by The Editors on February 14, 2011
Vans’ Doug Palladini appears pretty damn happy to announce today that Vans has successfully hired former Altamont and Emerica Global Brand Marketer Justin Regan as their new skate marketing manager.
“We’re really happy to bring on someone of Justin’s caliber to drive the direction of our skate initiatives,” said Doug Palladini, Vans’ Vice President of Marketing. “Justin’s skill set, experience and stature in the skate industry combine to make him the perfect fit to lead an already strong Vans skate program.”
For his part Regan appears to enjoy the fact that he’s bumped himself up a level or two.
“It’s a total honor for me to join the team behind the world’s #1 skateboard shoe,” said Regan. “And I’m looking forward to the privilege of working together within the skate program to contribute even further to Vans’ continued and phenomenal success in both footwear and apparel.”
Looks like one more person has escaped Lake Forest. Follow the jump for the official release.
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by The Editors on February 11, 2011
Alice Walker, a woman in New Zealand, is saying that a pair of Billabong flips-flops burned the tops of her feet so badly that she could not walk, according to a story on 3news.co.nz.
“It wasn’t when I was wearing them, it was afterwards I started feeling a burn in between my toes and then gradually over about three or four days the burns turned into great big welts in the shape of jandals.” . . Ms Walker says she had been wearing them for about a month before the burns occurred. . . “I think the coating around the actual foot part of the jandal had worn off and when it got down to the rubber, that’s when something happened.”
The “jandals” are currently being tested by Billabong and Walker reportedly just wants to make sure the same thing “doesn’t happen to anyone else.” Be careful out there.
[Link: 3news.co.nz]
by The Editors on February 11, 2011
In a release sent out today Burton Snowboards has announced that it has “terminated dealer agreements with several US shops suspected of re-selling products through unauthorized channels.”
“I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it again – I have absolutely no tolerance for gray marketing,” said Jake Burton, Founder and CEO of Burton Snowboards. “I don’t get why a snowboard shop in one part of the world has a right to shit on a local shop in another part of the world for short-term gains. I often think of it in the context of a Japanese dealer shipping product back to Walmart in the US. We want to build a global network of specialty retailers that cares about the sport, the brand, the product and each other. So we’re not afraid to end relationships with dealers that gray market anywhere in the world.”
Burton didn’t mention exactly who the dealers were, but it’s not a bad way to direct a few more sales in house, or to shops on Burton’s “good dealer” list. If you know who got cut, please let us know.
For the rest of the official word, follow the jump.
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by The Editors on February 9, 2011
We were always skeptical of Go211.com’s comically optimistic traffic number reporting. Now, it appears that whatever magic former CEO Sean Aruda was doing to prop up site traffic is not longer being done in his absence.
According to Alexa.com Go211.com’s reach has dropped 96.3 percent over the past six months and is now back down to where we always thought it was: just a little less than ours.
[Link: Alexa.com]
by The Editors on February 9, 2011
Already Been Done mastermind Josh Friedberg is going to be pretty busy next month as he takes over the Executive Director position at the International Association of Skateboard Companies. He and Rob Brink just launched the second “issue” of ABD and now Friedberg will be neck-deep in skateboarding business politics. If anyone can handle this, it’s Friedberg.
“I’m honored to be chosen as Executive Director by such an accomplished group as the IASC Board,” says Friedberg. “It’s a heavyweight room and their support gets me excited to tackle the challenges at hand. I believe IASC truly succeeds when every skateboard company small and large is compelled to join because of both the benefits IASC can provide their business and the work we do as a whole to support skateboarding. With the combined strength of all our members I’m going to do everything I can to make IASC an indispensable resource for the future growth of the skateboard industry.”
Congrats, Josh. Follow the jump for all the official details.
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by The Editors on February 2, 2011
When Shaun White announced that he was going to enter the celebrity video game market with a skateboarding game, we all wondered how he would do against the granddaddy of action sports videos Tony Hawk. According to a story in the Hollywood Reporter, Mr. White has had his ass handed to him in 2010.
In a battle between two generations of skateboarders, Hawk ruled the roost and kicked newcomer White to the curb. Activision’s Tony Hawk Shred sold over 135,000 copies in the U.S. alone in 2010, compared to under 60,000 copies of Ubisoft’s Shaun White Skateboarding, according to video game tracking firm The NPD Group.
We’ll have to see how those numbers will look when Shaun White’s games have been on the market for 10 years. . .
[Link: Hollywood Reporter]
by The Editors on January 30, 2011
by The Editors on January 29, 2011
Yesterday, January 28, 2011, while Skullcandy founder Rick Alden was busy bringing together some of the most authentic, pioneers in snowboarding (Chuck Barfoot, Terry Kidwell, and Kelly Jo Kelly) for a poster signing at the company’s SIA Snow Show booth, other execs were filing a Form S-1 with the SEC.
What had been simply rumor and speculation was now official: Skullcandy is going public.
When we tweeted the news, Alden seemed surprised that the word was out. “Who told you that,” he asked. We just shrugged.
According to a story on Reuters Alden and his crew plan to raise $125 million in an initial public offering.
The underwriters are being led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. The shares are expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “SKUL.
Click here to read the entire S-1 filing. It’s long, but there are some interesting numbers in there including staff salaries, sales, etc. . .
by The Editors on January 28, 2011
In its annual review of the top 100 Most Powerful Athletes, Businessweek has named Shaun White as number two right behind football player Payton Manning and just ahead of Tiger Woods. Why did they put him on the list:
With his fiery red locks and dorky attempts to look cool, Shaun White is the lovable face of both snowboarding and skateboarding. He dominated the halfpipe at the Olympics this year, proving once again that he is the world’s best snowboarder and an attractive athlete to brands that want to appeal to youth.
They estimate his annual earnings to be around $8.8 million. When compared to other athletes’ annual pay and sponsorship deals Mr. White seems like a bit of a novelty player on the Businessweek list, but that what snowboarding is to many people and what’s good for Shaun is good for snowboarding, right?
[Link: Businessweek]
by The Editors on January 28, 2011
After shuttling in from the airport, getting our badges, and spending about 15 minutes figuring out that the 2011 SIA Snow Show floor is actually upstairs in the Denver Convention Center, we finally made it in for the last half of day one.
The show floor was ghostly quiet in the ski section when we arrived at 1:00 PM. People were milling about, but it seemed that everyone was speaking in hushed tones. Off in the far back distance, we could hear the low roar of the snowboard section like a siren song. Once we made it back the isles were nicely filled with people doing business, hanging out, and catching up.
Click the links for photos of some of the people and products we saw on day one: Booths, Products, People.
Vans’ Doug Palladini appears pretty damn happy to announce today that Vans has successfully hired former Altamont and Emerica Global Brand Marketer Justin Regan as their new skate marketing manager. 
