Tuesday April 24, 2018 is the day that Boardriders, Inc. (Oaktree Capital’s action fashion brand holding company) officially takes the reigns at Billabong. The company has wasted no time waving bye-bye to Billabong’s board of directors and others including Neil Fiske, Peter Myers, Tracey Wood, Jim Howell, Mara Pagotto, and Paul Burdekin. But that list is sure to get much longer of the next few weeks. And presented their list of new “appointments.”
“Today marks the beginning of what will be a turning point for our industry,” said Dave Tanner, Chief Executive Officer of Boardriders Inc. “With the combination of Boardriders and Billabong, we bring together the best of both companies, creating a dynamic enterprise under the Boardriders umbrella.”
At least we can agree with Dave on the whole “turning point for our industry” thing. Which way its turning will be up for discussion for years. We are happy to say that we still know two people at the new mega corp. If you’d like to check the list for your friends, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
We’re all looking forward to checking this one out — especially those of us who were fans of Andy Irons in spite of full knowledge that he was on the downward spiral. We hope Kissed By God can be both a celebration AI’s life and a cautionary tale for an industry that has all too often ignored serious personal issues in pursuit of quality marketing. You know what we mean.
Kissed By God premiere’s in Los Angeles, CA on May 2, 2018 at the Regency Village Theater. In Honolulu, May 6, 2018 at the Hawaii Theatre Center, and in NYC on May 10, 2018 at NYU Skirball. For all the details click the link.
We all love a good zombie story, so how’s this? Men’s fashion label Perry Ellis has just signed a deal with Kennek FZE in North Africa to “source and distribute a full range of products from surf boards and wetsuits to casual wear and footwear under the Gotcha brand.”
“We at Kennek are very proud and excited to join the Gotcha family and showcase the Gotcha brand’s action sports legacy. We look forward to expanding the Gotcha brand with franchises throughout Africa and seeing the success of the Gotcha brand in North Africa in the years ahead,” said Mamoun Tadili, CEO of Kennek FZE.
It’s not dead yet, in fact, they’re still using all the old photos because, you know, it’s retro now.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help those most affected Kauai’s Hanalei-Haena Flood. Over $200,000 has already been raised, but the goal is $1 million. Here’s what organizers Koral McCarthy, Gabby Reece, and Hannah Skvarla have to say about it.
Your donations will help us move past this devastation, and we will remain transparent about how they are being managed. Thank you for your patience as we continue to work out logistics while also doing our part with impacted friends and neighbors. Thank you so much!
Tomorrow is Earth Day, maybe you can do you part be helping some people in this specific part of the world. For all the details, please click the link.
A certain privately owned entertainment company specializing in event and online streamed content production (mostly surfing sport) has reportedly shut down their production at Western Australia’s Margaret River due to sharks.
Following two separate incidents that occurred at nearby Gracetown on Monday, April 16, approximately 6 kms away from primary competition site at Main Break, the [company] actioned safety protocols and met with a variety of stakeholders for feedback over the past 48 hours before making the decision to cancel the event.
So, guess that’s one’s over. Seems this whole surfing content production business would be much more profitable if they’d simply shoot it TV style on a sound stage somewhere. They could shot a whole season in three weeks and then distribute it online over the year.
If only there were a TV production facility that had perfect waves and no sharks. . . wait, doesn’t Kelly Slater have a ranch somewhere that could accommodate this kind of production schedule? Think of it — surfers would no longer have to travel the world all year. They could stay in one place, get their work done in one month, and then spend the rest of the year free surfing at home. People who wanted to watch them surf could travel to the ranch, buy tickets and watch. Kelly’s ranch could become the Branson, Missouri of surfing. If only. . .
We talked about this a while ago (November 1, 2017 to be exact), but it appears that the day of Kering’s off-loading of Volcom has officially arrived, according to a story on SGB Media.
“In accordance with Kering’s strategy to fully dedicate itself to the development of its luxury houses, Volcom no longer constitutes a core asset and Kering has initiated a disposal process,” the group said in a statement.
Disposal process? Wow. Kering bought Volcom in 2011 for $608 million will Wooly buy it back for $200 million? Could this happen, (please)? We’ll all just have to wait and see.
Billabong is continuing their artistic relationship with Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat to celebrate death, apparently, with the third iteration of their Andy Warhol x Jean-Michel Basquiat x Billabong Lab collection. Dead artists are the easiest to work with, obviously.
It’s official, last night (March 27, 2018) 95.45 percent of Billabong’s shareholders voted to sell the company to Boardriders (the parent company of Quiksilver, DC Shoes, et. al.) for $1.05 a share according to a story in the Daily Telegraph.
The successful offer represented a 35 per cent premium on Billabong’s closing price the day before Boardrider’s proposal was first announced in January. . . Boardriders chief executive Dave Tanner said the deal offered the best value for shareholders, employees, vendors and customers. . . “We are pleased to see that the Billabong shareholders recognised this value, and have approved the proposed acquisition,” Mr Tanner said. . . “We have now cleared a significant milestone, and we are one step closer to creating the world’s leading action sports company.”
So finally Billabong and Quiksilver are nestled together in the loving arms of Oak Tree Capital. What does this mean? Not a whole lot to anyone not financially involved in the deal.
If you’ve been following along, you’ll remember that Captain Liz Clark set sail from California in 2006 in pursuit of a life-long dream of surf exploration via sailboat. She’s been sailing ever since, and now she’s written a book about her adventures and would like to share it with you live at a Patagoina Store near you.
After more than a decade and 20,000 miles of solo sailing aboard the 40-foot Swell, her Pacific voyage has presented her with more fantastic friends, waves, adventures and personal growth than she dreamed possible. Patagonia is inviting everyone out to an evening of stories as Liz reads from her new book Swell: A Sailing Surfer’s Voyage of Awakening. Signed, limited edition copies will be available for purchase.
The events are FREE. For a complete list of all the tour stops, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Lib Tech Surf is proud to announce their new wakesurf line featuring Aaron Witherell’s “Air’n” model! And it looks pretty nice.
As life long surfers, snowboarders, skiers and skaters Lib Tech founders Mike Olson and Pete Saari along with the past and present Mervin Mfg crews have created a legacy of fun times through technological gravity toys. Inspired all along by surfing and aerospace composites Lib Tech surf was able to bring something completely revolutionary to the world of surfing with our proprietary eco friendly, technologically tougher, zero hazardous waste producing Eco Iso constructed boards made right here in Sequim, WA USA. Now we’re taking our state of the art tech to the lakes and rivers with our new wakesurf line!
And yes, we want one because thanks to Kelly Slater and his Wave Ranch we’re all wannabe wake surfers now. For the rest of the story from Lib, please follow the jump.
Tuesday April 24, 2018 is the day that Boardriders, Inc. (Oaktree Capital’s action fashion brand holding company) officially takes the reigns at Billabong. The company has wasted no time waving bye-bye to Billabong’s board of directors and others including Neil Fiske, Peter Myers, Tracey Wood, Jim Howell, Mara Pagotto, and Paul Burdekin. But that list is sure to get much longer of the next few weeks. And presented their list of new “appointments.”
We all love a good zombie story, so how’s this? Men’s fashion label Perry Ellis has just signed a deal with Kennek FZE in North Africa to “source and distribute a full range of products from surf boards and wetsuits to casual wear and footwear under the 
We talked about 
It’s official, last night (March 27, 2018) 95.45 percent of Billabong’s shareholders voted to sell the company to Boardriders (the parent company of Quiksilver, DC Shoes, et. al.) for $1.05 a share according to a story in the 
If you’ve been following along, you’ll remember that Captain Liz Clark set sail from California in 2006 in pursuit of a life-long dream of surf exploration via sailboat. She’s been sailing ever since, and now she’s written a book about her adventures and would like to share it with you live at a Patagoina Store near you.
