by The Editors on January 12, 2009
From the “things we thought would never happen” file: after working with Larry Balma for 23 years, Buddy Carr has left his positions as CEO or Tracker Trucks to become president of Bennett Boardsports, LLC, owners of Bennett Truks and Alligator wheels, according to a press release posted on Silverfish Longboarding:
“It was just time for me personally to move things to the next level,” said Buddy Carr. I had a good run the last 23 years, but the opportunity to purchase part ownership in a brand with such a rich history was the right thing for me at this time. Having been in the industry since 1975, I feel like I have had a front row seat to Bennett’s heritage and ties to the birth of modern skateboarding. I see tremendous potential in that legacy,” Carr explained.
Follow the jump for the rest of the details.
[Link: Silverfish Longboarding]
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by The Editors on January 11, 2009
Economic times are troubling, but full-time fireman Pete Hamborg’s Hamboards‘ is rolling through it all in a very large, oversized, long way, according to an LA Times story.
Hamborg is the creator of the Hamboard, a nearly 7-foot-long skateboard he says mimics the feel of a surfboard on the water. . . . Hamboards have picked up a devoted following among hard-core surfers and skateboarders — those devoted enough to the sports to shell out $395 for one of the boards.
We don’t really get the product, but maybe size matters to some people.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on January 9, 2009
According to the blog Knowskateboarding.com Quiksilver has pulled out of another event it had planned on sponsoring:
The reese forbes ollie challenge has been postponed. . . . just talked to reese forbes. after quiksilver pulled out of the show, i guess asr didn’t really want them getting any promo off the ollie challenge. so according to reese, “it’s postponed, and the location is YTBD.”
Somehow we’re not surprised, thought this time it may have more to do with ASR then Quik’s support of skateboarding.
[Link: Knowskateboarding via ClubMumble]
by The Editors on January 8, 2009
Slapmagazine.com Editor-In-Cheif Mark Whiteley gets interviewed on Club Mumble. The big question: now that Slap is out of the paper printing business are they still going to do any old-media projects? Mark says they might:
We’re talking about a few ideas, from something like you mention to a best-of issue from all the stuff that goes on the site every six months to little ‘zine-type projects when we do trips with companies for them to distribute with product to all kinds of little ideas. I think we’ll do something in the next few months to get the ball rolling, it mainly depends on money right now as as everybody knows, money is a little tight these days. But yep, there shall be ink!
One other questions we might have asked: how’s that online advertising thing going?
[Link: Club Mumble]
by The Editors on January 7, 2009
Self-proclaimed “action sports pioneer” Paul Taublieb has enlisted the help of Rob Dyrdek to roll out a new “Instant Scoring eXperience” from MSInteractive, and claims that it’s going to revolutionize the action sports industry.
“For the many years I’ve been around such judged events, I’ve always been struck by the disconnect – the athlete is competing and the audience is waiting, waiting, waiting to know what to feel until those scores drop,” explained Taublieb. “No longer. With ISX it’s all happening in the present enhancing the entertainment experience of the core fan and at the same time make street skating and all action sports accessible to the mainstream sports fan.
The idea is that the judges simply twiddle a knob while an event is going down and those knob twiddles are compiled and displayed in real time, like the score meter on that Tony Hawk video game.
“ISX will take the appreciation of what skaters, and all action sports athletes do to a whole new level and you’ll see ISX not only in my new MTV series ‘Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory,’ but also in my Street League,” added Dyrdek.
Reminds us a little too much of the “instant feedback” in the sci-fi book Interface. Shouldn’t the people judging an event take a little time to process what they’re seeing? You know, think a little? Seems like thinking is a good thing when it comes to event scoring. Follow the jump for the whole release.
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by The Editors on January 7, 2009
Using an empty fountain in suburb of Macroroyan in Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul, Sharna Nolan, 31, is teaching peace with a skateboard. It is called Project Skateistan.
Ms Nolan said of the eager pupils, with as many girls as boys: “Skateboarding has given them a chance to be children and to smile.” . . . The sport has taken root so strongly in Kabul that the couple and their team of volunteers, who call their project Skateistan, plan to start a school with $70,000 raised so far and another $70,000 that has still to be found. . . . Land has been donated by Afghans in three provinces for indoor recreational centres with facilities for traditional Afghan sports as well as skateboarding.
Obviously the organization needs all the help they can get. Click here to learn more about helping to support the cause.
[Link: Skateistan via The Age]
by The Editors on January 7, 2009
On December 10, 2008 Blacks Leisure announced they were giving the UK distribution rights to O’Neill back to O’Neill Europe and later mentioned they would find a buyer for their 57 Freespirit and O’Neill boardsports shops. Well, according to a story in the Blacks Leisure the company was unable to find a buyer for the stores.
“The reality is in the current market people aren’t prepared to do a sensible deal,” Neil Gillis, chief executive. . . . He said the fashion of wearing clothing inspired by skateboard and surf culture appeared to have passed. Instead of selling the division, Blacks is preparing to convert the stores to its main brands at a cost of £150,000 a store or £1.5m for the first tranche to be completed this year.
Blame it on skate and surf fashions. Nice.
[Link: Financial Times]
by The Editors on January 6, 2009
Just a little reminder regarding January 21, 2009 and the Crossroads Retail Show and kind of wondering what this means for ASR and skateboarding if Crossroads becomes more successful.
[Link: Black Box Distribution]
by The Editors on January 6, 2009
Stephen Sprouse was a graffiti artist and designer who did some work with Louis Vuitton artistic director Marc Jacobs back in the day. Sprouse died in 2004 but that hasn’t stopped the fashion house from bringing out a new Stephen Sprouse collection this week. And nothing says street fashion more than a skateboard.
For the launch, the luxury goods company is also creating two limited edition pieces, which will only be available at the SoHo location: a Stephen Sprouse graffiti skateboard replete with a hard case monogram skateboard trunk, and a Stephen Sprouse “Roses” T-shirt. The company hopes to sell three graffiti skateboards with trunks for $8,250 each, and 70 T-shirts for $250 each. “I don’t expect them to last very long,” Lalonde said. “By Friday, there probably won’t be any more left.”
Then again, nothing shouts “I’m a slave to fashion” more than owning a $8,250 skateboard that comes in it’s own Louis suitcase. . . As a well-placed friend of ours said: “Sad to say, but after they sell all three boards (prob in 3 mins) they will be the second biggest skateboard company in the world next to Sector 9!”
[Link: Women’s Wear Daily]
by The Editors on January 5, 2009
Note to action sports marketing people: if your web designers build an amazingly beautiful site, with boss photos and flossy graphics and then the first thing people see when they visit is a progress bar counting down while a big, honkin’ flash movie loads. . . you need to hire new web designers. It’s really that simple.
For even more fun follow the jump to see what Plan B Skateboard’s site looks like on an iPhone.
[Link: Plan B Skateboards]
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From the “things we thought would never happen” file: after working with Larry Balma for 23 years, Buddy Carr has left his positions as CEO or Tracker Trucks to become president of Bennett Boardsports, LLC, owners of Bennett Truks and Alligator wheels, according to a press release posted on Silverfish Longboarding:
