by The Editors on November 27, 2012
Large companies often make seriously idiotic decisions. For instance, when Nike bought surf brand Hurley back in 2002 someone at the company decided that even though they had a solid surf brand, they would also dive into surf category with the Nike brand and compete directly with the company they just bought. Well, those days are reportedly over according to a story on Shop-Eat-Surf.
Nike is announcing this morning it will exit the surf category for the Nike brand and roll all surf resources under the Hurley umbrella, including Nike’s marquee young surf team riders like Julian Wilson, Carissa Moore and Kolohe Andino. . . . Going forward, Nike will focus Nike action sports on skateboarding and snowboarding, a company spokeswoman said.
Nike has done quite well in skateboarding, but we’ll bet their snowboarding efforts will continue moving in a direction very similar to their surf work. Then again, maybe they could buy an established snowboard brand. Hmmm, anyone know any recently streamlined companies with a strong last name and great brand recognition?
[Link: Shop Eat Surf]
by The Editors on November 26, 2012
Jenkem Mag has a great essay from Lurper on how corporations are taking over skateboarding and what that means to skateboarders and skateboarding. And it includes nuggets like this:
As George Ritzer points out in The McDonaldization of Society, businesses attempt to operate in an extremely efficient fashion. They focus on making everything quantifiable (skatemetrics) rather than focusing on creating subjective quality (“best” video part), they want everything to be predictable (i.e. standardized, the same experience every time), and they want all aspects of a business or activity to be easily controlled, basically the antithesis of what skateboarding is today. As the corporation’s values become more and more apart of skateboarding and influence the ideologies of individual skaters, the greater the potential that our activity will fundamentally change.
Kind of puts skateboarding business in perspective doesn’t it? If you have time, read the rest.
[Link: Jenkem Mag]
by The Editors on November 21, 2012
In another twist in the Billabong buyout story, Paul Naude has announced that he is stepping aside from his roll as board member and president of Billabong US for six weeks as he seeks “talks with financiers and gain support for a bid proposal” to purchase the company himself in a leveraged buyout, according to story in Bloomberg Businessweek.
“Paul’s generally viewed quite favorably by the market, which makes this an interesting trade,” Nick Berry, a retail analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc., said by telephone from Sydney. “If either a bid isn’t forthcoming or it gets knocked back it’s going to be very difficult for him to go back.”
A Naude led Billabong could be great for everyone, we wish him the best of luck. The market certainly seems to be happy about it as the stock is up 11 percent. Click here to read Jeff Harbaugh’s thoughts on the deal, or follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 20, 2012
The Agenda Show is not yet a teen, but it is amazing how far founders Aaron Levant and Seth Haber have brought the show in its ten years. This year will be the biggest with 600 brands in Long Beach and 150 in NYC in January.
“It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 10 years since AGENDA’s humble start in Long Beach,” said AGENDA founder Aaron Levant. “It’s amazing to see how far AGENDA has come as an independent show over the last decade.”
Happy Birthday dear Agenda, Happy Birthday to you. For the official word follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 17, 2012
Shareholders of Globe International have “rejected its executive pay structure for a second straight year,” according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Almost 86 per cent of votes cast at Globe’s annual general meeting on Wednesday were against the company’s remuneration report for the 2011-12 financial year. . . That follows a 74 per cent vote against Globe’s pay policy at last year’s annual general meeting. . . Under new corporate laws, shareholders of a company receiving two consecutive votes of 25 per cent or more against its remuneration can force the company’s board to face re-election.
Apparently, the shareholders (who only own 8.6 percent of the company) don’t like the fact that CEO Matt Hill made $721,720 in a year when the company only made $100,000 in profits. So, Globe has 90 days to have a “spill meeting.” Wonder how that will go?
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
by The Editors on November 15, 2012
This is just a reminder to those who plan like we do (at the last minute) that the 2013 SIA Snow Show runs January 31 – February 4, 2013.
Scheduled for January 31 – February 3, at the Colorado Convention Center, the 2013 SIA Snow Show four-day event expects to draw over 19,000 attendees including suppliers, retailers, reps, athletes, media and professionals from across the globe. The Snow Show, which sold out in booth space last May, will feature over 950 snow sports brands covering over 334,000 net square feet of exhibit space including 40 new exhibitors that are brand new to the Show or returning after taking a hiatus.
It wouldn’t be a bad time to book your trip. Then again, we’ve never practiced what we preach because we’re not the kind of people we’re preaching to. Follow the jump for all the official details. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 14, 2012
In one of their most recent steps toward becoming a big, old, new media snowboarding super site Yobeat.com has announced the promotion of their intern Justin Thomas Moulthrop Leveille a.k.a. “Stan, Young Mountain Baby, J Money the Mountain Man, Weekend Warrior, Terry Dactyl, Mr. Anonymous, Hansu Weith and Tech” to the position of Managing Editor.
Leveille will assist in content curation and creation, as well as providing entertainment and herbal refreshment at the office. He will continue to exploit his brainchild the Toeside Terrors, as well as starring in “Thursdays at the Office.” His varied skills and complete willingness to make a fool of himself on a snowboard and on camera were the perfect addition to the crew. . . “Basically I knew Justin was a keeper when my sister, who was on the UVM Snowboard Team with him, said he was ‘Not an idiot.’ That’s the kind of skill set we look for at Yobeat,” YoBeat publisher and Editor-in-Chief Brooke Geery said.
We’re wondering if this promotion has anything to do with Geery’s recent “employment upgrade” at a local Portland cobbler. Follow the jump for the official word from Yobeat. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 14, 2012
Spy Inc. is happy to report that in the quarter ended September 30, 2012 they only lost $1.8 million on total net sales of $9.9 million. The loss is down from $3 million in the same quarter in 2011. Couple that with net sales being up eight percent, and an increased borrowing capacity from Costa Brava Partnership III, L.P. and it appears things are continuing toward profitability. And that’s always good
“With strong SPY® brand sales growth of 17% for 3rd quarter of 2012 over 2011, building on the huge SPY® brand growth rate of 25% for the 3rd quarter of 2011 over 2010, we are happy to have achieved our 6th consecutive quarter of year over year growth of SPY® brand products. We feel this once again demonstrates the strength of our renewed brand positioning and exciting new product collection,” said Michael Marckx, President and CEO. “We are especially pleased that we were able to grow our North American snow goggle and sunglass businesses because of such a poor snow season last year that we believe caused many of our retailers to have relatively high inventory levels going into this 2012 fall snow goggle buying season.”
For the official word, follow the jump. Or, for all the numbers click here. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 13, 2012
Vans has chosen to bring in the professions with the distribution rights to their big action content plays. Super world wide agency IMG will now be developing and enhancing “the international distribution of all Vans content globally across all media platforms, bringing top level action sports events to both new and existing fans,” according to Vans.
“International growth continues to be integral to Vans’ success as a brand and sharing the Vans lifestyle through our action sports events and feature content connects us with consumers in the most authentic way possible,” said Doug Palladini, Vans Vice President, Marketing. “Our partnership with IMG gives Vans’ industry-leading action sports event line-up and our growing library of rich lifestyle content a broader global platform than ever before to reach our consumers worldwide.”
Sounds like a great idea seeing as that is IMG’s business. For the official word, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 13, 2012
Vans has decided it no longer wants to be in the helmet business and has sold Pro-Tec to San Diego, California based paintball company Dye Precision Inc for an undisclosed amount.
“We’re very proud of the work that the Vans® and Pro-tec® brand teams have done to build the brand globally during the last decade,” said Kevin Bailey, President, Vans. “Together, we have continued the Pro-tec® brand’s leadership role in skateboard and BMX protective gear, while expanding the brand’s position in snow sports and mountain biking. . . “The Vans® and Pro-tec® brands share a complementary action sports heritage,” he continued. “But we believe that Dye Precision can provide Pro-tec® a better operational fit and focus, which will allow the brand to thrive and reach its full potential.”
Guess it’s going to be the Vans Pool Party from now on. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
Large companies often make seriously idiotic decisions. For instance, when Nike bought surf brand Hurley back in 2002 someone at the company decided that even though they had a solid surf brand, they would also dive into surf category with the Nike brand and compete directly with the company they just bought. Well, those days are reportedly over according to a story on Shop-Eat-Surf.
