As one of those people who skated in Accels or derivatives like the Square One more than any other single shoe over the past 10 or 12 years, I mourn éS, though partly it’s out of confusion as to how the company with the little tilde thing wound up on the chopping block as opposed to others shopping for some pro-backed identity in an overcrowded segment.
But the bigger question the writer asks, and one we’ve often had about Sole Tech in general, is this: “might things have turned out differently if Pierre-Andre had cut Koston in via an equity stake?” Click the link for the rest. . .
In a review of magazine advertising for the first half of 2011 (January through June) the The Association of Magazine Media is reporting that business is slightly up compared to 2010. But only by 1.3 percent. In the action sports magazine space*, however, Transworld Media is pulling through with gains much higher than the average on every title except Skateboarding andWakeboarding.
Here’s how the titles look in order of performance based on total advertising pages sold in first six months of the year (click here for past reports):
Over the weekend the Caffeinated Corn Syrup Tour stopped in Portland, Oregon and the skateboarding went a little like this: P-Rod won the street skate event (see his run above), and Bucky Lasek won the pro bowl.
Kelly Clark won her tenth consecutive halfpipe contest, and Japan’s Ryo Aono (picutred left) stomped past Louie Vito to finish off at the 2011 Burton New Zealand Open. Mark McMorris and Jamie Anderson won the slopestyle comp.
Ryo Aono’s championship run started strong with a Frontside 1080 which lead into a Cab 1080, Frontside 900, Backside 900 and Frontside 1080 Double Cork. In second was Louie Vito (USA) with a Crippler, Backside 540 Mute, Frontside 1080 Double Cork, Cab 1080 Double Cork Truckdriver and Frontside 1080. Coming in third was Iouri Podladtchikov with a run that included a Cab 1080, Crippler, Backside 1260 Double McTwist and Frontside 1080.
For more official details and all the results follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Today, Sole Technology owner Pierre André Senizergues, called Shop-Eat-Surf (apparently it’s his favorite shopping, eating, and surfing blog) and told them that he is officially “putting éS on hiatus.” Which is a nice way of saying putting the footwear brand out of its misery.
Sole Tech will deliver éS product through Spring 2012. Then the brand will go on “creative retreat,” Pierre said. . . “At the end of the day, it’s about being ready with the dynamic of economy, being focused and pushing what’s the best,” he said. “And what needs adjustment, you put back in the garage and retool it before relaunching it at the right time.”
Well, that’s one down. Wonder which brand will be the next to “take a break”?
Action mall retailer Zumiez announced today that they have named former online jewelry executive Marc Stolzman as their new CFO, according to a story on Marketwatch.
Stolzman, 45, will receive an annual base salary of $310,000 and a potential bonus between 65% and 130% of his base pay, prorated based on his start date, according to the filing. In addition, he will receive stock options worth about $600,000 and restricted stock worth about $300,000, both vesting over a four-year period.
If Stolzman, a former VP at Starbucks, is as good with Zumiez finances as he was with his employment contract the company is going to be in great hands.
Writer Thad Ziolkowski, whose memoir On a Wave reportedly tells the story of a “disenchanted, unemployed English professor” who goes surfing in Queens only to be reminded of his youth as a surfer in Florida, had a few words for the New York Times today about Quiksilver’s upcoming New York Pro surf contest.
In an editorial titled: New York’s Urban Aloha he had the following to say about a large West Coast fashion brand invading his personal peak.
Imprinting the Quiksilver brand on New York’s burgeoning surf scene makes perfect sense from a business perspective, but the corporate siren song threatens to sour the mood of surfing in New York, which for the moment remains a bastion of surf spirit. It’s a spirit that companies like Quiksilver claim to value but have in fact helped degrade elsewhere, peddling a vision of surfing’s blithe, blue allure that studiously omits the ugly realities of overcrowding that such marketing abets.
Leave it to the New York Times and a writing professor to use 990 words to say: “locals only.”
What do you do after you sell your start-up time keeping company to Billabong for millions of dollars? Well, if you’re business jock (and Nixon co-founder) Andy Laats you spend your spare time with a group called the “Angel Investing Group of San Diego Sports Innovators” looking for daring new action sports companies who can take a little money and turn it into a lot, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Attracting the money to fund these new companies is the next step for this group that is headed by former basketball star Bill Walton. The event was held at his house, which is like walking into a rock ’n’ roll, basketball, Grateful Dead overgrown rain forest complete with tennis court and even a teepee. He dragooned his gang — which included Bill Strauss (Provide Commerce), Jeff Jacobs (Qualcomm), Scott Kaplan (XX 1090), Andy Laats (Nixon Watches), Ted Roth (Roth Capital), Jim Morris (private investor) and another 30 investors — who listened to presentations from three action sports companies.
Which reminds us, there is nothing more fun than spending other people’s money.
The next time you’re on the island of Tavarua, and think you’re just killing it at Restaurants, don’t remember this Riley Blakeway footage of Kelly Slater. It would likely ruin your whole trip.
A Tacoma, Washington KeyBank was robbed yesterday (Thursday, August 11, 2011) by two people wearing “Volcom brand hooded sweatshirts that zip to the top of the head, creating a mask,” according to a story in The News Tribune.
Two people wearing masks held up the KeyBank, 1102 S. 11th St., about 9:45 a.m., police said. One robber had a gun. The employees were ordered to empty their tills and the robbers left on foot with an undisclosed amount of money.
We always wondered what those hoodies were designed for. We’re kind of surprised they didn’t go with the ninja slim.
Boil The Ocean, a blog that has a much more serious skate shoe fetish than we ever will, questions Sole Technology’s “hiatus” of éS today in a post titled Who Killed éS Footwear?
