According to an Associated Press story in the Washington Post, Billabong is one of seven companies listed as allegedly buying products from Brazilian sweatshops that are under investigated for slave labor by Brazilian officials.
Prosecutor Nei Vieira says 51 people were found to be working in unhealthy conditions and for little pay in such a shop in the city of Americana near Sao Paulo. Authorities say they expect to find more shops.
According to the story, Billabong said they had not been notified, but they were looking into it.
In financials reported today (August 19, 2011) by Billabong it appears that the company’s profits are down 18 percent from the year previous, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Billabong said it had been hurt in the year just ended by the strong Australian dollar and a weak retail environment. . . Billabong reported annual profit of $119.139 million in the year to June 30, down 18.4 per cent from the prior year. . . Revenue was 13.5 per cent higher, however, at $1.688 billion. . . Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were down 16.2 per cent in constant currency terms, and down 24.3 per cent in reported terms, Billabong said in a statement on Friday.
Apparently, the current financial storm isn’t over just yet.
It would appear that Quiksilver isn’t the only one getting ready for surfing NYC. According to TMZ, Lady Gaga has been training with some surf instructors in Mex and doing pretty well riding those little Mexican monsters. She’s apparently on the right track, baby.
Yes, a slew of parents are going to have to settle back into the day-to-day doldrums of having there kids around the house, as Windells summer season at Mt. Hood is now over. Hard to believe, but we’re all into that awful shoulder season when summer is over and winter is still a couple too=long months away. Until then, we’ll have to enjoy one last edit from Windells.
Today, (August 19, 2011) you can forget those last ditch efforts of flying to Tahiti, getting a taxi down to the end of the road, and talking your way onto a boat to join the flotilla to catch the boys free surfing at Teahupoo, because thankfully Billabong will be webcasting today’s free surf session live beginning at 1 PM PDT. Can’t think of a better way to spend the those last few hours at work before the weekend.
Bonfire and Salomon Snowboards have decided to collaborate on one website for the 2011-12 season. Not a bad idea when you think about what is involved with pointing people to your brand message.
“Bonfire and Salomon site users have increased dramatically over the last 3 years, our new sites, which are simple to navigate and loaded with new content, should help us continue to expand our web presence,” said Brand Director, Brad Steward.
Content and creative aggregation works. Follow the jump for the rest of the details. [click to continue…]
While we can’t really say we’ve been wondering what snowboardcross racer Lindsey Jacobellis has been up to this summer, Yobeat.com definitely let us in on a little of her singing summer. Apparently, this is a parody of song from the Disney movie Tangled. Wow.
It’s good to see pro skateboarders doing well as they get older, have kids, and roll forward. Ray Barbee seems to have things pretty much in tune if this Strange Notes @Home clip is any indication.
Well, it’s finally official. Holden Outerwear’s Mikey LeBlanc announced this week that Ben Pruess is Holden outerwear’s first CEO.
Effective immediately Ben will oversee Holden’s direction and strategic development as well as daily management of the organization. . . “We are all very happy to have Ben join us as a leader and a team member of Holden,” says company founder Mikey LeBlanc. “We’ve been successful at building beautiful and enduring products, but as we grow we need to improve on communicating the brand message and values. Ben will be instrumental in addressing this issue as well as tackling a wide variety of brand initiatives in the coming years.”
Pruess has been in the game for the distance. First as a touring snowboarder, then Airwalk (back in the glory days), Salomon/Bonfire, and most recently as Global VP of Adidas Originals. Nice to see him back in the snow. For the rest of the press release follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Lance Normine and Jen Sherowski built a little indoor skateboard park in Portland, Oregon called Commonwealth Skateboarding that has become a favorite hangout for people from around the world. Here is the story behind the park. Please excuse all the caffeinated corn syrup logos.
