Holden Outerwear (and now all-season wear) has announced they are leaving Portland, Oregon and doing what many ambitious people have done before them–they are moving to Los Angeles to pursue fame and fortune.
Scheduled to open in early July 2012, the move represents a significant commitment to the brand’s long-term strategy of extending Holden from Summit to Sea with a four-season offering. . . “Having spent the past ten years in Portland making the best snow products, this move is an exciting way to extend the Holden experience outside of our focus on the winter lifestyle and into year-round goods. LA is going to be about new energy, new products and new friendships.” says Holden co-founder Mikey LeBlanc.
Of course, they say their “commitment to snow sports and its Northwest heritage will remain intact.” But we all know what LA does to people. . . For the official word, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
The official press release mentions in the headline that there were some “shock upsets” on day one of the 2012 Nike Lowers Pro. The “shocks” they were talking about were another interference call on Julian Wilson (a repeat from last year), Glen Hall taking out defending champ Miguel Pupo, and Nike’s biggest disappointment, Kolohe Andino falling to Evan Geiselman and Tim Reyes in Round 1.
By why focus on the losers in the headline? Sure, we’re bummed we’re not going to see more of Julian Wilson and Kolohe surfing Lowers, but “shocked?” Not really. We’re just glad 2 John Florence and Gabriel Medina were out destroying the place, and we’re looking forward to more of that.
Jack Mitrani and Danny Davis explain exactly what is happening this summer at the the 2012 Frendly Gathering June 14-16 at Timber Ridge Mountain in Windham, Vermont. Apparently, this summer’s event is going to be bigger than ever with word class musicians of all kinds. Can’t say we’ve heard of (or enjoy) many of the bands on the bill, but the rest of the Vermont shred hippie gathering looks like fun. Click the link to see if it’s something you’re into.
Marchone Eyewear, Inc. (manufacturers nearly every fashion eyewear brand you can think of: Calvin Klein, Diane Von Furstenberg, Fendi, Jil Sander, etc. . . . ) today announced that they have purchased Dragon Alliance for an undisclosed amount.
Will Howard, founder and CEO of Dragon, started the brand in 1993 from his garage in Capo Beach and has seen it grow into an internationally recognized brand. “We are very excited about becoming part of the Marchon family,” said Howard. “With their support and shared vision for Dragon, we will become an even stronger company, while remaining true to our heritage.”
Seems to be the only way to make it in the eyewear business these days. . . For the official word follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Upon closing, Wolverine Worldwide will acquire Collective Brands’ Performance + Lifestyle Group (PLG), which will continue to operate out of Lexington, MA. PLG had revenue of more than $1 billion in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012. . . Payless will be acquired by Blum Capital and Golden Gate and will continue to be headquartered in Topeka, KS and CLI in Englewood, CO. Payless and CLI had combined revenue of approximately $2.4 billion in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012, operating over 4,300 Payless retail stores globally at year end.
Guess this means Airwalk, Vision Streetwear, and Sims, get to stay in the Payless family only now they’ll be owned by Blum and Golden Gate Capital. As one of our more astute commenters pointed out to us, this sounds like a great opportunity for Jamie Salter to jump back in and grab a couple more brands . . . again.
The Fred Water Legends Bowl Contest will have an ordered jam session format in the Shark Bowl. It is a black backyard style amoeba pool with a four-and-a-half foot deep shallow end, six foot deep pockets and a nine-and-a-half foot deep end. It’ll be amazing to see the legends dominate the bowl’s death boxes, shallow-end stairs and Tedderstone pool coping. . . All of the day’s events give skateboarders, sponsors and the community a chance to have fun while giving back to raise funds for A.skate. The A.skate Foundation is a non-profit that allows kids with autism to be a part of the social world through skateboarding. They hold clinics for kids with autism at no cost to the families, give grants to kids with autism for skateboard gear, as well as promote awareness and education.
For all the details and a full list of all the bowl skaters who will be ripping the coping out of Shark Bowl click the link. [click to continue…]
This is a view none of us would ever see if it weren’t for the Contour helmet camera Travis Rice has strapped to his head during his first run at the Super Natural at Baldface. Nothing else to say really.
After accidentally catching a thresher shark by the tail and having it drown while trying to bring it in to unhook it, two men in New Zealand decided to tow the shark back out to sea. On the way out one of guys decided to surf the shark while it was being towed behind the boat the other shot video and posted it on Facebook, according to a story in the Otago Daily Times. That’s when everyone got upset.
Mark Collins said he regretted his decision to make a video of his friend Eddie Bithell surfing on a dead thresher shark in the Western Bay of Plenty but said the story had been misrepresented. . . Mr Wright said they had taken the dead shark to shore and left it overnight before taking to back out to sea the next day. . . “The shark had been dead for around 30 hours. It was on a separate trip, we were taking the shark back out to feed it into the food chain,” he said.
Unfortunately, the video has been removed so none of us will ever get the chance to see it.
Angry, golf cart driving, skateboard grabbing, kid choking, smart ass Baltimore Police officer (and Internet Celebrity) Salvatore Rivieri is thankfully still fired even though the Baltimore Police Union thinks he is such an amazing officer that they are fighting his removal from the police force all the way to Maryland’s Court of Appeals (and maybe the Supreme Court), according to a story in the Baltimore Sun.
Maryland’s second highest court on Friday upheld the firing of a Baltimore police officer who was caught on video berating and pushing a 14-year-old skateboarder at the Inner Harbor in 2007. . . The Court of Special Appeals ruled that Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld III had the authority to terminate the 19-year veteran officer, Salvatore Rivieri, despite a recommendation from an administrative hearing board that he be suspended for six days and lose six days of leave.
For those following along this is the second time a high court has upheld Rivieri’s firing. The last time was in March of 2011. To anyone who watches this video (even five years later) it is almost laughable that Rivieri ever had a badge in the first place. He is a disgrace to anyone who wears a badge and the the Baltimore Police Union should be ashamed that it spent the last five years in court trying to keep him on the force.
