We’ve always loved G-Shock watches, but surfing for a week in their hard plastic bands once gave us tendinitis, so we dropped them for good. Now, all that may be a thing of the past with Slingshox. These silicon covers allow G-Shock owners to pop off the old G-Shock watchbands and slip the whole watch into a brightly-colored new housing.
“As a long-time fan and collector of G-Shock watches, it was a perfect fit to launch this strap accessory line to further push the boundaries of inspired timepieces for the fashion-conscious consumer,” said Brett Pulli, CEO of SlingShox. “ We plan to keep providing a fresh color assortment for our customer and will also be doing custom artwork collaborations that G-Shock enthusiasts will want for their own.”
Rubber covers for plastic watches. What will they think of next? The bands cost $25 and can be ordered here. Follow the jump for the details. [click to continue…]
We’ll admit it. Our only interest in watching this Frendly Gathering 2012 official video was the hope that it would feature long-haired, smooth-skinned Vermont hippie girls spinning around in the forest. While the video does, in fact, feature a few glimpses of hippie girls doing yoga, getting their faces painted, riding quads, and hoola hooping, it was a solid reminder that we didn’t miss a thing by not taking a early June trip to Vermont. Which is not to say the people who went didn’t look stoked out of their heads. They all seemed very happy with all the work the Frends crew and bands put into the weekend.
This Weekend Buzz features Braydon Szafranzki and Neen Williams. Neen got so messy that the Ride Channel had to place a alcohol warning at the beginning of the episode and lightened the whole set up so we can all see the room (or have we not been paying attention?). Nice upgrades. Check it.
Having spent the past few days in the shadow of Mt. Bachelor’s snow packed slopes it comes as little surprise that the mountain announced today that it would re-open June 29 through July 1, 2012. The place is loaded with snow.
Mt. Bachelor will be open for skiing from 7:30 am to 1:00 pm Friday-Sunday, June 29 to July 1, with daily lift tickets priced at $30 for all ages. A reduced-rate $20 daily lift ticket will be offered to all 2011/12 full season, midweek and 12-day pass holders. Skiing and Snowboarding will be available from the Summit Express chair, accessible via Pine Marten Express located in the West Village base area.
One more reminder that in the Pacific Northwest winter is never really over. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ: PSUN) no longer has the capital to compete. The retailer will be gone by the end of 2013. In the company’s most recent 10-Q, it said one of its biggest risks was running low on capital and not meeting financial obligations. . . What will happen to the retailer? It could be bought by a larger company — its market cap is only $108 million — or it may go out of business with its inventory sold to other retailers.
24/7 Wall St. hasn’t had the best track record when it comes to divining the future, but it’s hard to disagree with much of what they have to say about PacSun.
Panama City, Florida’s Warren Smith is one red hot, trend-setting, action sporter. Smith is apparently waiting for an energy drink sponsor “to call,” he has no spirit animal, and his eyes were “slaughtered. . . from the sun.” All this and more in an eight-minute-long profile video (A Clockwork Warren) from Morgan Maassen.
Today (in Australia) Billabong’s new CEO Launa Inman outlined the company’s short term plans during a conference call. In the call she reportedly spelled out plans for “raising more capital, downgrading earnings expectations, and undertaking a top to bottom review of all Billabong operations with the goals of reducing expenses, identifying efficiencies and improving the competitive positioning,” according to a story on Jeff Harbaugh’s Market Watch.
They want to raise 225 million Australian dollars (about $229 million U.S. dollars) by selling shares to existing shareholders at $1.02 for each new share, a 44% discount from the 1.83 Australian dollar share price before the trading halt. The offer is fully underwritten by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, which means that Billabong will get the money.
But not everyone is stoked on this stock offering, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald:
City Index analyst Peter Esho said the capital raising was a huge slap in the face to shareholders, particularly after Billabong rejected a generous offer from private equity giant TPG Capital four months ago. . . ‘‘Knocking back private equity’s $3.30-a-share takeover offer and then raising equity at $1.02 will no doubt see a lot of criticism from shareholders and rightly so,’’ he said. . . “You either participate or get massively diluted – a huge slap in the face again for shareholders,” he said.
The money will come in handy, it’s the “deep dive” into all of Billabong’s operations that should have some of the company’s acquired brands feeling cautious. We’re guessing there could be a few “efficiencies realized” that may not be all that popular with some Billabong employees.
A little over a week ago we rolled to Boreal Mountain Resort to check out the grand opening of Woodward’s new Tahoe facility. What we missed was the Birdhouse Team ripping up the place. Luckily, the Ride Channel has a Tony’s Crew episode that includes everything we didn’t see while we were up in the VIP getting free lunch including Riley Hawk, Slash, Curren Caples and Mike Vallely. Oddly, they left out all the footage from the private jet.
Thrasher Magazine says that Walker Ryan is “the best thing to come outta Napa Valley since Pinot Noir, Walker Ryan is an absolute stud on the stuntwood. Steady stompin’ nollie flips like grapes in a barrel…” Apparently, they are aware of the whole Napa Valley “wine thing.” And we thought they were all beer guys.
If you missed the live webcast of the infamous day the 2012 Volcom Fiji Pro didn’t run (June 8, 2012), then VeeCo has been nice enough to clip a little edit together so we can all watch it up close and personal.
