by The Editors on May 8, 2008
Today Transworld Media announced that Kurt Hoy has left the top editor position to “pursue personal interests” and replacing him at the top of the Transworld Snowboarding masthead comes the first women editor of a major label snowboard magazine ever: Annie Fast.
With great power comes great responsibility and Annie seems poised to wield it well. “I’m most stoked about the crew we have and how enthusiastic they are,” Fast says. “They’re super fresh and motivated to lead the charge.”
Congratulations, Annie. Let’s hope you can keep that smile on your face all the way through January. We’re betting on you.
[Link: Transworld Business]
by The Editors on May 8, 2008
In a shockingly silly legal maneuver ESPN has apparently sued Quiksilver in federal court over an “X” the clothing company has used that looks similar to the ESPN X Games logo.
Quiksilver uses a stylized “X” emblem on clothing, labels and accessories that is “confusingly similar” to ESPN’s logo for the series of surfing and biking contests, according to the lawsuit filed this month in federal court in New York.
“Despite protests by ESPN, Quiksilver has since willfully expanded the use of the infringing mark, and Quiksilver’s apparel and accessories are now replete with the infringing mark,” the suit alleges.
Seems like there would be an easier way to get Quik to advertise, doesn’t it?
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on May 8, 2008
The Seshn.com site has been up for awhile, but the press release has just now gone out. And guess who is involved? Former Joyride Snowboards founder Ken Greengard. How is this new action sports portal different from other sites like 5ones.com? Seshn founder Brandon Winnie explains.
Seshn aims to provide people with a unique site that isn’t your typical trendy action sports site attempting to create another YouTube or Myspace for action sports. “The people involved in this lifestyle are leaders and trendsetters, so we feel that we have created a site that meets that label. We have developed a unique concept and strategy that let’s people be the individualists and trendsetters that they are,” Brandon goes on to say. “I started this thing because I saw an opening that wasn’t being filled. I saw so many people trying to copy Myspace, Facebook and YouTube. Those sites will always be around, so why try to compete with them? My idea was let’s create an information network and let’s work with them.”
The WordPress-powered site looks nice (but then don’t they all). It will be interesting to see how the content grows as the site develops in what is becoming a horrendously crowded market place.
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by The Editors on May 7, 2008
According to c|net the hottest new action sports trend in Silicon Valley is kitesurfing (which is really no surprise).
For the uneducated (that’s the rest of us), kiteboarding (or kite surfing) is the trendiest adrenaline-junkie sport among Valley venture capitalists and high-tech entrepreneurs. In fact, mention you’re an amateur at a technology social function, and it could provide an entree to a conversation with the kite-savvy Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Second Life‘s Philip Rosedale, or venture capitalists Bill Tai and Ken Howery.
“I always joke that to kite-surf, you either need to be a venture capitalist or unemployed,” said Chris Sacca, a former Google executive who’s now a technology investor, referring to the flexible schedule that people need to surf between 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., which are peak wind times. The cars at the kite beach parking lot on 3rd Avenue near San Mateo, Calif., (a spot about 20 miles south of San Francisco that accesses San Francisco Bay) typically reflect that theory.
Seems like those valley types are always into sports with extremely low fun/equipment cost ratios.
[Link: c|net]
by The Editors on May 7, 2008
According to Forbes.com :
Zumiez Inc. late Wednesday said same-store sales rose 4.1% in April, topping the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial for an increase 2.3% for the month.
Total sales at the Everett, Wash., action sorts retailer rose 20% to $24.2 million from last year’s total.
The stock closed the regular session at $20.38, down 2.6%.
[Link: Forbes]
by The Editors on May 7, 2008
Hard to believe this is a first, but Oakley is claiming it pretty hard. Enduring is their new line of “sport performance sunglasses made exclusively for women.”
Created in collaboration with the company’s top female athletes, ENDURING™ addresses all the performance needs of today’s woman while giving her the style of a freshly original, uniquely feminine design.
“Oakley ENDURING™ bridges the gap between form and function to offer female athletes the performance, protection and fit they need, and the style they deserve,” said Colin Baden, president of the company. “Oakley evolved in the world of action sports, serving the uncompromising demands of world-class athletes. Our impressive roster of female athletes gave us a wealth of insight into the wants and needs of today’s active woman. We applied this insight and the knowledge that came from decades of optical innovation to create a world first, the only sport performance eyewear truly made for women.”
Apparently, no one has ever made Oakley sport performance glasses for women before and it’s about time. Apparently, old-school, mini-truck driving girls need performance eyewear, too.
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by The Editors on May 7, 2008
Surf legend Gerry Lopez spoke last night at UC Santa Barbara to promote his new book Surf Is Where You Find It.
During his hour-long sermon of surfing lore, Lopez talked about what surfing and the ocean have given to him, as well as how he allowed surfing to shape his life. Lopez was warmly accepted by the crowd of surfing colleagues and fans, eager to hear about his life and his reasons for writing the book. “[My] motivation was to get the stories down on paper before I forgot them,” Lopez said.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and cool-guy Dan Malloy were also in the audience. Both think Gerry is amazing. “I got chills six times,” Dan told the Daily Nexus reporter. We know the feeling.
[Link: The Daily Nexus]
by The Editors on May 7, 2008
Modesto, California’s Barefoot Wine, famous for making award-winning California wines, has teamed up with the Surfrider Foundation, to give someone the chance to take a break from their normal job and spend a week in San Clemente helping to keep beaches safe for barefeet. Barefoot Wine will foot the bill. It’s just one part of the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project .
After spending our summer hosting beach cleanups, dune restorations and educational coastal tours with the Surfrider Foundation, we learned that members were contributing up to 20 hours a week on top of their professional day jobs,” said Jeremy Soine, Marketing Manager for Barefoot Wine. “The Surfrider Foundation is passionate about beach preservation, and we’re thrilled to provide the resources to help someone else work with them this summer.”
The big question is: can we drink wine while we work?
[Link: Barefoot Wine]
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by The Editors on May 7, 2008
LA culture blog Super Touch is reporting that former ice man Christian Hosoi has teamed up with Barracuda for a re-release of his hammerhead skateboard design.
OG skate legend CHRISTIAN HOSOI is best known for his signature “Christ Air” and the inimitable and groundbreaking shape of his best-known deck design, the original HAMMERHEAD. Now, teaming up with LA fashion boutique BARRACUDA, Hosoi has produced a limited run of 50 exact reproductions of the pioneering board shape in the to-die-for color combo of black-on-black. Releasing this Friday, May 9th at the Barracuda store (7769 Melrose across from Fairfax High School), and online at Barracudashop.com, each board will be signed and numbered by Christian Hosoi himself.
Congrats, Christian. Way to keep things rolling.
[Link: SuperTouch via Hypebeast]
by The Editors on May 7, 2008
