The Snow Industries of America today confirmed what any snowboard retailer knows by heart–this last snowboard season was hard no matter how you look at it. No snow early season got everyone off to a dismal start, Christmas roared in as a valiant savior, but then things fell apart again. For retailers, the only consolation seems to be shared misery.
Snow sports unit sales declined 12% overall this season, including a 17% decrease in units sold through chain stores and a 14% decrease in specialty shops. However, Internet sales did rather well, and increased 10% this year driven by late season equipment and accessories sales. This may indicate that many retailers are using commerce enabled websites to move product when in-shop sales have slowed. Excluding carryover, online unit sales increased 15% through February and March this season, compared to February and March 2010/2011.
On Saturday night, May 12, 2012, high in the Hollywood Hills Pete Fox, Rob Dyrdek, and Jerome Mage hosted a rocking party to celebrate the launch of IVIand show off their complete sunglass collection. Bleached played, DJs Ana Calderon and Mom Jeans made music, and the heads mingled.
Personal friends of Rob stopped by to congratulate him on the line, including Ryan Sheckler, Keith Hufnagel, Dylan Reider, Chad Muska, Felix Argueles, and Steve Berra as well as several notable action sports stars, actors and television personalities including Josh Hanson, Dingo and Brody Jenner.
We even saw evidence of Agenda’s Aaron Levant up in the mix. For the official word from IVI and photos, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Those hunting, fishing outdoorsy, hatchett-throwing skaters at Bohnam have just dropped a couple nice new pieces for summer. Camo pockets? They got ’em.
Summer is here! Sorry to say we don’t offer a tank top yet, but you can use a scissor on any of our existing tees and go sleeveless
Indeed. To see more of their work, click the link.
Anyone who surfs sharp, slicing, grinder reef breaks knows that often the single most important thing to know is when the tide is right. That’s where tide watches come in. Nixon just upped their tide watch ante with their new one-piece silicone Supertide.
With pre-programmed tide charts and sunrise/sunset data for over 230 global surf spots, plus easy-to-use future tide and a heat timer, light and integrated push-button controls, it’s as fanatical about the waves as you. And on top of it all, the super-bright, high-resolution display takes this surf-specific model to another level. Available in all black, white, surplus, sky blue and red.
What else do you need? We’re always partial to white as it seems to show off our tans so nicely. . . To see the rest of the colors click the link.
On May 19, 2012 the Good Wood Skateboard Art Auction will open and run for one week. The auction features custom cruiser skateboard art by more than 80 artists including the following:
. . . Swoon, Matthew Barney, Richard Coleman, Ed Templeton, Neil Blender, Twist, Thomas Campbell, Lance Mountain, Cyril Lance Mountain, Jerry Hsu, Don Pendleton, Todd Batrud, and many more, the exhibit and auction benefits Power House Productions’ RideIt Sculpture Park.
By purchasing one of these one-of-a-kind you can help Detroit, Michigan getting rolling again. To check out the auction and bid beginning May 19, click here to visit GoodwoodExhibit.com. The auction closes on May 26, 2012. So don’t delay. For the official word follow the jump. [click to continue…]
2 John Florence lined it up and put it down in the finals of the Billabong Rio Pro today (May 16, 2012) against Joel Parkinson at Barra Da Tijuca.
Florence, who now sits at No. 6 on the ASP WCT, will look to carry the momentum from today’s massive victory to the upcoming ASP WCT events in Fiji and Tahiti. . . “This helps my confidence so much,” Florence said. “I have a lot of confidence going into events with barreling waves like Pipe. Obviously I have a lot of confidence in barrels from my experience at Pipe, but coming here, I wasn’t expecting a big result. I was just hoping to make a few heats.”
Second place bumped Parko into the ASP points lead for now, but we’re betting Florence’s jumps even more over the next two events. Duh, right? Follow the jump for the ASP Rio rundown, and we’ll get out of the way. [click to continue…]
It was an ugly day at Barra Da Tijuca for the 2012 Billabong Rio Pro as surfers returned to the waves after a four-day break. Storm surf threw up shifty, slamming four to six foot beasts for the Round 2 surfers to negotiate and survive. Those who did felt like victorious warriors. Two of the survivors were 2 John Florence (pictured above in a photo that makes it look much better than it was) and CJ Hobgood.
“These conditions are a giant equalizer no matter who you have,” Hobgood said. “You know you’re not going to get many chances. You could go from a dog fight trying to find 2s and 3s, that’s how slim it is and luckily a little later I got a chance on a left. It’s tough, there are not many out there. It looks easy from the beach and when you’re taking off you’re thinking, ‘I hope I make the drop here.’”
The event progressed into the first two heats of Round 3 with Tiago Pires defeating Owen Wright and Michel Bourez taking Brett Simpson out. For the official word and complete results from the day follow the jump. [click to continue…]
It was a women’s next wave showdown at Barra Da Tijuca, Brazil on Sunday, May 13, 2012 when Hawaii’s Coco Ho faced off against Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons in the women’s finals of the Billabong Rio Pro.
“That was so crazy and Coco (Ho) had me on the ropes for sure,” Fitzgibbons said. “I just had my fingers crossed and knew there would be one towards the end. I made a few mistakes and it happens in Finals but I was able to recover there at the end. I’m so excited.”
She wasn’t the only one. Coco Ho was pretty stoked about her first go at a world tour finals.
“This result really opens things up for me,” Ho said. “I’ve been having a really tough year and I’m stoked to get into this Final. This is my best result of the year and this has been an important event for me. Congrats to Sally on her win.”
For complete results and the official word from the ASP, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
If you didn’t watch it live online (you can now) Pedro Barros won his second consecutive Pro-tec Pool Party on Saturday May 12, 2012. Rune Glifberg was second, Bucky Lasek was third. Follow the jump to read the official word from Pro-tec if you’d like, but the best way to see what went down it to just watch it yourself right here. [click to continue…]
This year’s contest will be another legendary face-off with a Pro division filled with past winners led by defending champ Pedro Barros, Rune Glifberg (’05, ’07, ’08), Bucky Lasek (’09, ’10) and Omar Hassan (’06), and a Master’s field featuring 6-time winner and Combi master Chris Miller, Steve Caballero (’10), and the iconic Tony Hawk returning to the pool for his second year.
Click play to watch live, or follow the jump for a complete schedule of events. [click to continue…]
