by The Editors on November 8, 2013
Last night (November 7, 2013) Mervin Manufacturing (parent company of Gnu and Lib Tech) released the official news that they have been purchased by Altamont Capital Partners (guess that whole Extreme Holdings, Inc. thing was short-term).
Under Altamont’s ownership, Mervin will operate as an independent, standalone company. There will be continuity across all areas of the company, including leadership and staffing, manufacturing, sales and marketing. Mervin has entered in to a license agreement with Quiksilver to produce and distribute Roxy branded snowboards, bindings and skateboards. The relationship will work similarly to how it has in the past, with Roxy sharing brand marketing and athletes and Mervin designing and building the snowboards in the USA, near Canada.
Reports put that sale at around $51 million. Not bad for a company that was once exchanged for a Volkswagon transmission. For the official word from Mervin (and co-founder Mike Olson) follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 5, 2013
Spy announced its 10th consecutive quarter of year or year growth when it release financials for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013. Q3 sales were up 3 percent over 2012 and sales during the last nine months were up 8 percent. to $29.1 million.
“We are very happy to have achieved our 10th consecutive quarter of year over year growth of SPY® brand products, with strong SPY® brand year to date sales growth of 8% in 2013 over of the same period in 2012, and year to date sales in 2013 were 19% higher than the same period in 2011,” said Michael Marckx, President and CEO. “In addition to the expanding Happy Lens™ Collection, we are pleased with the year to date growth of our Rx and goggle product lines that grew by 110% and 13%, respectively, in 2013 compared to 2012. The growth of these product lines helps diversify our revenue portfolio while expanding our SPY® brand. We achieved our third consecutive quarter of operating profit and had positive cash flow from operations. We believe our solid year to date results position us well for the fourth quarter of 2013 and into 2014.”
Spy is still moving in the right direction, yet still have a ways to go. For the official word from Spy, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 4, 2013
In its continuing battle to throw off ballast, Billabong has finally sold Canadian action mall retailer West 49 to Candian mall fashion retailer YM, Inc. for approximately $10 million, according to a story on Reuters. These are the same stores that Billabong paid $93 million for in August of 2010.
Both companies have also entered into a two-year supply agreement while Billabong will retain its six eponymous stores and two Element stores in Canada. . . “The sale of West 49 is part of our broader strategy of simplifying our business and focusing on the core of what we do best, which is building strong global brands,” Neil Fiske, CEO of Billabong said in a statement.
Yeah, that and turning $93 million into $10 million in three years. Billabong had been trying to off load West since May 2013.
[Link: Reuters]
by The Editors on November 1, 2013
Kevin Meehan, the former general manager at Burton’s clothing and footwear companies Analog and Gravis has been named to the brand new position of President North American Region at Volcom, according to a story on Apparelnews.net.
In a comment from Volcom Chief Executive Officer Jason Steris, Meehan is a “cross-functional operations professional,” with 19 years experience in action sports, where he has worked in strategic planning, organizational development, marketing and sales strategy and business development.” Adding Kevin to the team provides even more firepower to drive the brand, Steris said in a company statement.
It’s nice to see that Volcom is still making good decisions even when they’re under pressure from their French overlords at Kering.
[Link: ApparelNews]
by The Editors on November 1, 2013
While it won’t surprise anyone who knows Agenda Show founder Aaron Levant, it is good to see that the show is continuing on the up and up with all kinds of expansion plans for New York City and Las Vegas in 2014.
This January 2014, Agenda:NYC men’s street wear and lifestyle show will be hosted at the 82 Mercer building in Soho, for the last time. Moving locations for Summer 2014 edition, Agenda:NYC expands to the Jacob K. Javits center, housed in the Javits North building. The newly constructed space provides more than double the square footage to the current New York footprint.
In Las Vegas the Agenda Show will double in size with the addition of a surf/lifestyle zone called Woods and the Agenda WMNS section.
“We feel AGENDA has barely scratched the surface of what is possible in the Vegas landscape. There are so many opportunities and an amazing potential to grow in this space,” shares Levant.
For the official word from Agenda, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 30, 2013
Former surf, skate, snow retailer (K5) turned Specialty Retail Consultant Jurgen Schulz is happy to announce the grand opening of JTS Specialty Retail Consulting’s first project, Bing Surf Shop in Encinitas, California.
It was a pleasure working with long time friend Royce Cansler and new friends Matt and Margaret Calvani. The vision, energy and dedication of this group of people is incredible. I think you will like the results.
To celebrate they are hosting an opening party Saturday, November 2, 2013. Things get rolling at 5 PM. Bing Surf Shop is located at 802 N. Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas, California. For all the details, follow the jump [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 23, 2013
Mike Olson and Pete Saari (pictured right), the co-founders of Mervin Manufacturing, once again have new owners to stun and amaze as Quiksilver announced today that it had sold their Washington State based snowboard and surfboard manufacturing company to Extreme Holdings, Inc. “an entity advised by Altamont Capital Partners.”
Steve Brownlie, Principal at Altamont, said, “Mervin Manufacturing represents an opportunity to invest in a special company with two of the industry’s finest action sports brands in Lib Tech and GNU along with a passionate team, including first-rate leadership in Ryan, Mike and Pete. We look forward to building on Mervin’s strong brand position of authenticity, premium products and service and its history of driving innovation that advances the sports of snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding and surfing.”
And yeah, Altamont is the private equity firm that wanted to buy Billabong and did buy Dakine in July 2013. This should be interesting. For the official word from Quik, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 23, 2013
This didn’t take long. Jaime Owens, the former editor of GrindMedia’s discontinued title Skateboarder Magazine has been named editor in chief at Transworld Skateboarding Magazine. Since they’re all in the family this makes perfect sense.
“Jaime Owens is an incredible addition to the TransWorld SKATEboarding team,” said TWS Publisher Monica Campana. “Jaime’s work within the industry extends itself into multiple areas of relevance, influence and expertise. Jaime is a solid individual with a sincere love of skateboarding. We all are excited and proud to have him on our team.”
Owens has worked for GrindMedia of 15 years and knows what’s up, for certain. For the official word from GrindMedia, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 21, 2013
Vans‘ parent company VF Corp isn’t going to let a few rumored layoffs at Reef get in the way of their march to global fashion domination. This morning, the company announced a four-for-one stock split and a 21 percent (pre-split) increase in this quarter’s dividends.
“During the past decade, VF has returned nearly $5 billion to shareholders through dividend payments and share repurchases,” said Eric Wiseman, VF Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Today’s announcement is the result of VF’s strong financial and stock price performance, and the confidence we have in our ability to create long-term profitable growth and returns for our shareholders.”
Some will tell you that splits don’t matter. Those who own loads of pre-split shares would likely argue. For the official word from VF follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 17, 2013
Well, if the contest was about who could link up with the most forward facing brands in the shortest amount of time it looks like the minds behind the Association of Surfing Professionals have done a right nice job of it for 2014. The ASP has reportedly done deals with Youtube, Facebook, and ESPN.
“Professional surfing is a truly global sport which demands media distribution partners with significant reach. Our newly announced partners have tremendous presence in the innovative media arena and, together, they build the foundation for the ASP media platform,” Paul Speaker, ASP CEO, said. “I personally believe surfing is one of the most dramatic and dynamic sports on the planet and it’s an honor to work with tremendously inspirational athletes in bringing their feats and stories to the public.”
Here’s how the deals sort out: Youtube will host the live stream of 26 events, Facebook will be the “primary social platform parter” and ESPN will “showcase the sport’s elite events” by hosting highlight shows (for those sorry saps who still watch TV) immediately following the events. How much money will these deals generate for the organization? They didn’t say, but at least they’re moving in the right direction. For the official word from the ASP, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Last night (November 7, 2013) Mervin Manufacturing (parent company of Gnu and Lib Tech) released the official news that they have been purchased by Altamont Capital Partners (guess that whole Extreme Holdings, Inc. thing was short-term).
