Yobeat follows Cobra Dog’s Cory Grove around Portland for the day and all we got was hungry.
[Link: Yobeat via 18th and Hoyt]
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Wall Street
Tom Gregg, a California surfer who suffered a “deep gash” on his right leg while surfing in France in 2009 filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday, August 24, 2011, against Channel Islands Surfboards claiming:
“The surfboard, fins and their component parts were unsafe for their intended use. . . Gregg’s attorney, Jeffrey Karpel, said the fins are so sharp some surfers cover them with protective sleeves. Gregg was not aware of that before the injury, Karpel said.
According to the story Channel Island’s GM Scott Anderson says this is the first liability claim that he has heard of. While this kind of injury is no surprise to surfers or companies like SurfCo Hawaii (makers of Pro Teck fins), it does seem a little like Gregg is blaming his equipment. It will be interesting to see how Burton lawyers proceed with this one.
[Link: LA Times]
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Greg Dacyshyn, Burton’s Chief Creative Officer, had a column on “innovation” in the Burlington Free Press today. In it he talks about how meaningful the term “standing sideways” is to him and how innovating Burton is.
As for innovation, there is no denying that it is at the core of what we do here at Burton. We’re literally obsessed with making our products better. It started when Jake Burton hand-built over 100 different snowboard prototypes in his Vermont barn back in 1977. At that time he was making snowboards using the construction techniques of skateboards, surfboards, boats, water skis, and even solid wood furniture. He tells a great story about how, since there were no snowboard manufacturing machines, he had do it all by hand, and almost killed himself twice when wooden blanks shot off his hand router and went through a wall.
Click the link for the rest.
[Link: Burlington Free Press]
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Pacific Sunwear has reported their financial results for its quarter ending July 30, 2011 and guess what? They lost $19.3 million. Of course, they’re pitching this as a good thing because they loss less than they lost last year at this time, and they beat analysts’ forecasts. In other “good” news, while total sales fell, sales at stores open longer than a year were actually up one percent, according to a story on Forbes.
“Until recently we had expected this positive momentum to continue, yet we are now more cautious in our near-term outlook due to a combination of factors including macroeconomic pressure, along with a highly promotional start to the back-to-school season,” said President and CEO Gary Schoenfeld.
Losing less is good. Just give Mr. Schoenfeld a few more years and things will probably get right back on track. Or maybe he just loves hitting two-year stock price lows.
[Link: Forbes and Bloomberg] [click to continue…]
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SoCal OG snowboarder and industry veteran Todd Proffit is the new Advertising and Events Manager at Mountain High Resort. It’s a bit of a homecoming for Proffit.
“Mountain High was the first place I ever snowboarded so it’s great to get back to my roots,” Proffit said. “I’ve dealt in many other sections of the action sports industry but my passion has always been snowboarding. I’m really looking forward to the coming winter season and to continue to elevate Mountain High as the best resort in Southern California.”
Follow the jump for all the details. [click to continue…]
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According to an Associated Press story in the Washington Post, Billabong is one of seven companies listed as allegedly buying products from Brazilian sweatshops that are under investigated for slave labor by Brazilian officials.
Prosecutor Nei Vieira says 51 people were found to be working in unhealthy conditions and for little pay in such a shop in the city of Americana near Sao Paulo. Authorities say they expect to find more shops.
According to the story, Billabong said they had not been notified, but they were looking into it.
[Link: Washington Post]
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In financials reported today (August 19, 2011) by Billabong it appears that the company’s profits are down 18 percent from the year previous, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Billabong said it had been hurt in the year just ended by the strong Australian dollar and a weak retail environment. . . Billabong reported annual profit of $119.139 million in the year to June 30, down 18.4 per cent from the prior year. . . Revenue was 13.5 per cent higher, however, at $1.688 billion. . . Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were down 16.2 per cent in constant currency terms, and down 24.3 per cent in reported terms, Billabong said in a statement on Friday.
Apparently, the current financial storm isn’t over just yet.
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
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It’s nice to occasionally report good news from the action stock market and yesterday (August 15, 2011), after FBR Capital Markets & Co.’s Eric Tracy said that Quik was making strides with it’s balance sheet, the stock rocketed up three percent, according to a story on Bloomberg.
“Balance sheet improvements are a testament to a management team focused on enhancing its financial flexibility for longer-term growth, and as of the second quarter, forward orders from retail partners in the Americas and Europe, inclusive of price increases, are up year-over-year across brands,” Tracy wrote.
It’s down a little today, but maybe that can be seen as an opportunity. . .
[Link: Bloomberg]
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Burton’s surf division (Channel Islands Surfboards) got a write-up in Businessweek thanks to Dane Reynolds best-selling surfboard shape the Dumpster Diver.
What Reynolds really wanted was to take a standard, lance-like shortboard, cut out the midsection, squash the nose and the tail together, and fatten it up. . . He fished a foam scrap out of a trash bin, and the two repaired to the shaping room. As Smith tells it, the whole time the shaper was planing the foam, he was muttering, “Dude, this is ugly. This is really, really ugly.”
For those who may have thought Dane is getting paid a little too well to be dropping out of J-Bay and Teahupo’o, it should be mentioned that according to Businessweek his ugly boards now account for 15 percent of Channel Islands’ total board sales.
[Link: Businessweek]
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In a review of magazine advertising for the first half of 2011 (January through June) the The Association of Magazine Media is reporting that business is slightly up compared to 2010. But only by 1.3 percent. In the action sports magazine space*, however, Transworld Media is pulling through with gains much higher than the average on every title except Skateboarding and Wakeboarding.
Here’s how the titles look in order of performance based on total advertising pages sold in first six months of the year (click here for past reports):
2011 2010 %Chg TRANSWORLD MOTOCROSS 500.22 440.49 13.6 TRANSWORLD SURF 407.77 372.29 9.5 TRANSWORLD RIDE BMX 130.25 120.41 8.2 TRANSWORLD SNOWBOARDING 351.08 337.17 4.1 TRANSWORLD SKATEBOARDING 432.24 463.30 -6.7 TRANSWORLD WAKEBOARDING 205.86 222.48 -7.5
*Transworld Media is the only action sports publishing company whose titles are tracked by The Association of Magazine Media’s Pub PIB.
[Link: Association of Magazine Media]
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