The commercial entity that owns half the action sports clothing industry (Boardriders and their brands Quiksilver, Billabong, ROXY, DC Shoes, RVCA, Element “and others”) announced yesterday that they are “launching a multi-year growth agenda and repositioning. . . key executives.”
A quick read-through of the release resulted in exactly one data point that even remotely interested us and it is this: Kevin Meehan is leaving RVCA. Of course, the way they said it is epic: “Kevin Meehan has decided to take the opportunity provided by this transition to pursue new opportunities.” Congrats, Mr. Meehan.
The rest of the news can best be summed up by this quote from the boss.
“The long-term strategy for Boardriders has always been to build a solid foundation by integrating the Billabong acquisition onto a common back-end platform, to continually improve our operations through more disciplined business practices, and to achieve significant synergies that could then be invested back into the brands,” said Boardriders CEO David Tanner. “After a decade of headwinds and restructuring, Boardriders now has that strong foundation and is ready and able to invest strategically at scale in our brands, our people, and these targeted growth initiatives.”
Right. You know all that bad stuff that’s been happening for the LAST 10 YEARS? That’s all behind them now, and everything is looking up, up, up. If that doesn’t make you smile, follow the jump for the rest of the release.
On July 9, 2019, two former C3 Worldwide workers, Cooper and Pius, departed Seattle on a bike packing trip. They’d already quit their jobs, gotten a sponsorship deal from Coal Headwear and hit the road. Their destination? Baja. On the way they planned to surf, clean-up some beaches and document it all along the way. So far, they’ve made it to Newport Beach, California and things appear to be going well. So well, that it seems their surge in popularity has brought their website coastalsifters.com to its knees. But that’s okay; you can follow their latest adventures on Instagram in the meantime right here @coastalsifters.
Former Salomon/Bonfire and Patagonia marketer Tyler LaMotte is the new chief brand officer at Jackson Hole Resort, according to a story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide.
“It’s great to come back and be able to experience this place and get so close and be able to do all the things that we love to do,” he said. “One of the main draws and attributes was the fact that, you know, there’s only one Jackson Hole.”
For the rest of the story and a pretty detailed dive into where he’s been and how Tyler ended up in Jackson, Wyoming, click the link.
Please excuse us while we clear out a bit of news that’s been piling up around the place. Some is new, some is old, and a bit is so old it’s beginning to stink. But we’re not going to let that stop us from posting it as a reminder of some of the news that went down while we were gone for the summer.
Thanks to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association it has been shown that drinking sodas (like the brands that sponsor skateboarding, snowboarding, and surfing events) is bad for your health and increases your changes of dying sooner rather than later, or as they put it there is an “association between soft drink consumption and mortality.”
In this population-based cohort study of 451, 743 individuals from 10 countries in Europe, greater consumption of total, sugar-sweetened, and artificially sweetened soft drinks was associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality. Consumption of artificially sweetened soft drinks was positively associated with deaths from circulatory diseases, and sugar-sweetened soft drinks were associated with deaths from digestive diseases.
In other words, rather than trying to encourage people to drink more, we should encourage them to drink less. That’s the main reason why we’re not into seeing action sports brands partnering with caffeinated, carbonated, high fructose corn syrup poison peddlers. Drink water. Duh.
Sherman Poppen, the man most responsible for inspiring the idea of snowboarding with the creation of The Snurfer died Wednesday, July 31, 2019 in Griffin, Georgia, according to a story on Michigan Live. He was 89 years old.
Poppen’s legacy as a venerable pioneer of extreme winter sports proceeds him, but in Muskegon, he was known as so much more. The inventor spent much of his life and his fortune helping others through philanthropy and service to his community.
Poppen’s Snurfer was the device that inspired Jake Burton, Tom Sims, Dimitrije Milovich and a host of others to explore sliding on snow standing sideways. For the entire story on the creation of the Snurfer, please click here for an interview we did with Sherm on November 10, 1994 on FLAKEzine.com. He was an innovator and a kind man. We’re thankful for all he contributed to snowboarding. Our thoughts are with his family and close friends. He will be missed, but never forgotten.
This is the list of the news stories we didn’t have time to read, comment on, and/or pass on to you in a more visually pleasing format. Follow the link and enjoy! If you read something you like, leave a comment. It’s certainly okay to speak your mind every now and again.
Today we’re highlighting an amazingly bland new product you don’t need, from a company we don’t like because, well, we got a press release from said company and putting up a press release is far easier than creating original content especially when all we’re interested in doing is fooling Google Ads into thinking we’re still posting content on this site so our rankings will continue to soar.
This banal new product is of course made in China and features several prominently placed logos from the company— both on the front, the back, the top, and the sides. In fact, this product features nine logos (if you count the one on the label). By moving this product around in the physical world you are acting as a sign spinner for this private equity funded zombie brand. You’re adding your youth, energy, and all around sexiness to their brand by being associated with it. Only difference is the sign spinner is getting paid $25 a hour and you’re getting nothing, aside from the pride you feel from sporting a logo that says you paid way more than you should have for this Bangladesh made product. Wait, did we say China before… sorry, same difference.
We’d highlight several of the features that set this product apart from all the other products available to you in this category and encourage you to purchase it, however, there’s nothing about this product that makes it standout from a similar product that can be purchased much more economically at one of the big box retailers.
That said, this product is being promoted as part of a “limited edition” collection which means you’ll be forced to visit one of the brand’s mall-based “flagship stores” or order it online directly from the brand because they don’t want to drop this product in the same massive chain stores where they dump the rest of their product because they’re charging more for this and that means they want you to have to work even harder to find it. As a value add this means you’ll have a product that your lazier, more thrifty friends won’t. And that makes you a big winner.
For more information on this product please visit the brand’s website where you can get the “product narrative” directly from their poorly paid marketing wizards. We’re guessing they’ll offer free shipping and returns so what have you got to lose? Shop, buy, consume. Repeat.
The commercial entity that owns half the action sports clothing industry (Boardriders and their brands Quiksilver, Billabong, ROXY, DC Shoes, RVCA, Element “and others”) announced yesterday that they are “launching a multi-year growth agenda and repositioning. . . key executives.”
Former Salomon/Bonfire and Patagonia marketer Tyler LaMotte is the new chief brand officer at Jackson Hole Resort, according to a story in the 
Thanks to a new study published in the 
Sherman Poppen, the man most responsible for inspiring the idea of snowboarding with the creation of The Snurfer died Wednesday, July 31, 2019 in Griffin, Georgia, according to a story on 
