Chris “Gunny” Gunnarson, the guy who long ago built a business out of shaping snow at resorts around the world (Snow Park Technologies), has been named the new President of Woodward, the “action sports experiential” company owned by POWDR, who also own Snowbird, Park City, Mt. Bachelor, Copper Mountain, Killington, and six other mountains.
POWDR’s CEO, Justin Sibley, commented, “Woodward is an amazing brand with world class facilities and a focus on safe progression that are a critical ingredient to the future of action sports. I don’t know anyone with a better track record in the action sports, snow sports, and youth programming than Gunny. He is an invaluable advisor to our leadership team, and I look forward to his vision and counsel going forward as we continue to strive to grow, expand, and unify the Woodward brand.”
Yes, indeed. It looks like Gunny is doing well these days. Big job. Woodward now consists of Woodward Park City, Woodward PA, Woodward Copper in Colorado, Woodward Tahoe, and Woodward West in Stallion Springs, CA. (And yeah, Woodward PA still does dance, cheer, and gymnastics camps among other things.) For the official word from POWDR please follow the jump.
USA Skateboarding is proud to announce their official 2022 National Team at an event at Tao sponsored by a major Japanese auto manufacturer.
“It was really fun to get everyone together and celebrate our 2022 national team in person. The level of talent is incredible, and I’m excited to see what our first-time team members are able to do with more opportunities to compete this year,” said Josh Friedberg, CEO of USA Skateboarding. “Huge thanks to our top sponsors Toyota and Nike SB,Dream Hollywood and Tao for the hospitality, and the Berrics for hosting our media day once again.”
For the official word from USA Skateboarding (including all the skaters who made the team) please follow the jump.
This was going to be the Ides of March news listers. Then the Holi lister, now it’s just the late-in-March list of news stories that caught our eye and might be of interest to you. That’s all. No snide asides, no out-of-context comments, no misinformed snark, and no 200 word headlines. Just links to stories that are at the top of the news tonight.
We’ve got no backstory on this one. We left the controls for a few days to catch the tail end of the winter that wasn’t and celebrate Holi while avoiding the St. Pats day madness only to return to news that VF Corp chose March 17, 2022 to announce that the company had named long-time Vans (and former Vans president) Kevin Bailey as the new global brand president for Vans.
This appointment marks Bailey’s return to the Vans brand after holding several enterprise leadership roles at VF. Bailey was Vice President of Retail for Vans when the brand was acquired by VF in 2004. He was later appointed as President of Vans, a role he held from 2009 to 2016. Under Bailey’s leadership, revenue for the brand more than doubled to $2.2 billion.
As for Vans comment on former president Doug Palladini (pictured right)? Well, they thanked him for his dedication and passionate service for the past 18 years and wished him “all the best” in his next chapter. Wish we had more info. If you see something, say something. Please. For the official word from VF click the link.
Merge4 has released a rad new collection of three crew socks from skateboarding legend Tony Alva.
Along with the classic Alva logo, each pair of Tony Alva socks is constructed with textile technology that supports an action based lifestyle, including moisture wicking soles, light compression to encourage circulation, and elastic arch support to cushion every movement. “Tony Alva gives us old men hope,” joked Santa Cruz Bicycles Founder and MERGE4 Board Member since the sock brand’s inception, Rob Roskopp.
The MERGE4 X Tony Alva collection socks are available to purchase at www.MERGE4.com and through select retailers. For all the details, please follow the jump.
We all need some good sunnies, and who better to drive your style than Jamie Thomas. That’s why OTIS has signed him up with a “multi-year partnership.”
“My idea of a perfect collaboration is two forces coming together to create a delicate mixture of quality, style, purpose and passion,” continues Jamie. “I feel that we accomplished that with Overkill and I’m pleased to present the first of hopefully many collections to come.”
And yes, they look good, and will be available at retail March 1, 2022. Please follow the jump for the new collection and the official word from OTIS.
It’s newsies time. Obviously, this list is overloaded with Olympic content since that’s what snowboarding is up to right now. And Shaun White is the biggest news from Chinaland. Shaun, and the terrible judging. But, oddly, few outlets wrote about that. Censorship? Probably not, but you know the journalists who are visiting China and hope to stay and/or return to the country don’t want to upset the PRC media watchers. Click the link for the list. And get going. This is enough to make it look like you’re working for the rest of the afternoon!
Vans is not letting Walmart off the hook in their blatant copying of Vans shoes (see the images above), according to a story on The Fashion Law. Vans filed a suit last year against Walmart’s rather obvious design borrowing, however, Walmart apparently complained that Vans “waited too long” to file suit. Vans believes “a preliminary injunction to block Walmart from continuing to sell “copycat” versions of “virtually all of [its] bestselling shoes” is necessary.” Can’t really blame them.
Vans has since lodged its reply to Walmart’s memo in opposition, taking issue with Walmart’s arguments, including the retailer’s claims that Vans lacks robust trademark rights, primarily for its OLD SKOOL sneaker. Looking specifically to the OLD SKOOL mark, Vans states that “based on longstanding use dating back more than 40 years, substantial sales and advertising, unsolicited media references, popular culture usage, and intentional copying by Walmart, Vans is likely to succeed in demonstrating that the OLD SKOOL trade dress has acquired secondary meaning.” In terms of sales, Vans says that it has generated “$10 billion in lifetime sales and current revenue of over $1 billion each year in U.S. sales of shoes bearing the OLD SKOOL trade dress.”
This entire case is just another example of how suspect Walmart’s entire business model really is. And we’re stoked that Vans is taking it to them full press. Click the link for the rest of the story.
Circle Jerks are back with a whole new video for Wild In The Streets directed by Atiba Jefferson and filmed by Ty Evans (who were 5 and 8 years old in 1982 when the album came out). Chomp on that while you count the cameos!
After 18 years and introducing over 6,000 kids from historically forgotten communities to action sports STOKED founder Steve Larosiliere is stepping down as president and moving to a new role on the organization’s board of directors. The new president is Dr. Patricia Charlemagne.
[Charlemagne] is a seasoned nonprofit executive with an amazing track record. She’s also an attorney and just received her doctorate in education and organization leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.
Chris “Gunny” Gunnarson, the guy who long ago built a business out of shaping snow at resorts around the world (Snow Park Technologies), has been named the new President of Woodward, the “action sports experiential” company owned by POWDR, who also own Snowbird, Park City, Mt. Bachelor, Copper Mountain, Killington, and six other mountains.
We’ve got no backstory on this one. We left the controls for a few days to catch the tail end of the winter that wasn’t and celebrate Holi while avoiding the St. Pats day madness only to return to news that VF Corp chose March 17, 2022 to announce that the company had named long-time Vans (and former Vans president) Kevin Bailey as the new global brand president for Vans. 
