In his story A Chronicle of Doing It: Nike and DestructionKyle Beachy (an assistant professor of English and Creative Writing at Chicago’s Roosevelt University) rolls through the history of Nike and skateboarding pointing out the obvious dichotomy between corporate cobbling and the core skateboarding market along the way.
Here’s a sample:
I submit that Grant Taylor is one of perhaps three skaters recognizable more by his shoe sponsor than board company. It is the same sponsor who weathered the PR nightmare of sweatshop injustice, elbowed themselves into golf and soccer, supports SOPA, and might, though they have no reason to, someday manufacture their own skateboards. Because why not. The same sponsor whose strategy will clear away the clutter of poorly- and skater-run, middling footwear companies, the inept and frail and upstart alike, acting as our free market’s grand systematic broom. Whatever Nike’s next step is, it will be, like Grant Taylor, bigger and faster. We will ignore the rubber gloves and hear the parrot’s squawk as our own. Bigger, faster, bigger, bigger, bigger.
The aforementioned quote is in fact the conclusion to the piece, but read the whole story anyway because Beachy pretty much covers every angle of the Nike vs. Core discussion and ends up where we all do: with the realization that the winning brands are the ones who do it better than everyone else. And while it sometimes sucks to admit that, it is so true that we’re almost embarrassed even mentioning it.
Aaron Easter, a 32-year-old snowboarder, was found “unresponsive” at 11:30 AM on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at Steamboat Ski Area, near the “intersection of Buckshot and Quickdraw,” according to a story on CBS Denver 4. He was riding alone at the time.
Those who found him immediately began CPR until Ski Patrol arrived on scene. Ski patrol then continued to administer CPR while Easter, 32, was brought down the mountain to a Routt County Ambulance. . . Easter was transported to the Yampa Valley Medical Center and later flown to Denver Health Medical Center. That’s where he died.
According to a story on First Tracks Easter was found “in a depression where snow had been undermined by ground water. The hazard had been marked by the resort’s ski patrol at the time.” Investigators are still looking into the accident. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
Video nerd alert! Ever wondered how the title sequence of Travis Rice’s The Art of Flight was done? Studio Daily talks with Bozeman, Montana’s Helio Collective on exactly how they did it.
“Working on Art of Flight was an amazing opportunity to combine motion graphics with beautiful live action,” says Chris Murphy, Helio’s founder and creative director. “We were part of everything, including conception, shooting, and editing for the intro title sequence and it really helped us capture the mood and tone of the film.”
They also used Maxon’s Cinema 4D and Andersson Technologies SynthEyes. Nope, doesn’t mean a thing to us, either. But it almost makes us want to see the movie once and for all.
The Winter X Games hype is beginning to build and Spy Optic is apparently in on the program as the title eyewear sponsor of Winter X Games 2012.
“The SPY crew is amping on this sponsorship because it properly underscores our commitment to snow sports generally and at the same time allows us to back the tremendous talent we have on our snow team roster,” says Kevin Casillo, SPY marketing manager. “Our snowboarders, skiers and snowmobilers put a lot of preparation and training toward this contest so we’re stoked to help make the X Games rad for them and the fans in attendance.”
This sponsorship will obviously allow Spy to “activate” on site with all the Aspen locals who crowd the base lodge to catch all the action. The games begin tomorrow (on cable) with the snowboard street final. (Do people still have cable?) Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
The Vans Skateparkin Orlando, Florida celebrated one last Steve Van Doren grill and Tony Trujillo and Omar Hassan skate session on Friday, January 20, 2012, before the bull dozers roll in and remove the entire mall, according to a post on the Vans site.
After 10 magical years in our skatepark in Orlando we are sad to have to say goodbye. The mall that we occupied for the past decade is being leveled to the ground to build…another mall. . . All of the wooden ramps were broken down over the weekend with the wood and Skatelite being divvied up between The Skatepark of Tampa, a number of local area skateparks as well as being being driven up to our House of Vans in Brooklyn for a facelift and resurfacing.
We’re glad Vans stuck with it as long as they did and they found good homes for the ramps.
TransWorld Media’s Editorial Director Rob Campbell commented, “There are few people in this industry who have the kind of professionalism and aptitude for understanding the ‘big picture’ like Nick does. From conceptualization to execution, he can make it all happen.”
Hamilton is apparently ready for the task (be it with a somewhat smaller staff after the exit of editor Annie Fast at the end of 2011).
“I am very excited for this opportunity and am ready to take on new challenges as we continue to expand our brand,” Hamilton said. “It is really important for us as a media company to adapt to change constantly, because in this new digital world, nothing stays the same for very long.”
Holden is proud to support Impossible on their mission to bring analog instant photography back to life by offering limited edition Holden X Impossible camera kits, which will include a Holden customized and refurbished vintage SX-70 Polaroid camera, Holden X Tanner Goods leather camera case, and custom Holden X Impossible co-produced instant film and filter presented in a custom wooden box.
But all that retro goodness isn’t all. Holden has also lined up 10 “well-known” photographers to use Impossible film and shoot the things they shoot, then those images will be collected into a traveling exhibition and shown around the world, and more importantly at Art Basel Miami Beach. For more info follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Truth: we can’t really get enough of the wooden artwork of Haroshi. And because of that we’re posting this video from the HUF x Haroshi x DLX opening party that happened a whole three weeks ago at HUF LA. That’s all.
We’ve barely begun processing Kelly Slater’s new Quiksilver travel clothing/gear/store concept VSTR and already it appears that the brand’s marketing VP Jesse Faen is on his way out and off to the wilds of South America.
The former Insight marketing guy, who had only been at Quiksilver since August 2011, recently updated his Facebook page with the following: “worked at VSTR (VP of Marketing) from Aug 2011 to Jan 2012.” His wall was updated today saying he has “tickets booked, so stoked. We leave LA the 11th of Feb, off to Chile and a whole new chapter of life about to begin.”
Obviously, we have no idea what we (or Faen) are talking about, so anyone with a little more info is encouraged to chime in. Or not.
In his story A Chronicle of Doing It: Nike and Destruction Kyle Beachy (an assistant professor of English and Creative Writing at Chicago’s Roosevelt University) rolls through the history of Nike and skateboarding pointing out the obvious dichotomy between corporate cobbling and the core skateboarding market along the way.
