by The Editors on February 13, 2015
Nixon is continuing its global retail expansion with stores in Hong Kong and Sydney.
Located in the popular shopping district of LCX on the 3rd floor of Ocean Terminal in Hong Kong and a newly opened Westfield in Sydney’s southside, both new storefronts feature Nixon’s recently introduced Horizon marketing concept. As seen in the newly opened Nixon Paris and Nixon Carnaby locations, the horizon line is a subtle nod to the diverse environments of surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding found within the Nixon landscape. This own able design language is more than a literal interpretation of a horizon line. Rather, it becomes the canvas for the Nixon story, allowing us to showcase our perspective and products in a bold, distinct way.
And that’s what time it is. For the official word from Nixon, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on February 12, 2015
The World Skateboarding Federation (a.k.a. the group founded by the group behind the Kimberley Diamond Cup) announced today the first ever Global Skateboarding Summit in Instabul, Turkey May 22 – 24, 2015. The event will be held at the Conrad Hotel.
Designed to be an annual meeting to help support skateboarders globally and further the growth of skateboarding, the summit will be packed with top tier speakers from the global skateboarding and international sports community. An exhibition area will be available for companies to share merchandise, activities and connect with the largest collection of global skateboarding athletes, retailers, manufacturers and brands. There will also be valuable networking and one-on-one meeting opportunities for attendees.
Those who register before February 28, 2015 will reportedly get a 20 percent discount on conference fees. For the official word from World Skateboarding Federation, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on February 9, 2015
John Jackson, who recently joined up with Signal Snowboards, now has jumped in with Under Armour.
Jackson joins the Under Armour team with a multi-year partnership, alongside veterans and snowboarding icons Bjorn Leines, Kyle Clancy as well as multi-slope mavens Chas Guldemond, Dustin Craven and Tyler Nicholson. Together, these athletes will be critical in building upon Under Armour’s legacy of innovation and developing state-of-the-art outdoor performance gear. . . “There are many new heights I want to reach in snowboarding,” said Jackson. “I’m very happy to team up with a company who is committed to technology, design, and to making athletes better. I am beyond stoked to be able to be working with one of the world’s most innovative brands.”
For the official word from Under Armour, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on February 3, 2015
It’s been a pretty big media week for Westbeach and Lululemon founder Chip Wilson. First, he was featured in the Talk of the Town section of The New Yorker magazine regarding the launch of his wife and son’s new clothing line (and retail stores) Kit & Ace, and then yesterday (February 2, 2015) he was profiled in The New York Times.
More than once, the way Wilson spoke reminded me of the airhead fashion model Ben Stiller plays in “Zoolander.” But for all his off-putting and impolitic utterances (in a blog post about Lululemon’s origins, he infamously linked the use of birth control to rising divorce rates, and claimed this led to his future market), he has a kind of genius for forecasting trends and assessing the human impulses — vanity, insecurity, the yearning for perfection — that make people pay more for something they could buy much cheaper elsewhere.
Yep, the same old Chip we remember from back in the snowboard days. It’s good to see someone stick to their opinions and become action sports single most successful billionaire at the same time. There are lessons to be learned here somewhere.
[Link: The New Yorker & New York Times]
by The Editors on January 30, 2015
Spy announced today that they will be the official eyewear sponsor of all eight Powdr-owned and operated resorts and Snowbird Ski and Summer Resorts. That means the you can look for Spy eyewear on employees at Copper Mountain, Mt. Bachelor, Boreal, Ski & Snowboard Las Vegas, Soda Springs, Killington, Pico and Gorgoza Park (looks like that last one’s a sledding hill).
“We’re very happy to enter into an exciting union with Powdr,” says Michael Marckx, SPY president and CEO. “Bolstering our commitment to snow, this opportunity will allow us to spread the cheeks of Powdr resort visitors each season through our happy presence. It will also allow us to gain vital feedback from retail employees and resort staff regarding our sunglass and goggle offerings, most notably our Happy Lens and Lock Steady™ quick change goggle technology. This is our largest partnership with a mountain resort in the history of SPY, and we’re looking forward to expanding SPY’s presence on-hill and in the market.”
For the official word from Spy, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 29, 2015
We’re not in Denver, Colorado this week for the 2015 Snow Industries of America Show. In fact, we haven’t attended the Denver show since January 2013. Why? The most simple reason is that it’s easier not to go, but the truth may be that like many other companies who are skipping this year (Burton, Mervin, etc. . . ) our SIA cost-to-benefit ratio had been sliding for years.
Seeing as this is SIA Season (not to mention Throw-back-Thursday), join us as we look back on all the people, parties, products, and booths that we’ve covered over the past few years. Here’s the breakdown:
2013: People, Products, Booths
2012: People, Parties, Products, Booths
2011: People, Products, Booths
2010: People, Parties, Products, Booths
2009: Day 1, 2009 TWS Rider’s Poll
Now that we’re all teary eyed, lets ask one question: has anything changed, progressed, or improved? If so, please let us know.
by The Editors on January 29, 2015
On February 12, 2015 the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association will honor a group of 20 legendary surf shops with the 2015 SIMA Surf Shop Gold Wave Award presented by Shaun Tomson at the annual SIMA Image Awards at the City National Grove in Anaheim, California. These shops have all been around for 50 years or more, which says a lot these days.
“To honor surfing’s rich heritage in this way is exciting and important to the industry,” said Doug Palladini, SIMA President and Vans’ VP/GM North America. “These surf shops are instrumental in building the beach culture we love so much, the foundation of surf lifestyle since the 1950s and 60s. A surf shop is very influential to its local surf community – the hub of the local surf community in most cases – and these shops are legendary.”
For the complete list of shops and more info on how you can attend the surf industry party of the winter season, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 28, 2015
Eyewear giant Luxottica’s little action sports brand Oakley has apparently not taken kindly to the humor of Dang Shades line of Oakleyesque sunglasses (cleverly named the SH80) so they’ve sued Dang in the Southern District of California, according to a story on Association of Corporate Counsel.
In the Dang Shades complaint, Oakley asserts design patent infringement of U.S. D692,047, as noted above, in addition to trade dress infringement, federal and state unfair competition, and federal false designation of origin in association with its RAZOR BLADES Trade Dress. In particular, the complaint asserts that at least Dang Shades’ DANG SH80 and Sleeper sunglasses infringe Oakley’s patent and trade dress rights.
What does Oakley want? They want it all, of course.
Among other things, Oakley seeks a finding of willful infringement, a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Dang Shades from directly or indirectly infringing U.S. D692,047, payment by Dang Shades of all damages suffered by Oakley and/or Dang Shades’ total profit from infringement, an order for treble damages and/or exemplary damages, an order adjudging the case as an exceptional case, an award of attorney fees, expenses and costs, and an award of pre-judgment and post-judgment interest and costs, as well as remedies specific to trade dress and unfair competition and false designation of origin.
Dang may find this lawsuit rather disruptive by design. Maybe Dang can convince the judge that these sunnies are simply a “parody” of the original.
[Link: ACC]
by The Editors on January 28, 2015
We have nothing but good things to say about Snow Industries of America President David Ingemie. In the 39 years that he has been working with SIA he’s had to put up with hot dogging, mono-skiing, the dawn, domination, and decline of snowboarding, renaming the organization because not everyone liked the “ski” word, and hundreds of other seemingly pointless hassles that would have had most of us flipping the double birds and running in the opposite direction.
Yet, Dave somehow rolled through it all with a kind, warm, thoughtful smile on his face. We don’t know how he did it, but we’re glad he did, and it makes us all the more bummed to see that he has announced that he will be stepping down following the 2016 SIA Snow Show.
“I feel so fortunate to have been a part of an industry that represents one of my life’s greatest passions – snow sports. It has been a great run, working under twenty-one different Board chairmen/women and seeing so many changes within the industry; equipment, resorts, retailers, reps, and even ways to get down the hill,” said David Ingemie.
We’re not going to the Denver this year, but hopefully, Mr. Ingemie will stop by the SIA show when it returns to Las Vegas in 2020, otherwise, we may never get to see him on the show floor again. And that would be sad. For the official word from the SIA, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 20, 2015
Long-time Burton Snowboards team manager Bryan Knox has joined the action sports agency world as the new vice president of marketing and media for Newport Beach, California based The Sports Syndicate.
Knox comes highly qualified with over 15 years of action sports industry marketing and media leadership under his belt. For the past eight years, he held down the role of Global Director of Team Marketing and Media for Burton Snowboards, and prior to that he was Senior Marketing Manager at Vans. “I have watched Bryan grow from a Team Manager during his early days at Vans to a Global Director at Burton,” says Bobby Nichols, President of The Sports Syndicate whom Knox will report to. “I look forward to working with him on even more of a day-to-day basis now, and am excited to see what he can accomplish for both our clients and the agency.”
For the official world from McClellan Nichols Sports Syndicate, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
