Nothing makes us feel older than a 30 year retrospective of pretty much anything. In this case it’s Ride Snowboards. For their new docco Rough Around The Edges they put a who’s who list of OG shreds from the 90s into a Corbusier and let them run. Every single somebody from the era is represented. Can’t wait to see the entire thing.
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Lenders have been given the legal go-ahead to sue Quiksilver and Billabong’s parent company Boardriders after the lenders accused the company of “unfairly” benefitting from a rescue financing deal back in 2020, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.
A New York judge said Tuesday (October 18, 2022) that loan funds managed by Intermediate Capital Group PLC and other investment firms can move ahead with claims against Boardriders Inc. and another group of lenders over a 2020 debt transaction that provided $110 million in capital to the company.
The lenders seem to be bothered because they believe Boardriders got a better piece of the $110 million than they should have. Apparently, they posit that more of said money should have gone to paying them back. We’d read the rest of the story, but we don’t have access to WSJ Pro. If you do, let us know what it all means.
[Link: WSJ Pro]
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Don’t you love athletic complex mock-ups? They are optimistic, and forward thinking, and gleaming with earnest thoughts about a beautiful tomorrow. Perfect people lounging in chairs, drinks in hand surrounded by blue skies and palm trees. Yet, sadly, these plans almost always fail to become reality. The newest high-minded hopefulness is coming from Houston, Texas. HTX Surf is a Wavegarden technology powered wave in a 4,200 acre multi-use development called Generation Park.
“We’re thrilled to welcome this innovative, world-class surfing destination to Generation Park. Such a unique amenity is a great asset for Houston and will attract a wide range of personalities–from professional surfers, amateur boarders, families, and corporate groups among others,” said owner/developer of Generation Park Ryan McCord.
Construction is set to begin in “early 2023” with an opening in 2024. Please don’t take our negativity as hoping this project fails. We hope beyond hope that Texas gets another fake wave, we’re just not betting on it.
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Yeah, so how does a desert nation host an “Asian Winter Games“? They do it with an overwhelming blast of design, technology, and most importantly money ($500 Billion). The games are scheduled for 2029 and the venue will reportedly be completed in 2026, according to a post on dezeen.com.
The resort, which will “offer year-round outdoor skiing” is being built around 50 kilometres from the Gulf of Aqaba coast in a mountainous area that has elevations ranging from 1,500 metres to 2,600 metres. . .It will be the first location in the country where outdoor skiing will be possible. Named Trojena, the development is being designed by a team of architects from all over the world including UK studio Zaha Hadid Architects, Dutch practice UNStudio, international studio Aedas, German practice LAVA and Australian studio Bureau Proberts.
Too many cooks in the snow kitchen? Maybe. The resort will reportedly include 3,600 hotel rooms and 2,200 homes. How many times have we heard the promise of year-a-round snowboarding? Does Xanadu ring any bells? How about the Gotcha Glacier? No? Well, maybe this time it will be different. Fingers crossed. Not holding breath. Oh, and the IOC is apparently not too happy that they weren’t consulted about any of this. But aren’t they always.
And no, we have not forgotten about Jamal Khashoggi and neither should anyone else.
[Link: dezeen.com]
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Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard (and his family) have decided to do an end around on the normal life cycle of a clothing brand in the action sports space. They’re not going public, they’re not selling out to private equity, and they’re not just shutting it down ala Grubby Clark. Instead, they’re splitting up the $3 billion company into two different entities: first, the Patagonia Purpose Trust, which owns two percent of the companies shares and ALL the voting rights, and second, 98 percent of the shares (and no voting rights) is going to the Holdfast Collective. The “collective” is a non-profit organization that will distribute Patagonia’s future profits to combat climate change, according to a story in The New York Times.
“Hopefully this will influence a new form of capitalism that doesn’t end up with a few rich people and a bunch of poor people,” Mr. Chouinard, 83, said in an exclusive interview. “We are going to give away the maximum amount of money to people who are actively working on saving this planet.” . . . By giving away the bulk of their assets during their lifetime, the Chouinards — Yvon, his wife Malinda, and their two children, Fletcher and Claire, who are both in their 40s — have established themselves as among the most charitable families in the country.
They’ve also saved themselves a boat load of taxes, but who’s counting. It’s a wonderful thing to do. And they still get to run the company as controllers of the Patagonia Purpose Trust. Win win. For all the details, click the link.
[Link: The New York Times]
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When the spreadsheet doesn’t look good adjustments must be made, and apparently, VF Corp (parent company of Vans, Supreme, The North Face and more) has decided the company will run much better without 600 of its “positions,” according to a story on Footwear News.
VF Corp did not specify which departments and locations would be impacted by the layoffs. The company employed 35,000 people around the world as of the end of fiscal 2022. According to Denver Business Journal, these cuts will impact 1.7% of the company’s existing workforce.
Looks like it’s 300 people losing their jobs and 300 empty positions being eliminated. Business is business.
[Link: Denver Business Journal via Footwear News]
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It’s been a rough go for the official Olympic snowboarding body US Ski and Snowboarding since allegations of sexual assault within the organization surfaced during the Beijing Olympics in February 2022. Now, USSA Director Jeremy Forester and freeskiing and snowboard head coach Mike Jankowski are gone from the organization as well, according to a story on ESPN.com.
USSS director Jeremy Forster. . . resigned from his position on Aug. 14, and freeskiing and snowboard head coach Mike Jankowski’s position was eliminated on Aug. 15. . . “With Jeremy Forster’s resignation, we are restructuring the freeski and snowboard teams and Mike Jankowski’s position was no longer needed,” USSS said in a statement to ESPN.
Forester had been with USSA for 30 years and Jankowski 19 years.
[Link: ESPN.com]
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When France hosts the Olympic Games in 2024 their surfing venue is going to be a short 22 hour plane ride away in French Polynesia a.k.a. Tahiti, home to the monster wave Teahupo’o. Of course you already know this and we just watched the mostly boring contest from there last week. That said, the leaders from the International Surfing Association (ISA) and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee (including Owen Wright, Stephanie Gilmore, Tony Estanguet, Italo Ferreira and Jean-Philippe Gatien, pictured above) visited Tahiti during the contest to officially check things out. According to the ISA:
The ISA and Paris teams held productive discussions on key elements of the surfing competition in Tahiti and toured core elements of the planned Olympic surfing location. Agenda items for the meetings covered major topics such as the 2024 event format, competition schedule, infrastructure, sustainability, athlete accommodation and broadcast services.
Nice work if you can get it. For the rest of the official details, please follow the jump.
[click to continue…]
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Bloomberg, a company known for running with pretty much any business rumor they blindly stumble into, announced yesterday (August 17, 2022) that Burton Snowboards was looking for a buyer with the following: “The owners of snowboard gear manufacturer Burton are exploring a sale that could value the family-run business at as much as $800 million, people with knowledge of the matter said.”
Oddly, it appears that people with knowledge of the matter may have been a bit mistaken with their information as Burton Snowboards Donna Carpenter imediately set the record straight on IG with the following.
Since the beginning of owning this company, there’s always been rumors about us selling. So many that one year we made t-shirts that said, “Not for sale!” A recent report came out that we’re for sale. It’s 100% bullshit. It was for a nice price, but as I’ve always said, we are family-owned and will remain family-owned.
Wanting to know how much someone would pay for your company and wanting to sell it are often two different things. Not saying anyone was looking around for valuations, but Donna’s message seems pretty clear. That said, with the current state of the world (and weather), it might not be the worst time to take some money from the private equity clowns. Glad to see that isn’t happening just yet.
[Link: Bloomberg]
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Walmart, the massive, big box, retailer, and obesity promoter, is a hulking bag of putrescence for so many reasons that it’s not worth listing any of them. But here’s one anyway. Back in February 2022 we mentioned a story about Vans filing a lawsuit against the monster retailer for knocking off most of Vans shoes.
Vans won an injunction against the company in March 2022 that required Walmart to stop selling the infringing shoes. But did Walmart follow that injunction? Of course not, according to a story on Reuters.
Vans told the court Friday that Walmart was “doubling down” with new shoes that are “even more similar” to its designs. It also said that Walmart was still selling other shoes that had been banned by the order. . . Vans’ court filing said Walmart has told the company it would stop selling the infringing shoes but “has not shown that it is actually putting its words into action.”
Vans wants Walmart to be fined $3,000 a day until they stop selling the shoes. But that probably won’t even stop the retail whale from continuing to plow ahead through the waters of copyright infringement, because why should they stop? They’re making boatloads of money. And they do the same thing in almost every category they sell in.
[Link: Reuters]
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