Seems like theFrends logo has been everywhere lately. On the snowboards of Mason Aguirre, Luke Mitrani, Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce and on some get well signs we’ve seen at the bottom of the pipe lately. Now, the whole Frends crew is beginning to make sense. Frends today announced the roll out of a line of six styles of electronic accessories that look amazing.
Our products are inspired, designed, engineered, field-tested and built to meet the same parameters we have for each other. Just like our friends, we want our gear to be strong, reliable, original, fun, dependable, and interesting. Frends has taken the time to build our gear from the ground up using our crew as the inspiration. For us attention to detail isn’t just a slogan we saw on one of those inspiration posters with a bald eagle carrying a baby goat in its talons into the sunset—we actually mean it.
The music listening devices will be available this spring and will retail from $33 to $88. Knowing the people behind the business end of Frends we’re guessing this could be pretty huge. Follow the jump for photos of the first three products off the line. [click to continue…]
The crew at IllicitSnowboarding.com has created a beautiful little “infographic” that illustrates how a few corporations run most of the brands in action sports. It makes a nice little quick reference card for those times when you’d like to do business with a small guy.
Banks have seized Intrawest Holdings, the owner of the Whistler ski resort that’s hosting the Olympic downhill races next month, after the resort operator missed a big debt payment, and now plan to auction the company off right in the middle of the games. . . Intrawest’s owner, Fortress Investment Group, lost control after missing a big interest payment to its lenders. The lenders, which include Lehman Brothers and Davidson Kempner, plan to auction off ownership of Intrawest on Feb. 19, according to a notice published in major newspapers. The first events of the games are scheduled for Feb. 12 and the closing ceremony is set for Feb. 28.
[Editors’ note: The following was our original post from earlier today] Investors who have loaned Intrawest close to $1.4 billion dollars say they may foreclose on the resort operator next week according to a story in the New York Post.
Sources tell The Post that creditors holding $1.4 billion of debt on Whistler owner Intrawest are planning to foreclose on the company within the next week and a half, casting a shadow on the resort, which will host the alpine events of the 2010 Olympics. “It will probably happen within 10 days,” a source said. . . The showdown comes amid an impasse between the estate of fallen investment bank Lehman Brothers, Intrawest’s largest creditor, and Intrawest owner Fortress Investment Group, the publicly traded hedge fund run by Wesley Edens. . . By forcing Intrawest into bankruptcy, Lehman and other creditors could raise several billion dollars repossessing Intrawest and selling off its various resorts.
Luckily, all the snowboard events are taking place at Cypress Mountain. . . where last week they closed because there is no snow. But not to worry. They still have 23 days to load up.
It would appear that the days of buying Von Zipper shades just to knock out the lenses and replace them with prescription glass are over according to a new section of the Von Zipper website.
Von Zipper Optical is bringing the focus back to the eye chart. So, lock and load your pocket protectors, pack up your scientific calculators and light up the Busen burner. . . Mixing geek chic contemporary looks with renegade sheik forwardness, this collection has every angle on your protractor covered to get you through all the fine print for life.
The new frame launch goes down in March 18-21, 2010 at Vision Expo in NYC.
The lawsuit comes one week after an already re-scheduled mediation was canceled by MSV attorney Paul Marotta and CEO Keir Beidling, claiming the Mavericks Surf Contest would be held that week. It was not. . . “I’ve waited patiently and remained quiet in an effort to settle our issues in private, without casting a shadow over the contest that I founded. But it’s obvious MSV has no intention of working this out. They have forced me to file suit in order to move on with my life,” Clark said.
Clark’s complaint, filed in Superior Court in San Francisco, and states that Mavericks Surf Ventures “breached its contracts with Clark, withheld payments on those contracts, and breached its fiduciary duties to shareholders by the Board’s self-dealing, squandering of corporate assets and failure to disclose even basic financial and other corporate information. The suit claims that, in breaching their fiduciary duties, MSV and its current directors acted with oppression, fraud and malice.”
We have to wonder about the logic of investors who loans millions of dollars to a money-losing business and then ask for a piece of the floundering company when the loans cannot be repaid, but that is exactly what some of Intrawest ULC’s creditors are asking for according to a story on Bloomberg.com.
Fortress presented lenders including Davidson Kempner Capital Management LLC and Oak Hill Advisors LP with a plan last month to swap the loan for new debt maturing in 2015, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Lenders rejected the proposal, which gave them the option to convert some of the debt to equity in five years. Some lenders want equity now so they can benefit if Intrawest’s business rebounds.
Guess if you were silly enough to sink millions is ski resort real estate in the first place you might miss the fact that Intrawest probably doesn’t have much rebound in its future.
Zinio, one of the first companies to put secure PDF versions online in a nearly unusable format, has just released an iPhone app that will allow Transworld Skateboarding digital magazine subscribers ($6.97) to stumble through a digital version of the mag on their iPhones.
Zinio’s CEO spares no hyperbole in his description:
“In one fell swoop, Zinio is mobilizing the entire publishing industry and moving it light years ahead,” said Rich Maggiotto, President & CEO, Zinio. “While many publishers are battling digital distribution with a platform-by-platform approach, Zinio has announced ‘Unity’ for consumers to explore and enjoy reading digitally regardless of their device from anywhere in the world.”
One fell swoop? It’s like magic for magazines. Who doesn’t love magic? There is one very cool function, however. It is called “read mode” and it makes it possible to view a “text-only” version of the magazine which can save loads of frustration with the magazine layouts.
After cruising around a magazine issue with the Zinio app ourselves we have to say it is smooth-running, nicely designed, and easy to use. In fact, it’s probably the best “digital magazine reader” we’ve tried so far.
Core mall retailer Zumiez apparently wasn’t happy with the performance of their store at The District at Tustin Legacy mall in Southern California’s Orange County, according to a post in the OC Register.
Kim Daskas, spokeswoman for Vestar, which owns The District sent me this statement: “The Zumiez closure comes at a time when many chains are downsizing and restructuring to meet the challenges of the recent economic downturn. As always, Vestar will take the lead role in finding an appropriate replacement store selected to improve and complement our retail mix.”
You gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.
Frankfurt, Germany’s skate and sneaker show Bright goes down this weekend. It’s a little late to book tickets, but if you live down the street check it out.
Tony Hawk: Trick Tips, an iPhone app that we haven’t even checked out yet, is reportedly the number one spot in Top Paid Sports on the iTunes App Store, according to a recent press release.
Hawk has been hailed for his creative online interaction with his fan base and this week reached a Twitter following of over 2 million. . . . “I am thrilled to be able to reach both new riders and loyal fans with these new apps. While I wish I could personally teach everyone who wants to learn. But for now, this is the next best thing,” Hawk said.
Wonder if people think this app will help them play Tony Hawk Ride?
