If there were one place in the VF fashion empire for an employee on the rise to prove his or her skills it would likely be Reef. The brand has roots, a strong following and quality product, but lately has been having some trouble in the direction department. Now, former The North Face Vice President RD&D Soft Goods Jim Gerson gets his chance to give it a go as President of Reef-Americas.
“Jim has spearheaded The North Face’s dedication to product innovation and has been a key contributor to the tremendous success of The North Face throughout his tenure with the brand,” said Stephen Murray, President of VF Action Sports Americas. “His successful background in managing key accounts in sales and leading merchandising initiatives brings to Reef a wide range of knowledge and experience from all angles of the business. I am confident that his expertise will prove to be a great asset to Reef.”
Gerson sounds like the perfect person for the job.
It’s the story of two law students who just didn’t want to be lawyers. So, they started their own little clothing label, threw up a blog and the rest is streetwear history. . . sort of. Here’s what The Hundreds had to say about it:
Aside from an analyst’s comparison of Ed Hardy as streetwear (OMG) and the accompanying photo of us in our warehouse bunk bed (not our idea, I swear), I think it does a darn good job of capturing our story. But maybe I’m biased.
Lately Craigslist has been getting heat for offering up thrills of a more adult style, but now a “respected” snowboard company based in “SoCal” is up for sale in the Orange County Business section of Craigslist.
Selling an action sports/snowboard brand on craigslist? Sure, why not?! Isn’t doing things in unusual ways what it’s all about? We would like to unload a burgeoning snowboard and action sports label (hardgoods & softgoods) to an interested party who could manage its affairs in a more successful & professional manner. Basically, we have “grown too much to be small” and we are still “too small to be big.” You can take this Action Sports company to the next level by purchasing or absorbing it as an already-existing independent brand with a unique market presence.
We don’t really know who Zacks Investment Research is, but they’re pretty hyped on the VeeCo stock right now saying that the company is at a “good entry point.”
Volcom has an impressive sales growth record. Continued distribution channel expansion, both domestically and internationally, along with a strong new product effort should support Volcom’s sales growth rate after the current economic weakness abates.
Now, if we just knew exactly when this “economic weakness” was “abating” we’d all be rich, rich, rich.
When Australian surfer Bob Aitkin ended up with two slashed arteries after a new surfer fired his rental board right back into Bob he ended up with huge medical bills and a few idea about people learning to surf and rental boards in general.
“I think all hire boards should carry large identification stickers so it’s easy to see where they were hired from should there be an incident. . . And maybe people hiring boards should pay a couple of dollars extra for some sort of insurance – just like you do when you hire a car.’’
Great ideas, but wouldn’t it be simpler to just require that all new surfers wear one of these?
Footwear comments from the chattering Mr. Ferrell. . .
An emerica. This isn’t even as good as a Birkenstock. Get the fuck out. Get the fuck out of here with emerica. What is that $19 at Kmart? This guy doesn’t even know shit about fashion and not only that, he’s cheapskate. Not only that he doesn’t know anything about orthepaedic footwear. Get the fuck out of here with your emerica. What is this, give me some good stuff. I want some Yves saint Laurent.
With the upcoming release of the Vans book we can expect many, many more of these profiles on Vans Shoes, but we never get tired of reading them. [Link: LA Times]
Coca-Cola is apparently stepping up its Olympic efforts by signing up six athletes, according to a Tripp Mickel story that we can’t read because we don’t subscribe to Sports Business Journal. And it appears that Gretchen Bleiler is on the team.
The company will be featuring snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, figure skater Evan Lysacek, hockey player Angela Ruggiero, speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno and the pairs figure-skating duo of Keauna . . .
And that’s where our free preview ended. Nice work, Gretchen. Now we’re thirsty.
For years elementary and middle school kids have been subjected to the horrors of team sports. Now, at Sierra Middle School in Tucson, Arizona students are finally getting the chance to learn skateboarding during physical education class.
The district is using a skateboarding curriculum developed by Skate Pass, a Boulder, Colo., company that introduced it to schools nationwide in 2006. Sierra is the first school in Arizona using the curriculum, and this makes Arizona the 21st state that has the curriculum in a district, said Eric Klassen, co-founder of the company.
Wait, is that extreme snowboarder and Wave Rave Snowboard Shop’sSteve Klassen’s brother? We think it is. . .
If there were one place in the VF fashion empire for an employee on the rise to prove his or her skills it would likely be Reef. The brand has roots, a strong following and quality product, but lately has been having some trouble in the direction department. Now, former The North Face Vice President RD&D Soft Goods Jim Gerson gets his chance to give it a go as President of Reef-Americas.
