by The Editors on December 15, 2010
Billabong has announced that profits in the quarter ending December 31, 2010 will be 8 – 13 percent down over last year according to a story on SmartCompany.com.au.
The company now expects net profit for the full financial year will be flat, after earlier predicting profit would increase 2-8%. . . Billabong shares have fallen 9% in initial trade to $8.09, as investors reacted angrily to the shock downgrade. . . Finally, the company said it has had problems getting Billabong brands into the host of retail outlets it has purchased in the last few months, including the Surf Dive ‘n’ Ski and Jetty Surf chains, the Rush Surf chain in Queensland and the West 49 chain in Canada. . . It appears Billabong is having troubling selling out the stock in these stores, which it needs to do before it can start fitting out these stores with goods from the Billabong family of brands.
Seems like retail is always the weak link in the surf fashion business. (Click here for the entire call transcript)
[Link: SmartCompany.com.au and The Australian]
by The Editors on December 15, 2010
We’ve always loved small-town newspaper coverage of action sports athletes, but the Newburyport News’ story on Scotty Lago’s third place finish at last weekend’s US Snowboarding Grand Prix at Copper Mountain is all time. Sports editor Dan Guttenplan begins by calling the US Grand Prix “the Winter Dew Tour,” and it only gets better from there.
He’ll likely compete in the three-stop Winter Dew Series, the Winter X Games and the United State Open. He also plans to film a Brain Farm Cinema snowboarding video in Jackson Hole, Wy., and along the Nissan X-Trail in Tokyo. . . [Lago] was well known in snowboarding circles for his ability to execute the most difficult jumping tricks with smooth precision.”
We’re looking forward to seeing Lago shred down Tokyo’s Nissan X-Trail and watching him “execute the most difficult jumping tricks with smooth precision” at the “United State Open,” aren’t you?
[Link: Newburyport News]
by The Editors on December 14, 2010
Not be left out of the Billabong retail gobbling game Rip Curl has announced that it has just picked up 15 Perth-based retail stores according to a post on Ragtrader.com.au.
The Torquay-headquartered surf company revealed it has bought nine ‘Wave‘ surf stores, two ‘City Surf’ stores and four ‘Cite’ streetwear stores. . . Rip Curl Asia Pacific CEO Steven Kay said he hopes to build on Wave’s 25-year history, overseen thus far by Wave founders Chris and Vicki Prastidis. . . “Perth is the gateway to one of the great surfing and youth markets in Australia and Rip Curl want to put more effort into the region,” Kay said.
Independent action sports retailers are getting few and far between.
[Link: Ragtrader]
by The Editors on December 14, 2010
US Marines reportedly name their guns and treat them as they would a girlfriend. It appears Torstein Horgmo has a similar attraction to his snowboard. . . or something like that. Oscar talk is making the rounds.
[Link: Method Mag]
by The Editors on December 14, 2010
Details on Jason Lee’s new skateboarding TV project Shredd (produced by Jack Black) is sneaking out thanks to a post on Deadline Hollywood.
Shredd centers on Jon Johnsonsen (Lee) who, as a 17-year-old superstar skateboarder in 1985 was on top of the world until a risky skate move landed him in a coma for 25 years. When he wakes up, he is 42 but stuck in the 1980s mindset of a teenage boy and must cope with all the changes in his life.
Now that, friends, is comedy gold.
[Link: Deadline via Television Blend via @NealHendrix]
by The Editors on December 13, 2010
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of the Homeland Security Investigations raided three Abilene, Texas retailers last Thursday (December 9, 2010) and rounded up more than $100,000 in counterfeit DC Shoes, Fox Racing, Famous, and other branded merchandise.
The targeted stores have been previously identified as openly selling counterfeit clothing through the store fronts. ICE HSI agents had conducted surveillance and made undercover purchases at all three locations. Items purchased through the undercover operations were determined to be counterfeit by industry representatives. . . Some of the counterfeit items seized include: t-shirts, polo shirts, jeans, purses, hats, jackets and sweatshirts.
Nice of Homeland Security to watch out for corporate America like that because American corporations are America (or something like that.) Follow the jump for the official release. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on December 13, 2010
We can’t really figure this surf film out. Isolated features what appears to be amazing camera work and a cast that includes: Josh Fuller, Travis Potter, Jenny Useldinger, Andrew Mooney, and Jimmy Rotherham.
Isolated is obviously well-funded. It’s being produced by Ryan Phillippe. But all the fancy graphics, spear-holding natives, and over-the-top voice over aimed obviously at a mainstream audience makes the trailer a little tough to watch. Not to say that Papua New Guinea isn’t a frightening place.
“Enter a forbidden land on the most secluded corner of the globe. Where five world class surfers journey into a world left behind. They search to ride untouched waves and bring surfing to the edge of civilization. But what they find will change them forever.”
Is there really “no turning back?” Did they all die? Guess we won’t know until we see the film.
[Link: Isolated Film]
by The Editors on December 13, 2010
A week ago, Stacy Peralta was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame, so it seem rather serendipitous that we would stumble onto writer Jamie Brisick’s recently posted profile about the man at home in Santa Monica (of course).
Stacy Peralta is an award-winning film director, former Z-Boy, and lifelong surfer. He’s also an avid collector of rare succulents and aloes. That this fetishistic hobby of his can be traced back to the days of empty pools and raffish Dogtowners seems either terribly ironic, or totally obvious. Southern California backyard pools were often surrounded by cactus and succulent gardens, and Stacy was always looking beyond the coping.
Read the rest for a look into the mind of one of skateboarding most iconic artists.
[Link: Jamiebrisick.com]
by The Editors on December 13, 2010
According to a new report by snow injury statistician Jasper Shealy, reported in the Wall Street Journal snowboarders may experience more injuries on the hill, but they die much less often than skiers do.
On paper, snowboarding appears to be more dangerous but less deadly. The injury rate is 50 percent to 70 percent higher than in skiing, Shealy said, which he suspects is due to the people doing it. Snowboarders tend to be young males. . . While snowboarders get injured more often, the death rate is about one-third lower than in skiing. That snowboards don’t release from the feet of the snowboarder is likely explanation, Shealy said. When a rider falls, the edge of the snowboard drags on the snow and acts like a brake. But that can also cause fractures, he said.
Last year the National Ski Areas Association say 25 skiers and 13 snowboarders died on snow. We’ll take the injuries, thank you.
[Link: The Wall Street Journal]
by The Editors on December 13, 2010
Maverick’s big wave pioneer Jeff Clark opened his new Maverick’s Surf Shop at 25 Johnson Pier, Pillar Point Harbor, Princeton-by-the-Sea, according to a story in The Mercury News.
The new shop will put Clark, a father of three, front and center as the public face of surfing in Half Moon Bay. Clark’s previous shop was harder to find, on a narrow street in the warehouse district of Princeton. Now when tourists come to the harbor looking for directions to Mavericks Beach, they’ll be able to ask the man himself.
It’s about time. . . Congrats.
[Link: The Mercury News]
Billabong has announced that profits in the quarter ending December 31, 2010 will be 8 – 13 percent down over last year according to a story on SmartCompany.com.au.
