Laird Hamilton will apparently be helping roll out a significantly more upscale line of clothing to the US market on July 20, 2008 as Oxbow opens it’s first store at 131 Broadway in Santa Monica.
Oxbow has sponsored me for almost 20 years: from my first experimentations with speed sailing in Europe and tow-in surfing in Maui in 1990 to the millennium wave in Teahupoo in 2001, and today, I am very proud to be associated with the launch of Oxbow in the US,” explains Laird Hamilton.
Most of this is old news (especially after all the conference calls last month), but hard times in the financial world have impacted teen fashion spending according to a story on Blumberg.com.
“There is absolutely a slowdown in teen spending,” said Holly Guthrie, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia.
Retailers dependent on that group are feeling the pinch. First-quarter net income at American Eagle plunged 44 percent because of discounting, and the retailer may post its first annual profit drop in five years. . . . At Gap Inc.’s Old Navy chain, sales in May were off 25 percent from a year earlier. Abercrombie’s same- store sales dropped in five of the past six quarters.
“While we believe the teen customer has slightly more discretionary income than their parents, they’re still impacted by the sluggish economy,” Zumiez Inc. Chief Executive Officer Richard Brooks said on a May 22 earnings call.
Zumiez’s 309 stores . . . reported its first quarterly profit drop since going public in 2005.
All 10 of the Australian surf retailer Brothers Neilsen shops remain closed after the founders were unable to sell the company, according to a story in The West Australian.
Liquidators deemed that a deed of company arrangement, accepted by creditors in January 2007, was not capable of being successfully completed because of the difficult trading conditions being experienced by the business. . . It is understood Brothers Neilsen and Brothers Neilsen International owe a combined $3.5 million to creditors, including surfwear manufacturers Rip Curl and Billabong and smaller clothing suppliers.
Guess everyone needs more side projects these days. In an announcement today Kohl’s big box clothing stores based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin said they were bringing Hang Ten back to life with a little help from Quiksilver, the company who helped them with the Hawk line of clothing.
The licensing agreement with American Brand Holdings will make Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) the exclusive U.S. retailer for the California lifestyle brand. Kohl’s also announced an agreement with Quiksilver Inc. (NYSE: ZQK) to design the collection and its packaging. Quiksilver, of Huntington Beach, Calif., designed the Tony Hawk action sportswear brand that Kohl’s launched in 2006.
What are Quiksilver’s designers just sitting around with nothing to do?
According to a press release posted on Boardsport SourceBurton has announced that Francesco Navach will be the company’s first “European Director of Retail.”
Francesco will strengthen Burton’s retail business and drive all of Burton Europe’s retail initiatives. He will report directly to Hermann Kapferer, Burton Europe’s General Manager and Cathy Quain, VP of Retail in the US.
. . . Francesco spent nearly 10 years working for The North Face, where he oversaw the opening of around 40 Stores, first as Retail Manager EMEA and from 2005 on as Retail Director EMEA.
In it’s first quarter for 2008 (ending April 26, 2008) Canadian action sports retailer West 49 is reporting a net loss of $4.2 million and a same-store sales drop of 8.1 percent according to a story on Thestar.com.
The $4.2-million net loss – blamed on “the expected challenges posed by cross-border shopping and market conditions in Ontario” – was worth seven cents per share. This compared with a year-ago loss of $3.2 million or five cents per share, which included $400,000 in restructuring costs.
“To lessen the impact of cross-border shopping, we continued to lower our prices to be more in line with U.S. prices,” stated CEO Sam Baio.
Considering all the chaos going on the the financial world Pac Sun being down only two percent in May vs. 2007. Same store sales, however, were down three percent according to a press release.
Total PacSun sales for the first 17 weeks of fiscal 2008 were $353.7 million versus total PacSun sales of $356.4 million during the same period last year. PacSun same store sales decreased two percent during the same period.
The crew at Robust Flavor is sending it with viral videoness. As the proprietor said, “A video on Youtube.com can get one million views, that’s more people than read the action sports magazines. And putting it out on Youtube is free.”
Looks like Zumiez has at least one fan in the analyst crowd:
Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Roxanne Meyer maintained an “Outperform” rating on shares. She said any dip in same-store sales may hold back growth, but thinks the stock already reflects such expectations.
Much of this apparently “outperform” comes from the potential for the company to “double it’s store base.”
Laird Hamilton will apparently be helping roll out a significantly more upscale line of clothing to the US market on July 20, 2008 as Oxbow opens it’s first store at 131 Broadway in Santa Monica.
