by The Editors on September 19, 2017
Billabong International has named Michael Marckx, the former CEO of Spy, as their new global general manager for the VonZipper brand.
“Michael brings a unique combination of left- and right-brained freakiness that is the kind of disciplined yet spontaneous energy the VZ brand will thrives with,” said VonZipper founder Greg “GT” Tomlinson. “Not only are we going to expand the VZ product offering, our brand is going to stand out in fun ways just as it did originally, as we have done since rocking the category in 2000.”
Seems like a great fit for everyone. For the official word from VonZipper, please follow the jump.
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by The Editors on November 2, 2011
As of December 15, 2011 current Spy Optic CEO Carol Montgomery is moving to the company’s board of directors and Michael Marckx will get to trade in his president title for that of the chief executive officer.
“The past several months have been very positive for Orange 21 and SPY. Carol was consulting for the Board when we appointed her CEO in April 2011. She completed her mission ahead of schedule and above expectation,” said Seth Hamot, Orange 21 Chairman of the Board. “Carol will continue to play a strategic role as a member of The Board. Michael Marckx was instrumental as President in reinvigorating the SPY brand and developing innovative sales strategies and product extensions. Michael Angel’s contributions have helped us put the Company on a more solid foundation.”
Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 30, 2015
Spy announced today that they will be the official eyewear sponsor of all eight Powdr-owned and operated resorts and Snowbird Ski and Summer Resorts. That means the you can look for Spy eyewear on employees at Copper Mountain, Mt. Bachelor, Boreal, Ski & Snowboard Las Vegas, Soda Springs, Killington, Pico and Gorgoza Park (looks like that last one’s a sledding hill).
“We’re very happy to enter into an exciting union with Powdr,” says Michael Marckx, SPY president and CEO. “Bolstering our commitment to snow, this opportunity will allow us to spread the cheeks of Powdr resort visitors each season through our happy presence. It will also allow us to gain vital feedback from retail employees and resort staff regarding our sunglass and goggle offerings, most notably our Happy Lens and Lock Steady™ quick change goggle technology. This is our largest partnership with a mountain resort in the history of SPY, and we’re looking forward to expanding SPY’s presence on-hill and in the market.”
For the official word from Spy, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on June 3, 2014
Spy Optic is celebrating 20 years of sunglass making with the Happy 20 Collection. The retro forward sunglasses come in three limited edition styles: the Fore, the Union, and the Heir.
“SPY has now been on the vanguard of eyewear evolution for twenty years,” says Michael Marckx, SPY president and CEO. “The Happy 20 Collection combines our distinct design heritage with our current technologies to make something for people who have been with SPY all along and for those who are just hopping on the train. Plus, we give a nod to where we are all headed. In any form, we promise you’re in for a fun ride.”
The glasses are built with recycled metals, plus Spy’s 100 percent biodegradable Plantate frame material. And, they feature Happy Lenses as well. Thought they wouldn’t? The retail from between $130 to $170. For the official word from Spy, follow the jump.
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by The Editors on March 20, 2014
Spy released more mostly good news today while reporting financials for the year ended December 31, 2013. The company reported sales of $37.7 million. And that’s up $2.6 million over 2012.
“With continued strong SPY® brand sales and an annual SPY® brand growth of 8% for 2013 over 2012, we are happy to once again generate annual growth and achieve our 11th quarter in a row of year over year growth of our SPY® brand products. What is also noteworthy is we had income from operations of $0.4 million during 2013 compared to an operating loss of $5.0 million in 2012,” said Michael Marckx, President and CEO. “We not only managed to significantly reduce our operating expenses for 2013, but also increased our margin to 50% in 2013 from 46% in 2012, which is a dramatic positive shift for us. This directly reflects the strong demand for our product offering as well as the operational and manufacturing efficiencies that we have achieved over the past year.”
They also cut their net annual loss in more than half be going only $2.9 million into the red compared to $7.2 million in 2012. Nice work all around. For the official word from Spy, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 13, 2014
Get ready for Spy branded everything. Spy announced today that they have signed a licensing agreement with the Irvine, California based company The J Fin Group to sell products “including, but not limited to, men’s and boy’s apparel, unisex accessories and consumer electronics.”
“The J Fin Group in partnership with Scope’s Business Services Platform is an exciting new partner for SPY,” says Michael Marckx, SPY CEO and president. “In addition to a number of other brands, they own and market the Split and Ambig brands and understand the unique market segments we serve: active, ‘happy to be outdoors’ surfers, snowboarders, skiers, motocross riders, cyclists, and beach goers. Our vision is to develop authentic and compelling product for each of these groups leveraging the SPY brand’s newfound strength in the market and its unique and irreverent ‘happy’ point of view. We are confident that our combined experience will allow us to successfully open new channels of distribution, attract new customers, expand the product offerings and provide meaningful growth opportunities for the future.”
For the official word from Spy, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on December 11, 2013
Apparently Spy President and CEO Michael Marckx didn’t have enough titles after his name so the Spy board of directed added him to the board. Yep, now he’s President, CEO, and Member of the Board of Directors.
“Michael has been instrumental, and inspirational, in ensuring that SPY’s truly innovative products and its unique message are resonating throughout the marketplace,” said Seth Hamot, Spy Inc. chairman of the board. “We happily welcome him to the Board!”
For the official world from Spy, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on November 5, 2013
Spy announced its 10th consecutive quarter of year or year growth when it release financials for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013. Q3 sales were up 3 percent over 2012 and sales during the last nine months were up 8 percent. to $29.1 million.
“We are very happy to have achieved our 10th consecutive quarter of year over year growth of SPY® brand products, with strong SPY® brand year to date sales growth of 8% in 2013 over of the same period in 2012, and year to date sales in 2013 were 19% higher than the same period in 2011,” said Michael Marckx, President and CEO. “In addition to the expanding Happy Lens™ Collection, we are pleased with the year to date growth of our Rx and goggle product lines that grew by 110% and 13%, respectively, in 2013 compared to 2012. The growth of these product lines helps diversify our revenue portfolio while expanding our SPY® brand. We achieved our third consecutive quarter of operating profit and had positive cash flow from operations. We believe our solid year to date results position us well for the fourth quarter of 2013 and into 2014.”
Spy is still moving in the right direction, yet still have a ways to go. For the official word from Spy, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 7, 2013
Spy finished off another quarter of increased sales and lower losses as they logged $19 million in sales for the first half of 2013, according to financials released today, August 7, 2013.
“We are really happy to have achieved our 9th consecutive quarter of year over year growth of SPY® brand products, with strong SPY® brand sales growth of 10% in the first half of 2013 over the first half of 2012, and the first half of 2013 was 29% higher than the first half of 2011,” said Michael Marckx, President and CEO. “Moving forward, our Happy Lens Collection is expanding to include a growing list of new styles and will be featured in our Rx, Performance and Goggle Collections, which will further leverage this innovation in many ways. On top of our successful Happy Lens launch, we are even more pleased with the combination of things we accomplished this half: solid sales growth, improved gross margins, lower operating expenses, positive cash flow from operations and income from operations. We believe this solid first half of the year helps to position us well for the balance of 2013.”
Unfortunately, the company is still not out of the red yet. Spy lost $1.3 million in the first half of 2013, down from $4.2 million in the same period of 2012. For the official word from Spy, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on March 21, 2013
Spy Optic continued on its long road to profitability in 2012 with a 13 percent increase in sales over 2011 and a $3.8 million cut in losses (Down to $7.2 from $11.02 million in 2011). With sales of $35.1 million in 2012, the company still has a ways to go, but President and CEO Michael Marckx is confident that things are headed in the right direction.
“With continued strong SPY® brand sales, and an annual growth of 13% for 2012 over 2011, we are happy to have achieved our 7th consecutive quarter of year over year growth of SPY® brand products. This is very encouraging for our efforts in 2013, as we have major initiatives lined up, the most important of which is our SPY® Happy Lens™ — the most innovative product SPY® has ever launched. These results also again suggest the strength of our renewed brand positioning and strategies, as also evidenced by increased market share driven by our unique new product collections,” said Michael Marckx, President and CEO. “We are also pleased that our efforts have really paid off with improved gross margins compared to the fourth quarter and annual results of last year. Our top line results were achieved despite significantly lower operating expenses, which in the fourth quarter of 2012 were 29% lower than the fourth quarter of 2011 and sequentially 25% better than the third quarter of 2012. These factors together with our strong annual growth, nicely improved margins, and substantially lower spending, are the hallmarks of a strengthening brand.”
For the official word from Spy follow the jump, or click here for full financials. [click to continue…]