by The Editors on March 31, 2010
Hard to believe though it may be, Brad Dorfman’s creation Vision Street Wear is still alive as a clothing brand thanks to a new licensing deal between owner Collective Licensing International and Bioworld Merchandising (the company behind Jersey Shore clothing) according to a post on Sports One Source.
Under the design and manufacturing licensing agreement, Bioworld will help accelerate the momentum that Vision Street Wear has experienced since its re-launch in Summer 2009. The Vision Street Wear line created by Bioworld will include t-shirts, hoodies and bottoms, as well as headwear, bags, belts and other items and will be found at boutiques, specialty stores, malls and mid-tier distribution in the United States.
Just another reminder to never underestimate the value of a dead brand.
[Link: Sports One Source]
by The Editors on February 24, 2023
The word from Sporting Goods Business is that the hilariously miss-named zombie brand reanimator Authentic Brands Group (controlled by Jamie Salter) is closing in on a purchase of Quiksilver, Billabong, DC Shoes, Roxy, and Element parent company Boardriders, Inc. For those keeping track, this would make Salter the undisputed king of action sports. No one else is even close.
Authentic Brands Group has proposed a new term loan that it plans to use to support a potential acquisition of Boardriders, Inc., according to a report from Moody’s. . . Boardriders, owed by Oaktree Capital Management, has long been rumored to be on the selling block.
ABG already owns Vision Street Wear, Airwalk, and a very large piece of Volcom. And to think, he started out with the lowly Kemper Snowboards. Talk about tenacity in the business world. Someone hand Mr. Salter a medal!
[Link: SGB Online]
by The Editors on November 2, 2020
It’s been much too long, and so is this list of news headlines that may or may not resonate with you on a pre-election Monday at the start of the month of November.
Who knows what the future holds, in the meantime, look busy while scrolling this big old list of stories that jumped out at us. Click the jump for more.
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by The Editors on October 4, 2019
It was only a matter of time before old media sports titan Sports Illustrated felt the bite of digital publishing, and that time was yesterday according to a story in The New York Post.
Zombie brand collector Jamie Salter’s Authentic Brands Group, which purchased the venerable Sports Illustrated brand in May 2019, ended up cutting 40 of the magazine’s 150 staff members on Thursday October 3, 2019 through their contract publisher Maven.
As news of the impending cuts circulated, about three-quarters of the staff signed a petition calling on SI’s new owner, Authentic Brands, to rescind its 10-year licensing deal with digital publisher The Maven, headed by Jim Heckman. . . “The Maven wants to replace top journalists in the industry with a network of Maven freelancers and bloggers, while reducing or eliminating departments that have ensured that the stories we publish and produce meet the highest standards,” read the petition, which was first reported by NPR.
Why is this interesting to us? Well, Mr. Salter was involved with Kemper Snowboards, co-founded Ride Snowboards and, in addition to Sports Illustrated, currently owns Airwalk, Vision Street Wear, and most of Volcom. And if things keep going in this direction he will eventually own everything. Yes, he’s seems to have a knack for reanimating profits from dead brands.
[Link: The New York Post]
by The Editors on May 29, 2019
It’s official, Jamie Slater and his Authentic Brands Group of zombie brands (which now include Volcom, Airwalk, Vision Street Wear, and 47 others) has purchased the softcore skin and sports magazine brand Sports Illustrated from Meredith Corp for $110 million dollars, according to a story on Variety.com.
Under terms of the deal, Authentic Brands acquires the rights to market, develop and license Sports Illustrated and its kids’ edition as well as its swimsuit and “Sportsperson of the Year” franchises, along with the magazine’s photo archive. Meredith will pay a licensing fee to operate the editorial operations of Sports Illustrated in print and in digital for a minimum of two years. Editor Chris Stone and Publisher Danny Lee will continue to lead Sports Illustrated at Meredith.
So, Meredith is selling the brand and then paying to run the print magazine into the ground while ABG gets to re-animate Sports Illustrated by slapping it on all kinds of products until no one remembers what SI was all about in the first place. Chalk that up as another win-win for ABG.
[Link: Variety]
by The Editors on April 2, 2019
It’s hard to believe, but it appears that eventually every dead fashion brand ends up in Jamie Salter’s hands. So it should be no surprise that he was able to add Volcom to his arsenal of 50 zombie brands which also includes Airwalk and Vision Street Wear.
“We are thrilled to have completed the purchase of Volcom,” said Jamie Salter, Chairman and CEO of ABG. “For nearly three decades the Volcom family has created one of the most iconic brands in the skate, surf and snow markets. During the last few years, the brand has been consistently gaining traction with broader audiences around the world while staying true to its core. We could not be happier to finally get to work with this team.”
Yes, this is an over-simplification of the deal which includes the creation of a new operating group run by Todd Hymel and the current Volcom management of which ABG is a minority partner, but hey at least Vee-Co is out from under the French and zombie brands live forever.
For the official word and no mention of how much ABG paid for Volcom (last time it sold for $607 million, this time we’re guessing much, much, much less) please follow the jump.
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by The Editors on November 13, 2018
Zombie brand extraordinaire, Airwalk, is hoping to ride the 90s wave of nostalgia right back to the top of the footwear game with the launch their latest “global ad campaign,” according to current owner Authentic Brands Group (Jamie Salter is the CEO, remember him?) The new campaign is titled Teen Spirit. Can you smell it? Here’s how they pitch it.
Returning to the brand’s roots, the 2018 campaign embraces the spirit of the Southern California teen that established Airwalk’s place in 90s culture. It gives consumers a candid look into the individuality, self-expression, and free-spirit that has shaped Airwalk’s identity for more than 30 years. . . .The campaign features The One, the Bloc, the Random, the Jim Lo, the Vic, and the Prototype. This assortment highlights Airwalk’s best sellers and a peek into what’s to come for the brand.
This just makes us miss footwear marketing/design genius Sinisa Egelja all the more. Hard to believe it has been nine years since his death on October 26, 2009. For the official word from Authentic Brand Group (which also owns Vision Street Wear), please follow the jump.
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by The Editors on September 27, 2010
Tony Hawk has a new book out and this time he’s written it with his sister Pat Hawk (who has time to write their own books these days). It’s titled, How Did I Get Here? The Ascent of an Unlikely CEO.
Fast Company spoke to Tony about the book and asked him what his biggest mistake has been.
I was 18 or 19 — I was just signing my name on the dotted line everywhere I went. This one company was making Velcro wallets — really bad pink and blue ones. Probably the worst part for me was it ripped off the Vision Street Wear logo and made them say TONY HAWK GEAR. I didn’t even see them until they were in the store. That was the tipping point for me: I learned not to allow someone else to use my likeness and my name like that.
Oddly, he didn’t mention the Tony Hawk Helmet Cam deal with Prime Entertainment in which he was forced to sue for $115,000 plus punitive damages. How Did I Get Here comes out Tuesday, October 5, 2010. Click here to buy a copy.
[Link: Fast Company]
Hard to believe though it may be, Brad Dorfman’s creation Vision Street Wear is still alive as a clothing brand thanks to a new licensing deal between owner Collective Licensing International and Bioworld Merchandising (the company behind Jersey Shore clothing) according to a post on Sports One Source.
