We hope Kraft’s contract is a little stickier than Burton’s or White may not show up at all.
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.
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.
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.
By all accounts core mall retailer Zumiez was getting a pretty good deal by only paying their CEO Richard Brooks $262,500 a year in salary. But, according to a story in the Seattle Times, those bargain days are over.
Everett-based retailer Zumiez said Monday it will pay Chief Executive Officer Richard Brooks an annual base salary of $613,200, more than double the $262,500 a year he had been paid. . . Zumiez cited Brooks’ 18-year tenure with the youth-oriented retailer, its strong financial performance in 2010, and a desire to bring his salary “closer to the 40th percentile peer group target.”
The company made $24.2 million in profit last year so it’s probably about time. Wonder if this new policy on salaries will trickle down? Hope so.
The LA Times profiles Tum Yeto’s Tod Swank to get the story of how he decided that making boards in the USA was more important than higher margins.
And Swank thinks Watson Laminates‘ track record gives it an advantage over competitors. . . “Not everyone can get their boards from one of the original laminated skateboard manufacturers in the world. It’s quality. It’s craftsmanship. It’s pride,” Swank said.
Click the link for a couple more reasons why you should buy American.
Midwest skate icon Tucker Gerrick (of Familia fame) has joined etnies as the new senior marketing manager for the footwear brand. And Don Brown couldn’t be happier.
“I’m stoked that Tucker is now at etnies – He has great insights from working with top professional skateboarders, and after working in retail he understands the specific needs of skate shops,” said Don Brown, senior VP of marketing for etnies. “Plus, the fact that Tucker considers freestylers legitimate skateboarders makes me like him even more…. we’ll have him doing spacewalks, railflips, and caspers in no time!”
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…]
Chris Engelsman, the former Publisher of Snowboarder magazine has been promoted to Director of Sales Strategy for the ASG/Grind Network and former Snowboard Magazine Publisher Jeff Baker is rolling in to replace Engelsman at Snowboarder. ASG’s SVP Group Publisher Norb Garret is making strong moves, apparently.
