Product designer Jason Kanes (right) has created loads of snowboard products over the years, most recently Omatic Snowboards with Todd Richards. Now Kanes has joined with long-time action sports attorney Marco Gonzalez of Coastal Law Group to launch a new action sports design studio and small business incubator called PRJCT.
A full service creative and technical design studio with substantial experience in materials sourcing and production logistics, PRJCT is particularly poised to assist private label brands to enhance existing product offerings and bring new ones to market smoothly and efficiently. Jason remarks, “We focus our work with design teams, product innovators, merchandisers, and executives to achieve consistent results, on deadline, and within established budgets.”
. . . grabbed the microphone from Alien Workshop Co-founder Chris Carter and told the hundreds of Zumiez’s employees, athletes and industry executives in attendance that he is buying the legendary skate company from Burton.
First he kickflips a car, now this? It would be understandable that Burton would want to shed a company that never seemed to make sense in its brand portfolio, but why Dyrdek would want to own a skateboard hardgoods company (aside from just keeping it alive) is anyone’s guess?
Burton’s Chief Operations Officer Mike Rees reeled in everyone a little in an email sent out early this afternoon (January 11, 2012) . “While Rob’s message was definitely premature, we did want to confirm that we are in an open dialog with him about a possible purchase,” Rees said. “At this point, please note that nothing is confirmed, and we will absolutely do a formal announcement when and/or if that transition happens.”
Not to laugh at someone else’s pain, but this Mt. Bachelor clip from January 6, 2012 had us splitting. “Ah, ah, ah. . . there’s so many rocks.” Turn it up.
The ESPN Winter X Games, scheduled for January 26-29, 2012 in Aspen, Colorado, include a video snowboarding competition called Real Snow. The first round of competition sees Dan Brisse vs. Nic Suavé, Scott Stevens vs. Halldor Helgason, Louis-Felix Paradis vs. Bode Merrill, and Jed Anderson vs. Pat Moore. We only watched the first face off (and voted for Dan), but you can click the link and watch them all. . . and then vote.
The Association of Magazine Media (formerly the Magazine Publishers of America) has released their numbers for the quarter October through December 2011 and things aren't looking good at Transworld Media, the only action sports magazine publisher tracked by the MPA. Here's how it looked from best to worst.
2011 2010 % Change
Total magazine advertising was down 8 percent in the quarter vs. last year so TransWorld Surf, Transworld Snowboarding, and Transworld Motocross were technically ahead of the market. Transworld Skateboarding, Ride BMX, and Wakeboarding obviously had some trouble. For a look at past coverage of the MPA quarterly numbers click here.
A snow storm that dumped 10 feet of snow in 48 hours has blocked off entire sections of the alps according to a story in the Telegraph. And it is supposed to keep snowing for the rest of the week.
In Ischgl, nearly 1,000 British tourists are ‘trapped’, while one Russian visitor reportedly managed to leave the resort by helicopter. . . Many huge trees have collapsed under the weight of the snow, further complicating road clearances.
The good news is that with all the roads closed all the new snow is out of reach for anyone who isn’t there. Get ready for some good footage to be coming out of Austria.
Obviously, the new Forum sponsored terrain park at Pennsylvania’s Seven Springs Resort was not built for us, but maybe someone can explain why anyone would want to buy a lift ticket and then pretend to snowboard in the streets, when they could just save the money and go snowboard in the streets instead? Is it the lifts? Is it the safe, wholesome family surroundings? This whole thing seems a little too sterile.
Those who don’t agree should hit up the Forum Seven Springs The Streets grand opening on Janaury 19, 2012. There will be parties, riding, and then more parties. Or as the release says:
With music blasting, drinks flowing and good vibes spreading, all you have to do is be at Seven Springs Resort in PA next Thursday, January 19th. If you can’t make it, stay tuned for a video edit and photo blasts on FORUMSNOWBOARDS.com.
Burton Snowboards has moved some chess pieces around in their North American sales structure after reportedly losing Clark Gundlach to Quiksilver. The Pacific Northwest’s Sasha Dietschi-Cooper is now vice president of North American Sales for Burton, Red, and Anon reporting to EVP of Product and North American Sales John Lacy. Lacy will also oversee Burton’s Resort Sales Program.
“We are more focused on our wholesale accounts and our resort partners than we have been in a long time, and our new structure will keep things moving in that direction,” said Jake Burton, Founder and CEO of Burton Snowboards. “As a company, one of our biggest priorities is to aggressively boost our support for local shops. We’ve already accomplished a lot through tweaking some of our sales programs and by investing in targeted marketing programs and creating more segmented product lines – all aimed at helping specialty retailers thrive. I couldn’t be more stoked on our new Sales structure, and I have full confidence that our Sales crew will continue to make supporting local shops their number one mission.”
Congrats to Dietschi-Cooper. For the official word follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Austin Smith and Bryan Fox better keep those Drink Water screen printing presses running after being featured in a New York Times story on January 7, 2012.
Fox and Smith say they find the heavy marketing of such products, especially toward younger fans, problematic. Top brands like Red Bull, Monster Energy and Rockstar have swarmed the international sports market, sponsoring athletes, events and video shoots in motorsports, surfing, snowboarding and skiing, mixed martial arts and others. Brand logos appear on event structures like half pipes, and on athletes’ apparel and equipment.
As Tony Hawk has taught us all, there is no way to be a action sporting super hero without having a video game or at least a good part in a video game. This new clip from Electronic Arts SSX would suggest that Travis Rice has been paying attention. The new SSX drops February 28, 2011.
Product designer Jason Kanes (right) has created loads of snowboard products over the years, most recently Omatic Snowboards with Todd Richards. Now Kanes has joined with long-time action sports attorney Marco Gonzalez of Coastal Law Group to launch a new action sports design studio and small business incubator called PRJCT.
