Back in the early 80s Rainbow Sandals were the only flips any self-respecting surfer would wear. And now, almost 40 years later founder Sparky Longley is still living the dream and bringing in $12 million in profits on $37 million in sales. Not bad for a guy who still “depends on word of mouth” and a few ads in The Surfer’s Journal to spread the Rainbow message.
The LA Times rus a whole background check on the company and man and we can’t think of anyone who has done the action sports business thing more smoothly than Sparky. Click the link to check it out.
Damon Way discusses collabs, DC Shoes, and Incase, with Bradley Carbone celebrities section of the Complex website.
I think it’s important to work with creative people who are operating in a different area of creativity. The industrial design sector is really compelling for me, and it’s a nice lateral move for me to be going from fine artists to product artists.
Damon also hints at a new footwear project that he’s not willing to talk about yet. Wonder if it’s that “new brand” we heard some “ex-DC Shoe employees” were starting. . . makes sense.
Hey, look: Shaun White has won another contest. This time it’s slopestyle at the Breckenridge stop of the Winter Dew Tour.
The 22-year old White scored a 95.17 on his second run, which began with a frontside 270 at the top rail, a frontside 1080 on the first jump to a backside 900. He finished with an impressive 1260, a three and a half revolution spin, on the bottom jump.“I knew I could do it, I just kind of believed in that spin at the end there,” White said. “I didn’t really practice it at all, but for some reason I knew I had it.”
Spencer O’Brien apparently edged Jenny Jones for the women’s slope. All the press release details and full results after the jump. [click to continue…]
It’s always nice to break the commerce up with a little art. And Skate One Corp is hosting a show to “celebrate the Ripper’s influence on skateboarding since his introduction” featuring artwork from pretty much every who ever created anything in the world of skateboarding. It will be on display in Room 28B at the ASR Show Jan. 22-24, 2009.
We’d really like to say that Christian action sports movies like ONEYear don’t creep us out a little, but they do. Not because we’re God haters, but more because we think religion is private. Listening to people spill their salvation stories on film has always felt a little like listening to our grandmother talk about how much she loves sex.
Apparently, Andy Finch, Kelly Clark, Tommy Czeschin, Matt Hammer, Janna Meyen, and Dave Downing don’t agree. But we’re not here to tell them they are wrong, praise God. Just to tell them we think it’s a little creepy when they share too much.
Despite an avalanche of hype, the game wiped out with critics on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, earning less-than-gnarly respective scores of 63 and 62 out of 100 on Metacritic. GameSpot’s own reviewer was even less kind, giving the two games just 5.0 out of a possible 10. . . . This afternoon the Reuters news service reported the game sold 259,000 copies in the US in the two weeks after its November 16 launch. The figure, which was supplied by Arcadia Research analyst John Taylor, says sales of the game racked up $13.6 million during the month. France-based Ubisoft declined to confirm the sales numbers.
Looks like Ubisoft might still have a ways to go before they recoup the $10 million they spent on advertising in the first weeks of November. The company won’t comment, but it sounds like Shaun is planning on a follow up.
Now that I have the knowledge and I can speak to programmers better and I understand a lot more about what’s possible and what’s not possible, this will all help with the next game,” White explained.
Ogio President David Wunderli announced today that Mark Kuryak, the former VP of hockey at Easton Bell will be the new VP Global Action/Professional/Sport.
We’ve always had the long-term vision of making OGIO the gear bag maker of choice for all categories of sports,” Wunderli explains. “Mark has proven expertise in elevating sales, service and distribution to the level that innovative products warrant. We’re excited to unleash his skills on what we know to be the category with our highest growth potential.
Motocross, snow, skate, and surf go hand in hand with hockey, right? [click to continue…]
There were a lot of down days in the waiting period but it looks like Stephanie Gilmore, 20, newly-crowned two-time ASP Women’s World Champion has won her second consecutive Billabong Pro Maui against Melanie Bartels at Ho’okipa Beach Park, earning the young Australian her first Vans Triple Crown of Surfing (an ASP Specialty Series) Title.
Turns out ASP press releases continue to be the best coverage of most events. Follow the jump for that. [click to continue…]
Looks like we should have jumped in on the $.80 Quiksilver share prices several weeks ago because Quiksilver is fighting its way through some rough times. In their conference call today with analysts they stated that they doing well, but still have a ways to go.
Consolidated net revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 increased 3% to $606.9 million compared to $587.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007. . . . Consolidated net revenues for the full year of fiscal 2008 increased 11% to $2.26 billion compared to $2.05 billion in fiscal 2007. . . . European net revenues increased 16% during the full year of fiscal 2008 to $933.1 million and were up 4% in local currency.
Bob McKnight says:
I am proud of the efforts of the entire Quiksilver team around the world as we fought through a deteriorating global economy to deliver financial results that were consistent with the outlook we provided 6 months ago. As economic conditions continue to worsen in our key markets in the US and in Europe, we’ve continued our efforts to reduce expenses and capital expenditures, to carefully control inventory and to reconfigure our post-Rossignol capital structure.”
Notes from the conference call:
Europe has been doing extremely well for the company.
The DC footwear business has been “quite strong.”
Sales will be down in the low double digits for the first quarter of 09
Expecting a revenue decline in the high single to low double digits for 2009
Every five cent swing in the Euro translates into $30 million in sales.
Quik will open “very few new stores” in 2009. “Two in the US and maybe 2 or 3 in Asia Pacific and a couple in Europe”
The company is looking to 25 retail stores. Nine will close in 2009; 21 of the stores are in the US, 12 are full-price stores and 41 percent of those are in California, Arizona, Florida.
Quiksilver’s top 30 customers worldwide do less than 25 percent of the company’s sales.
Capital expenditures for the coming year will be cut approximately $34 million from $94 million to $60 million.
They are looking at every area of expenditure and trying to adjust to a new reality as to the projected 2009 revenue.
Company debt still in the $1 billion range
In 2009 there will be $70 million in interest expense
The company also has a $55 million loan, which CFO Joe Scirocco called “the big one” is due on March 14, 2009
