by The Editors on January 11, 2012
Ross Garrett (right) the former Director of Operations and Development for The Surfer’s Journal has been named Vice President of Surf Products for Surfline.com. Also joining the Surfline.com team in Huntington Beach, California is new Global Forecast Development Manager Mark Willis.
“Ross and Mark are each incredibly talented and well respected within the unique surfing and ocean-based meteorology markets we serve with Surfline and Buoyweather. We are excited to have them both hit the ground running to help continue to drive the growth of our products,” said CEO Jonno Wells.
Garrett and Willis will officially join Surfline on February 1, 2012. For more background on both, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 11, 2012
Product designer Jason Kanes (right) has created loads of snowboard products over the years, most recently Omatic Snowboards with Todd Richards. Now Kanes has joined with long-time action sports attorney Marco Gonzalez of Coastal Law Group to launch a new action sports design studio and small business incubator called PRJCT.
A full service creative and technical design studio with substantial experience in materials sourcing and production logistics, PRJCT is particularly poised to assist private label brands to enhance existing product offerings and bring new ones to market smoothly and efficiently. Jason remarks, “We focus our work with design teams, product innovators, merchandisers, and executives to achieve consistent results, on deadline, and within established budgets.”
Follow the jump for all the official details. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 11, 2012
The news launched first in tweets last night (January 10, 2012) from Transworld Skate and Skateboardermag. Apparently, Rob Dyrdek announced to the crowd gathered for Zumiez annual 100k shop kid pep rally at Keystone Resort, Colorado that he was purchasing Alien Workshop from Burton Snowboards. According to a story on Shop-Eat-Surf, Dyrdek reportedly:
. . . grabbed the microphone from Alien Workshop Co-founder Chris Carter and told the hundreds of Zumiez’s employees, athletes and industry executives in attendance that he is buying the legendary skate company from Burton.
First he kickflips a car, now this? It would be understandable that Burton would want to shed a company that never seemed to make sense in its brand portfolio, but why Dyrdek would want to own a skateboard hardgoods company (aside from just keeping it alive) is anyone’s guess?
Burton’s Chief Operations Officer Mike Rees reeled in everyone a little in an email sent out early this afternoon (January 11, 2012) . “While Rob’s message was definitely premature, we did want to confirm that we are in an open dialog with him about a possible purchase,” Rees said. “At this point, please note that nothing is confirmed, and we will absolutely do a formal announcement when and/or if that transition happens.”
[Link: Shop-Eat-Surf]
by The Editors on January 10, 2012
The Association of Magazine Media (formerly the Magazine Publishers of America) has released their numbers for the quarter October through December 2011 and things aren't looking good at Transworld Media, the only action sports magazine publisher tracked by the MPA. Here's how it looked from best to worst.
2011 2010 % Change
TRANSWORLD SURF 202.94 203.98 -0.5
TRANSWORLD SNOWBOARDING 341.90 362.32 -5.6
TRANSWORLD MOTOCROSS 261.89 282.94 -7.4
TRANSWORLD SKATEBOARDING 272.60 320.64 -15.0
TRANSWORLD RIDE BMX 119.49 160.75 -25.7
TRANSWORLD WAKEBOARDING 39.50 66.50 -40.6
Total magazine advertising was down 8 percent in the quarter vs. last year so TransWorld Surf, Transworld Snowboarding, and Transworld Motocross were technically ahead of the market. Transworld Skateboarding, Ride BMX, and Wakeboarding obviously had some trouble. For a look at past coverage of the MPA quarterly numbers click here.
[Link: Association of Magazine Media]
by The Editors on January 10, 2012
Burton Snowboards has moved some chess pieces around in their North American sales structure after reportedly losing Clark Gundlach to Quiksilver. The Pacific Northwest’s Sasha Dietschi-Cooper is now vice president of North American Sales for Burton, Red, and Anon reporting to EVP of Product and North American Sales John Lacy. Lacy will also oversee Burton’s Resort Sales Program.
“We are more focused on our wholesale accounts and our resort partners than we have been in a long time, and our new structure will keep things moving in that direction,” said Jake Burton, Founder and CEO of Burton Snowboards. “As a company, one of our biggest priorities is to aggressively boost our support for local shops. We’ve already accomplished a lot through tweaking some of our sales programs and by investing in targeted marketing programs and creating more segmented product lines – all aimed at helping specialty retailers thrive. I couldn’t be more stoked on our new Sales structure, and I have full confidence that our Sales crew will continue to make supporting local shops their number one mission.”
Congrats to Dietschi-Cooper. For the official word follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 10, 2012
Austin Smith and Bryan Fox better keep those Drink Water screen printing presses running after being featured in a New York Times story on January 7, 2012.
Fox and Smith say they find the heavy marketing of such products, especially toward younger fans, problematic. Top brands like Red Bull, Monster Energy and Rockstar have swarmed the international sports market, sponsoring athletes, events and video shoots in motorsports, surfing, snowboarding and skiing, mixed martial arts and others. Brand logos appear on event structures like half pipes, and on athletes’ apparel and equipment.
All we can say is more power to them.
[Link: New York Times]
by The Editors on January 9, 2012
Reef has apparently moved a few people around at the company to provide “addition focus and intensity” to their men’s apparel sales in the U.S. Greg (G.O.) Ostus has moved to the newly created position of Director of Sales, Apparel and Eric Gigler is now Design and Merchandising Director.
Reef president, Jeff Moore, states, “His [Gigler’s] leadership, energy, and expertise will be a great addition to the Reef Executive team.” Moore continued, “Greg’s energy, positive attitude and sales expertise will be a great addition to our sales organization.”
Hard to believe there was no sales director for apparel at Reef. Good to know they’ve got one now. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 6, 2012
We’re still trying to process everything we saw, thought and experienced at day one of the Agenda Show at the Convention Center in Long Beach, California. In the meantime here is a photo gallery from both days of the show.
by The Editors on January 5, 2012
Thought the big boys of electronics were going to just sit back and let Skullcandy run away with the entire personal audio market? Nope. SOL Republic a new headphone brand with family ties to Monster Cable is kicking their new product line off at the Agenda Show.
“Just like action sports, SOL REPUBLIC is deeply rooted in the music lifestyle. Sports are emotional and music is emotional. When music sounds better, you feel better and perform better. We’re committed to making better-‐sounding headphones affordable to everyone.” Said Kevin Lee, Co-‐Founder and CEO of SOL REPUBLIC.
What’s different about these new headphones? We’re going to check them out today, and let you know. Follow the jump for all the official details.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 5, 2012
NRI USA, the third party Logisitics company formed by 686 parent Westlife Distribution and NRI Distribution, Inc. has officially opened this doors this week on their 65,000 square foot Los Angeles facility.
NRI provides Boutique, Turn-Key Fulfillment services which include such 3PL Services as Pick and Pack, Inventory Management, Vendor Compliance, Freight, Returns Management and EDI; E-Commerce Solutions such as Web Design, Studio Photography, Merchant Services, Shopping Cart Maintenance and Customer Service; and finally a variety of Brand Support Services. . . for a number of premium brands . . . including Herschel Supply Co., Sitka, Poler Stuff, Sombrio, TiMo, Loki Outerwear and Shred Ready helmets.
For the official word, follow the jump.
[click to continue…]
Ross Garrett (right) the former Director of Operations and Development for The Surfer’s Journal has been named Vice President of Surf Products for Surfline.com. Also joining the Surfline.com team in Huntington Beach, California is new Global Forecast Development Manager Mark Willis.
