by The Editors on March 16, 2010
Olympic medalists Kelly Clark and Seth Wescott have signed on with a new drink company called Attitude. It’s product is an energy drinkthat uses good old fashioned milk as its base ingredient rather than a witches brew of caffeinated sugar water.
“Phase III Grade ‘A’ milk is loaded with nutrients that work together to form the perfect post-exercise drink that fulfills the 3 R’s (rehydration, replenishment and rebuilding of muscle fibers).” The sponsorship of both athletes appropriately fits the innovative formulation and delivery of Phase III, providing a state-of-the art nutrition source for muscle recovery. Wescott was recognized in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics as ‘recovering’ from an upsetting preliminary run to finish with gold in the finals of this snowboardcross event. Clark, widely known for her innovative approach to halfpipe, also perfectly represents the cutting edge technology and positioning of Phase III ‘Recovery’®.
Milk always has done a body good but we’re guessing neither of them will get a private mountain training facility out of the deal. Follow the jump for more info.
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by The Editors on March 15, 2010
Alien Workshop has a new marketing coordinator. His name is Jeff Dickson and Chris Carter is very excited to have him on board.
Jeff’s years of industry experience, knowledge and passion for skateboarding made him the perfect fit for the job. We are excited to have such a capable and proven person join our team and look forward to working with Jeff.
Jeff can be reached at: Jdickson@alienworkshop.com.
by The Editors on March 12, 2010
John Lucero has apparently moved Black Label Skateboards into the Blitz Distribution family according to graphic on the Blitz homepage.
Times change, and we are changing with it. We are adapting to those changes and are making the move to Blitz Distribution effective immediately. We are proud to be associated with the brands Blitz has to offer, and are looking forward to working with them. Black Label Skateboards 2010.
We won’t even hazard a guess at what this means, exactly. Any ideas? Follow the jump for the entire release.
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by The Editors on March 12, 2010
On the eve of the 2010 Tampa Pro contest writer Colin Bane interviews Skate Park of Tampa’s Rob Meronek and gets a look into the contest business that Meronek, Ryan Clements, and Brian Schaefer have stumbled into with SPoTlight Productions. Rob hints at their work for Rob Dyrdek’s upcoming Street League and discusses why their partnership with Nike works so well. It’s all up on Shop-Eat-Surf.com.
For one thing I know everyone we’ve ever dealt with at Nike is a skateboarder and is right on our level. From a regular skate rat kid perspective the things they’ve done right are backing skateboarding, making great shoes, and getting a great team. . . .But behind the scenes what they did right in the industry was to get a great staff that’s on it, bring in some actual skateboarders and then, you know, actually listen to them, let them have the reins. Nick Halkias over there is great to work with. We grew up skating with him and he used to work at the skatepark. The team manager, Hunter Muraira, actually skates, which is more than a lot of TM’s can say. He can’t kickflip very well, but he can skate. Kevin Imamura too.
There’s much more, so click the link to read the rest.
[Link: Shop Eat Surf]
by The Editors on March 11, 2010
Quiksilver only lost $3 million in the first quarter of 2010 compared to a $9 million loss in the same quarter of 2009. And for this, the market is apparently happy. So is Bob McKnight because it’s so much better than losing $9 million like they did in Q1 of 2009.
Robert B. McKnight, Jr., Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Quiksilver, Inc., commented, “We’re pleased to deliver first quarter financial results that exceed our prior expectations. We have taken bold steps over the past several quarters to improve our operations and with continuing hopes for economic stabilization and improvement, we are poised to benefit from any upturn in discretionary consumer spending. While we recognize that U.S. retail trends in general are improving, it appears that the pace of global recovery will not be uniform. That being said, we are well-positioned to deliver improved financial performance in the future.”
During the conference call this afternoon Bob McKnight said he and the company where extremely proud of Torah Bright for winning a gold medal in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and that DC Shoes “has begun a focused effort to return to its heritage.”
During the questions Quik CEO Joe Scirocco also mentioned that Quiksilver’s marketing budget for 2010, was “$100 million, down from $120 million in 2009.” He also said the company would be repaying debt at a rate of approximately $100 million a year for the next three years.
For the rest of the release, follow the jump.
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by The Editors on March 11, 2010
It could have been worse: Zumiez total sales were down .3 percent in 2009 vs. 2008, but their sale store comps were down 10 percent according to information released today.
“The year ended stronger than expected from both a sales and earnings standpoint,” commented Rick Brooks, Chief Executive Officer of Zumiez. “Our unique merchandise assortments and compelling promotional packages resonated with consumers, driving an increase in units sold for the fourth quarter, and at the same time, our efforts to build in higher IMU’s coupled with well managed inventory resulted in a significant improvement in product margins. While we are not pleased with our annual performance, we are encouraged that the steps we took to reverse the negative trends from early in the year led to improved results during the back half of 2009. We ended fiscal 2009 well capitalized, with more than $108 million in cash and current marketable securities, and will continue to invest in our business to build on our recent momentum and expand our position as the leading retail destination for the actions sports lifestyle.”
Items of interest we gleaned from today’s call:
- Private label accounts for 15.7 percent of sales and is growing.
- There are some price points where the brands “do not want to play” and that’s where private label comes in.
- Snow hardgoods less than 3 percent of sales, but “it’s very important.”
- Juniors 11 percent of our sales.
- Most exciting for Zumeiz is Mens and accessories which make up about 60 percent of our sales.
- Had great success selling package deals thanks to sales teams.
- Zumiez is now more brand unique than they have ever been.
- Four new brands entered the Zumiez top 10 this year, three new brands moved into the top 20.
- “Nothing is being left untouched” in Zumiez evaluation of the women’s market whether it’s product, how they sell the product, how they merchandize it in their stores. They have a complete team working on how they’re going to handle the women’s business.
- Zumiez plans to open 25 new stores in 2010 but will if thing continue to improve they are “certainly willing to open more locations if we can strike the right deals with landlords.
Follow the jump for all the numbers and the entire release.
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by The Editors on March 11, 2010
According to the SnowSports Industries America trade organization the SIA Denver Show held January 28-31, 2010 had the highest attendance rate of the last six shows. They say the four-day show attracted 18,932 attendees, 3,100 booths representing 845 snow sports brands, and that it featured 125 new exhibitors. We had some pre-show issues with what exactly a “new exhibitor” was but lets just say there were a lot of new companies at the show and while we didn’t see huge crowds anywhere, it was definitely better attended that we expected.
“For the first year in Denver, in the middle of a recession, we’re very happy with the attendance numbers. We were lighter in some regions but we hope they’ll come back next year after hearing all the positive experiences people had this year,” said David Ingemie, president of SIA.
We do have one question: do the attendance numbers include all the kids bussed in from Denver schools? They all had badges. . .
[Update March 12, 2010: The SIA has answered our questions regarding all the school kids at the show. Here’s what they had to say . . . “Kids from Denver schools were bussed to the Show for a special ceremony. They were a part of a Youth Summit that was held at the Show. In conjunction with the Summit, a press conference was held on Saturday, the day that you must have seen the kids on the Show floor, that took place to announce a bold initiative to get 1,000,000 kids involved in outdoor programs over the next 10 years, The Recreation Outdoor Initiative (ROI). SIA is a supporter of this initiative and any other programs that help get more people on snow.
The kids involved in the press conference were given the chance to briefly walk the Show floor to get them excited about snow sports and for some of them, their first time on snow. They were able to go skiing or snowboarding following their visit to the Show. These kids were not counted in our total numbers.]
For the rest of the press release follow the jump.
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by The Editors on March 11, 2010
Core action mall retailer Zumiez Inc. will discuss their Q4 and year-end 2009 financial results with analyst’s today, March 11, 2010, at 2 PM PT (5 PM ET).
Click here to listen in for all the details. This should be a good one.
[Link: Zumiez]
by The Editors on March 10, 2010
The wife of Balinese surfing legend Wayan Suwenda is continuing her battle against Billabong International over the distribution rights to the Billabong brand in Bali, according to a story in the Australian.
In our last update in December 2009 we mentioned that one person was already in prison and another had been added to Interpol’s most wanted list over this same skirmish. Now Suwenda is reported suing Billabong in Denpasar District Court for $168 million Australian.
In the past few years, the dispute has become very public in Indonesia, with CVBB taking out large advertisements in the local media putting its viewpoint, while Billabong has publicly replied to the allegations.
[Link: The Australian]
by The Editors on March 10, 2010
Quiksilver will host a conference call for analysts at 1:30 PM PST tomorrow March 11, 2010 to discuss Q1 results from fiscal 2010, according to a release on MarketWatch.
The conference call will be broadcast live over the Internet and will be available at www.quiksilverinc.com and at www.viavid.net. Computers being used to listen to the broadcast must have Windows Media Player installed.
Wonder if Quik got a piece of the February retail bounce? Today we will know.
[Link: MarketWatch]
Olympic medalists Kelly Clark and Seth Wescott have signed on with a new drink company called Attitude. It’s product is an energy drinkthat uses good old fashioned milk as its base ingredient rather than a witches brew of caffeinated sugar water.
