by The Editors on January 12, 2009
Quiksilver CEO Bob McKnight will be featured in a new commercial for Microsoft in which he makes the case that the right software can help them do their jobs better.
The ads, via JWT, New York, feature audio conversations with WestJet CEO Sean Durfy, Quiksilver CEO Robert McKnight and Eric Ryan, the co-founder and chief brand architect for Method. As each of the execs is talking, Monty Python-esque animation plays outlining what each are saying.
Quiksilver uses Mircrosoft products? Maybe that’s the problem.
[Link: MediaWeek]
by The Editors on January 12, 2009
by The Editors on January 12, 2009
Women’s Wear Daily did a really nice feature profile on Active Ride Shop in their Independent Spotlight section today.
It was so nice that it didn’t even mention any of the problems we’ve all been hearing about since last fall: no mention of the fact that many manufacturers are no longer shipping product to Active, or the rumor that one company spent last fall physically removing product from the stores. The only nod to the realities of the current business climate was this from Active President Shane Wallace:
It’s tough right now. In our 20 years, this is the most interesting and most difficult environment to move in I’ve seen,” Wallace said, adding that he would wait to up the store count until the economy improves or until Active finds an investment partner to help take the chain national. . . Looking toward the new year, Wallace is cautious, but positive. “We’re playing it very conservative for 2009,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t rule out store closings, if needed. “We’ll do what makes sense for our business.”
Yeah, playing it conservative probably isn’t a bad idea at this point.
[Link: Women’s Wear Daily]
by The Editors on January 12, 2009
KISS bassist Gene Simmons is apparently attending the SIA Show with Dussault Apparel founder Jason Dussault to help roll out their new MoneyBag line.
Dussault and Simmons will be showing their latest collaborations of hats and beanies to be released later this year under the MoneyBag(TM) moniker, as well as wallets, belts and luggage. Each item features the Gene Simmons created and designed MoneyBag(TM) logo.
We can’t help but laugh a little, but don’t think we won’t cruise by to see the knight in satan’s service in person, no matter how booty his products sound.
[Link: Money/CNN]
by The Editors on January 12, 2009
by The Editors on January 12, 2009
From the “things we thought would never happen” file: after working with Larry Balma for 23 years, Buddy Carr has left his positions as CEO or Tracker Trucks to become president of Bennett Boardsports, LLC, owners of Bennett Truks and Alligator wheels, according to a press release posted on Silverfish Longboarding:
“It was just time for me personally to move things to the next level,” said Buddy Carr. I had a good run the last 23 years, but the opportunity to purchase part ownership in a brand with such a rich history was the right thing for me at this time. Having been in the industry since 1975, I feel like I have had a front row seat to Bennett’s heritage and ties to the birth of modern skateboarding. I see tremendous potential in that legacy,” Carr explained.
Follow the jump for the rest of the details.
[Link: Silverfish Longboarding]
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 12, 2009
Snowmass ski patrollers are still trying to figure out how and why a 27-year-old snowboarder ended up at the bottom of a “20-foot cliff in a permanently closed area near the Elk Camp lift,” according to a story in the Aspen Daily News.
According to Aspen Skiing Co. spokesman Jeff Hanle, when his friends found him below the cliff, they called 911 and a nearby ski instructor called ski patrol, who treated the man for multiple injuries and brought him to a waiting ambulance and to Aspen Valley Hospital. The man was wearing a helmet. . . The two companions the man was riding with “didn’t see [the accident] happen – that’s what was in their initial report,” said Hanle. “We can’t tell if he skied off [the cliff] accidentally or on purpose, or at all.”
[Link: Aspen Daily News]
by The Editors on January 11, 2009
There appears to be a swell on the horizon and while Marvericks contest director Jeff Clark says “everything beyond 48 hours is hypothetical” this bump could mean a Mavericks contest January 16-17, 2009, according to a story in the San Jose Mercury News.
The pulse looming large on satellite imagery is the byproduct of a gale spawned off the coast of Japan late last week. The system is expected to be tracking southeast today toward the international date line and making a beeline for the coral reefs off Oahu and Maui. . . .If it stays on course, it will release its fury there Wednesday and Thursday. Then it will hurtle toward Northern California with the potential for clean 40-foot wave faces jutting from the shallow rocky shelf off Pillar Point on Friday and Saturday.
Keep your browsers tuned to Marvericks.
[Link: San Jose Mercury News]
by The Editors on January 11, 2009
Economic times are troubling, but full-time fireman Pete Hamborg’s Hamboards‘ is rolling through it all in a very large, oversized, long way, according to an LA Times story.
Hamborg is the creator of the Hamboard, a nearly 7-foot-long skateboard he says mimics the feel of a surfboard on the water. . . . Hamboards have picked up a devoted following among hard-core surfers and skateboarders — those devoted enough to the sports to shell out $395 for one of the boards.
We don’t really get the product, but maybe size matters to some people.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on January 11, 2009
Jason Borte takes on the persona of the core surf shop and points out some of their challenges and why they are not going to go away any time soon in a rambling rant on Surfline.com titled Reports Of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated.
Along the way he drops the names of the bad guys; Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Target, and quotes the good guys Bob Hurley, Quiksilver’s Tom Holbrook, Billabong’s Royce Cansler, and Whalebone Surf Shop’s Jim Vaughan. This is how Borte wraps it up:
Surfing is magical, and the one place where we all gather outside of the water is magical as well. We, the authentic surf shops, are nothing less than shrines to the sport. We provide the essentials for riding waves, and we provide a place for surfers to connect, communicate, and share the stoke. Just as wavepools fail to deliver the magic found in the ocean, pseudo-surf shops fail to offer a genuine experience. Truth be told, I don’t deserve the credit. It isn’t the building or the smells that make a surf shop special. It’s people. And those people don’t just smell like surf, they do it.
If only we had a lighter handy, we’d be waving it high above our heads right now and typing one-handed.
[LInk: Surfline.com]
Quiksilver CEO Bob McKnight will be featured in a new commercial for Microsoft in which he makes the case that the right software can help them do their jobs better.
