by The Editors on October 20, 2008
Santa Cruz, California’s woman-owned shop Paradise Surf Shop has a new owner according to a story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Anna Macken, 26, saw a post on Craigslist and bought the shop.
“I have always known that I wasn’t interested in pursuing a high-powered career in, say, the financial district,” she said. “I was wondering which direction to take my life in, I knew I wanted to be able to surf and hang out with my son after he gets out of school and I came across a posting for the shop and pursued it.”
Macken is a single mom with a 6-year-old son and a degree from Mills college. According to the story she is currently working on a master’s in business administration there. There’s nothing like running a surf shop to introduce people to the realities of retail; especially in these times.
[Link: Santa Cruz Sentinel]
by The Editors on October 20, 2008
Lewis Samuels’ interview with Andy Irons was only up for two days before Surfline Editor Marcus Sanders had to shut the comments board down at 500 messages saying, “Thanks for all your comments; Andy’s seen some of ’em, and is taking the next month away from the spotlight. We’re closing down comments now, but stay tuned for more.. ”
Andy, unlike many professional surfers, says it exactly the way he see it no matter what. And that attitude is a magnetic attractor of opinions of all kinds. It’s difficult not to want to comment when a surfer says something like this:
No one really said shit when I was winning about how I acted. Now that I have a bad year, everyone is asking me to change, so let me tell you guys this: I have been on tour for the past 12 years. I have won 3 titles, and come runner-up who fuckin cares how many times. Do any of you people ever think about how draining it is to travel all year long, going to the exact same places, when the waves seem to almost always be shitty, trying to keep a winning attitude? You don’t see anyone giving Bruce shit about going off tour or losing in France with a 2, but that’s ’cause he never acted like he cared. Figure that shit out… You are on tour to win, and anyone who is on tour that says they don’t want to win is just saying that to make themselves feel better about losing. Dane might be an exception, ’cause he’s a little weird like that, but aside from him everyone cares. Saying they don’t is just a disclaimer.
This interview is great for so many reasons, mostly because it is so rare to read an honest interview in action sports. It obviously can cause problem for athletes when they do it, but we just want to say, “Thanks, Andy.”
[Link: Surfline]
by The Editors on October 15, 2008
Ray’s Apparel and Split Clothing will be no longer in 60 days according to an Adam Sullivan story on Transworld Business.
“Rays Apparel has always been a very profitable company,” explains Ray’s Apparel president Jim Stark. “We got into mid-2008, probably about May, and started running into the same economic woes and problems that our competitors have been having. And for the past four or five months, we’ve been losing money. And it certainly looks that way for the balance of the year.”
While more than 60 employees will reportedly be out of a job, Stark says Split will “continue shipping product into 2009.” The Split brand, however, is up for sale. . . seems like it would be a perfect for one of the mall chain stores. PacSun? Buckle? Zumiez? Anyone?
[Link: Transworld Business]
by The Editors on October 15, 2008
Beat-down Australian clothing brand Mambo is apparently hoping to relaunch itself back into the world of authentic surf with the help of Taj Burrow’s ex-girlfriend Cheyenne Tozzi and professional surfer Dayyan Neve, according to a story in Business Day .
Angus Kingsmill, who is part of a consortium that bought the brand in January, said the loud shirts that made the brand famous – but also contributed to it falling off the radar for trendy teens – would not make a comeback, though a modern incarnation of its farting dog T-shirt would. “We have to modernise the elements of music, art and humour but not walk away from them, as they are what made it great,” he said.
Sadly, the history of dead surf brand reanimation is loaded with mutilated corpses. Keith Curtain, publisher of the magazine Australian Surf Business, is right when he says that “the future success for Mambo will be rebuilding relationships with surf shops, door-by-door, brick-by-brick, sale-by-sale.” But the truth is it probably never will never make it back.
[Link: Business Day]
by The Editors on October 13, 2008
By edging Silvana Lima of Brazil in the final of the 2008 Beachley Classic 14-year-old Australian Tyler Wright became the youngest woman ever to win an event on the Women ASP.
In winning the final 13.64 to 12.84, Wright beat the record of Stephanie Gilmore who won the Roxy Pro Gold Coast in 2005 at the age of 17 . . . She emulated Gilmore’s 2006 effort of winning the Beachley Classic after grabbing the wildcard spot in the main draw by winning the trials. . . . “I wanted to win the trials and get into the main event, but when I went to the main event I wanted to go all the way just as Steph did in 2006,” Wright said.
Congrats, Tyler. Way to rock the old crew.
[Link: Livenews.com.au]
by The Editors on October 10, 2008
One of the green tickers up in the right hand corner this afternoon was Volcom even though it took what the Orange County Business Journal called “a wild ride” today. They’re saying VeeCo closed this Friday up because of a report by an analyst who said:
Volcom is in a position of strength boasting a balance sheet with no debt, approximately $80 million in cash and clean inventory levels,” Gallacher wrote. “While orders are weak from a shrinking addressable market, Volcom is one brand that continues to gain market share.”
Then again, the only companies in the space to not finish up today were PacSun, Billabong, and Globe. So maybe it had more to do with the market than with what Caris & Co. analyst Claire Gallacher had to say about it.
[Link: Orange County Business Journal]
by The Editors on October 10, 2008
WizzardX.tv is a new “site” created by podcast host Wizzard Media under the direction of a guy named Skip Fredricks. Here’s how they describe this new action sports video site in their press release:
WizzardX host, Emily Dickinson, will bring the tightest shots, gnarliest crashes and sweetest moves to life each week as the channel grows to include over 20 of the top podcast shows in the action sports genre. This week, Emily promotes four anchor shows, Dirt, Street, Snow and Water featuring some of the top professionals in their respective sport.
Okay, correct us if we are wrong, but there aren’t even 10 action sports podcasts worth watching and yet, WizzardX is going to include over 20?
Watching Wizzard X is like walking into some shady action sports past. All the footage is old, the events irrelevant, and the shows mostly unwatchable. The site seems to follow the idea that by throwing enough crap out on the web someone will eventually watch it.
Our big question: who do they think they’re going to fool with this? Certainly not the kids.
[Link: Wizzzardx.tv via Marketwatch]
by The Editors on October 10, 2008
Falling stocks really aren’t news these days, but we still have fun looking at the charts like this one from Quiksilver’s last year. With it’s $2.79 price today Quik has hit its lowest stock price since 1998.
We hate to admit it, but even to us it’s beginning to look like a bargain.
[Link: Yahoo! Finance]
by The Editors on October 10, 2008
That’s one big piece of street art. Guess a big model deserves a big space. It’s nice that Nike has something else to spend money on, isn’t it?
[Link: Hurley.com]
by The Editors on October 10, 2008
Matt Trouts of Eco Trash Bin Rentals and his friends in Agoura Hills, California didn’t think Kelly Slater was getting enough coverage for winning his 9th ASP World Championship so they came up with a plan:
We hung these signs from freeway overpasses here in LA with great pride. This is our proud group of surfers ending the day at a busy interesection in our home town. Just for the record…everyone honked for Kelly! As they should.
Matt, please consider this post as us “honking for Kelly.”
Santa Cruz, California’s woman-owned shop Paradise Surf Shop has a new owner according to a story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Anna Macken, 26, saw a post on Craigslist and bought the shop.
