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Tim Windell Finds A Summer Camp Exit

by The Editors on April 2, 2014

We-Are-CampMt. Hood summer camp consolidation is well underway as Windells Camp and High Cascade Snowboard Camp join forces as We Are Camp, LLC. After shaping the world of snow summer camps and creating one of the most popular youth sports training brands in the world, former pro snowboarder Tim Windell appears to be taking a break.

“Combining the two camps has been a dream of mine since 2003,“ said Tim Windell, legendary world-champion snowboarder and Windells Camp founder. Windell will serve on the board in an advisory capacity to the company during the transition. Together, the brands offer an unrivaled summer snowboard and ski camp experience with three private terrain parks, Oregon’s best indoor and outdoor skate parks, two high-speed quad chairlifts, four surface tows, four BagJumps, two mini-pipes, and North America’s only Olympic-sized 22’ Summer Superpipe, which serves as the summertime Olympic training facility to the U.S. Snowboarding team and all major contending countries.

We’re stoked for Tim. Job well done! For the official word from We Are Camp, follow the jump. Or click here for an interview with Tim Windell and We Are Camp CEO Kevin English from Yobeat.com. [click to continue…]

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Kelly Slater Changes His Shorts

by The Editors on April 1, 2014

Slater

Kelly Slater has left Quiksilver and few are surprised. The most surprising thing to us (aside from the April 1, 2014 roll out) is that news went out in a press release from the ASP. Why is Kelly Slater leaving Quiksilver an ASP news item? Oh yeah, that’s because Kelly owns has extremely close ties to the owners of the Association of Surfing Professionals.

Mr. Slater, however, was a true professional with his exit letter:

There is little I can say that would give the credit due or cover the debt of gratitude I feel on a personal and professional level to Quiksilver. As a brand and on a human level, they have been a part of my life, career, and personal relationships for more than 23 years now, well over half my life. They’ve supported me through good times and bad, personal hardships and competitive triumphs, and never wavered in backing my choices and desires in all that time.

Quiksilver founder Bob McKnight was equally professional and warm.

“Kelly has been a part of the Quiksilver family for over 20 years. It’s been an incredible journey watching him grow from a young surfer with great potential, to the 11-time World Champion he is today. We wish Kelly all the best as he enters this next phase of his career.”

Yes, it went on for a long time (23 years) and they created some iconic images together, but it was just a clothing sponsorship, and Kelly was just a model, and Quiksilver is just a giant clothing company dead set on selling swimsuits to the mall moving masses so we’re sure they’ll find cheaper, younger, more handsome men to model their products in the future. And Kelly, well, he’s moving on up to model for a huge French Fashion conglomerate (that owns Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Puma, and Volcom/electric]. Because if you’re going to model, it might as well be for the French. They invented it.

[Side note: we searched Kering’s site for “Kelly Slater” and the site replied: “Did you mean ‘helly later’?” Yes, that’s exactly what we meant.]

[Link: ASP]

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Gary Vanyerchuk To Keynote Skate Summit

by The Editors on March 27, 2014

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The IASC today announced that VanyerMedia’s Gary Vanyerchuk will be presenting the keynote address at the 2014 IASC Skateboarding Summit May 14-16, 2014 at the Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel in beautiful downtown Costa Mesa, California.

“Gary’s passion for his business and entrepreneurial spirit directly translates to everyone that works in our industry,” says Josh Friedberg, Executive Director of IASC. “The fact he has built up a following of smart marketers from within skateboarding is a testament to the universal strength of the information he shares and the strategies he lives and breathes.”

We guarantee that attending this keynote will leave you entertained, enlightened, inspired, and maybe even annoyed, but don’t let that stop you. Oh, and the event will also host the 2014 Skateboarding Hall of Fame induction of Gregg Carroll, Jim Muir, Steve Olson, Lance Mountain, Natas Kaupas, Laurie Turner DeMott and Ellen Oneal Deason. Yes, that Ellen Oneal. So you won’t want to miss that either.

For the official word from the IASC follow the jump.

[click to continue…]

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Spy Sales Up 8 Percent In 2013

by The Editors on March 20, 2014

2013-SPY-LOGO-tm.jpgSpy released more mostly good news today while reporting financials for the year ended December 31, 2013. The company reported sales of $37.7 million. And that’s up $2.6 million over 2012.

“With continued strong SPY® brand sales and an annual SPY® brand growth of 8% for 2013 over 2012, we are happy to once again generate annual growth and achieve our 11th quarter in a row of year over year growth of our SPY® brand products. What is also noteworthy is we had income from operations of $0.4 million during 2013 compared to an operating loss of $5.0 million in 2012,” said Michael Marckx, President and CEO. “We not only managed to significantly reduce our operating expenses for 2013, but also increased our margin to 50% in 2013 from 46% in 2012, which is a dramatic positive shift for us. This directly reflects the strong demand for our product offering as well as the operational and manufacturing efficiencies that we have achieved over the past year.”

They also cut their net annual loss in more than half be going only $2.9 million into the red compared to $7.2 million in 2012. Nice work all around. For the official word from Spy, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Nikita & Bonfire Name New Brand Manager

by The Editors on March 19, 2014

Vicki VasilNikita Clothing and Bonfire Snowboarding have a new brand manager and her name is Vicki Vasil. Vicki was most recently a brand marketing manager at Sage Island, a digital agency based in Wilmington, North Carolina, though most will know her from time at Surf Expo.

“Vicki will be a passionate, integral member of our team,” says Frank Aeschbacher, VP of Nikita and Bonfire. “Her breadth of experience and relationships in the industry provide her with a true 360-degree perspective that will be important to brand growth and evolution.”

Vicki will be based in Portland, Oregon and work closely with the design teams, including Nikita Founder Heida Birgisdottir, who is based in Reykjavík, Iceland. For the official word fro Nikita and Bonfire, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Herschel Supply’s New Design Director

by The Editors on March 17, 2014

Warren JonHerschel Supply Company is pleased to announce that Jon Warren as their new Design Director. Warren spent his last 12 years at Vans where he was most recently the head of Design Lifestyle for the company.

“Jamie & Lyndon share the same D.I.Y. philosophy that I carry; I think it all comes from growing up doing what you love,” Warren says. “Herschel Supply was something that they took on themselves and I’ve always respected the path they took. Working at Vans I had the ability to work and learn from some of the most talented designers, creatives, and business partners in the world. With Herschel I feel that I could bring my experience to the table and collaborate on future projects that allow us to push the brand in directions that only partnering with other like-minded creatives could offer. I am honored to be part of the Herschel family and look forward to all the creativity ahead.”

Herschel Supply Company is based in Vancouver, BC, however, Warren will work out of Herschel’s new Los Angeles design studio. For the official word from Herschel, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Dave Rosenberger Gets Lost

by The Editors on March 10, 2014

Dave RosenbergerGuess we’re not the only one who are over the Quiksilver mega corp. Dave Rosenberger, the former VP of sales for Quiksilver Young Men’s and Quiksilver and Roxy winter sports has joined the team at Lost as EVP of Sales, Marketing and Operations for domestic, Canadian and Central American.

“I see …LOST as probably the most authentic, complete, long standing, relevant surf brand in the current market. From the heritage, progressiveness and craftsmanship of the boards to the solid clothing collection, accessories and skateboards, …LOST is what most brands wish they could be,” said Rosenberger. “My intention is to keep the brand moving steadily forward and to help Joel, Matt, Mike and their team to navigate and build the business on the solid base it has.”

We agree. Congrats, Dave. For the official word from Lost, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Billabong Facing Class Action Lawsuit

by The Editors on March 10, 2014

billabong_corp-tm.jpgWe’ve kind of fallen off our coverage of Billabong because they (along with Quiksilver) no longer seem like a brand in our category. Sure they make clothing for the ocean, but past that they’re really just a more authentic version of Hollister, mostly focused on mall customers and bottom lines. That said, it is interesting that Billabong could be facing a class action lawsuit from the Australian firm of Slater & Gordon for allegedly misleading and deceiving investors with earning guidance in 2012, according to a story on Inside Council.

“Our clients allege that Billabong’s internal initiatives had no viable chance of substantially increasing profit margins, contrary to what the company had conditioned investors for. They further allege that, had the market been informed of the true dependencies underpinning the earnings forecast, it would have disregarded the guidance as unrealistic, and this would have been reflected in Billabong’s share price.”

Billabong will apparently defend itself. Which would probably be a good idea.

[Link: Inside Counsel]

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Group Y Launches #AuthenticityIsEverything

by The Editors on March 10, 2014

Group Y is launching a new online series of interviews with industry titans, athletes, and thought leaders called #AuthenticityIsEverything.

More than just a buzzword, Authenticity is the North Star in a landscape driven by commitment, progression and constant reinvention. From the clothes on our backs, to the content on our screens, to the terrain we ride and the heroes we embrace…originality and true passion transcends it all.

For a full list of people you’ll be able to catch dropped knowledge from follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Street League: What Does The Fox 1 Say?

by The Editors on March 6, 2014

Don’t know if there was any information in this clip or not. . . wait, guess the news is that Street League Skateboarding has gone form ESPN 2 to Fox Sports 1. So that’s like moving up a number and dropping a little on the viewers. No worries. We like Fox Sports 1 better anyway. And so should you.

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