We were saddened to learn this weekend that John Severson, the founder of Surfer Magazine, Wind Surf Magazine, and inventor of so much that we now take for granted in action sports died peacefully in his sleep at home on Maui on Friday May 26, 2017, according to a Drew Kampion story on Surfline.com. He was 83.
Before John Severson, there was really no surf art, no surf magazines, no real surf films, no surfwear industry, no pro surfing, no Surfrider Foundation, no surf culture as we know it. In a very large sense, he made it all happen by synthesizing the sport of surfing into various expressions of his art. “I always daydreamed real big,” Severson admits. “I was the guy who stood up there and just nailed them over the fence and pitched no-hitters and ran for touchdowns — I could just daydream the biggest dreams.”
We have Severson to personally thank for creating the style of photo driven magazines that made us love media in the first place. He will be missed. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
We’ve never understood the East Coast streetwear fashion thing. Growing up in the infinite expanse of the West, we never felt the crush of tight urban spaces or came face to face with the idea that anything was in scarce supply. East Coast kids don’t have that luxury. Many things are scarce in New York City and that may be why brands like Supreme are able to monopolize style and make kids believe that a product is worth hundreds of dollars more than another simply because it is difficult to get.
As Supreme met the Internet it became more important for them to make their highly coveted, limited supply fashion items available online when their product drops. Which is nice because not everyone can camp out on Lafayette St. each week to grab the latest before it’s gone. Problem is, it’s just as tough to get an order in as it is to get in line. Two Florida computer kids noticed how hard this was and they created a bot (The Supreme Saint) that (for a price) will dive in on the Supreme website and buy up product for customers in a matter of seconds, according to a story in Wired Magazine.
The breakthrough came within a couple of months, when Supreme released a version of Nike’s Air Jordan 5 sneakers. The shoes were offered in three color options, what sneaker fans call colorways: white, black, and desert camo. That day Matt and Chris charged $100 for each pair a customer wanted to buy. One of the colors received around 200 orders, making the duo roughly $20,000 in five seconds. Chris and Matt won’t say how much they make from their bot, the Supreme Saint, but they’ve formed an LLC.
Nice to know it’s still possible to jump in on street fashion and siphon off a little cash on the side. Then again, how exclusive is this stuff if anyone willing to spend a little extra can get it whenever they want? And what will the future hold now that Supreme is clamping down on bots in general? Click the link for the rest of the story.
K2 Snowboards, Ride Snowboards, and the rest of the Newell Brands winter sports businesses have a new owner. This time they’ve been snagged by New York based private equity firm Kohlberg & Company for a reported $240 million. From the press release:
Net sales for the divested business were approximately $330 million during 2016 and annual adjusted EBITDA for the divested business is approximately $25 million. The transaction is expected to close late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2017, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.
Not much to see here. Kohlberg is just another multi-billion dollar PE group that buys relatively boring companies and creates a quality return for their investors. We can’t even make any Rubbermaid jokes this time around. Other brands sold include Volkl, Marker, Dalbello, Madshus, Line, Full Tilt, Atlas, Tubbs, and BCA. For the official release, please follow the jump.
The Vans Park Series returns to Malmö, Sweden’s Kroksbäck Skatepark this weekend and you can watch it all live online.
VPS Men’s Pro Tour event semis and finals will be broadcast live on Saturday, May 27 as VPS Select Pros like Pedro Barros, Raven Tershy, Ishod Wair and current World Champion Alex Sorgente battle it out against top qualifying Men’s Pro Tour challengers like Tom Schaar, Murilo Peres, Willy Lara and more in the third stop on the road to Shanghai, China, park terrain skateboarding’s official VPS World Championships on September 23, 2017.
This is becoming one of our favorite skate contests on the web because we just can’t get enough of announcers Chris Cote and Neal Hendrix. Nope we can’t. For all the details on the Vans Park Series, please follow the jump.
Bent Metal Binding Works is proud to announce the addition of Norwegian creative master shred Fredrik Perry to the BMBW team! What better way to celebrate than the premiere of Freddy’s latest audio visual endeavor Benchpress the movie. You probably should just watch it even though it’s pretty much summer and we’re glazed on watching shred footage in general. But sure, go ahead.
Australian retailer SurfStitch (formerly partially owned by Billabong) is expecting its losses to double this year, according to a story on Sky News. In what has been one piece of bad news after another, the company will also be closing their US office a.k.a Swell.com.
SurfStitch on Monday announced that weak apparel and footwear sales in its key markets, particularly in the UK, will drag it deeper into the red than the $5 million-$6.5 million loss it had forecast in February. . . The company now expects a loss of between $10.5 million and $11.5 million for its 2017 financial year.
Guess the suits haven’t been able to turn the retailer around like they’d hoped.
The 2017 Street League Skateboarding season kicked off last weekend in Barcelona, Spain with the third annual SLS Nike SB Pro Open and in no real surprise Nyjah Huston edged Shane O’Neill to take the title.
Hitting all obstacles on the course, Nike SB Pro Nyjah Huston was performing as stong as ever, earning a score of 8.7 with a Backside 5.0 Grind along the round flat bar and into the small quarterpipe, a 360 Flip over the wedge gap, a Kickflip Backside Disaster on the quarterpipe, a Nosegrind Revert along the round flat bar and back to a Crooked Grind along the same, a Backside 180 Nosegrind on the volcano ledge, a perfect Backside 360 Kickflip over the wedge gap, and a Switch Nollie Nosegrind down the handrail.
In other news, Yuto Horigome and Dashawn Jordan are now on the 2017 SLS Nike SB World Tour. Congrats to Dashawn, he’s been hard at it for awhile now. For all the details on Barcelona as well as news and dates for the rest of the tour, please follow the jump.
Shaun White and former Bad Things drummer Lena Zawaideh have finally settled their differences without going to court according to a story in USA Today.
Zawaideh first sued White and his company in May 2016, alleging breach of contract for lack of payment of her $3,750 monthly retainer from September 2013 until August 2014. The original lawsuit didn’t contain any sexual harassment allegations. . . She then switched attorneys and filed an amended complaint in August that added the sexual harassment claims in detail with screen shots of alleged text messages from White attached as exhibits. It sought punitive and compensatory damages, including lost wages.
When the suit was filed last August, Shaun said he would defend against the charges “vigorously in court,” apparently, he changed his mind. No details were released on exactly what the settlement was, but we’re guessing Zawaideh got money in exchange for dropping her case. Isn’t that how it usually works?
Davis Allen Cripe (pictured right) was a 16-year-old high school student who died in April 2017 from what Richland County, S.C. Coroner Gary Watts is calling a “caffeine induced cardiac event” after drinking “a large Diet Mountain Dew, a cafe latte from McDonald’s and an energy drink over the course of about two hours,” according to a story in the Sacramento Bee. In other words, he didn’t do anything that the action sports industrial complex isn’t encouraging kids to do all the time.
Cripe’s father explained it like this:
“It wasn’t a car crash that took his life,” he said of his son. “Instead, it was an energy drink. Parents, please talk to your kids about these energy drinks. And teenagers and students: please stop buying them.”
No one mentioned exactly which energy drink it was, likely out of fear of getting sued, but we could probably guess. We just wonder when the action sports industry is going to wake up and stop selling off their lifestyles and athletes to promote drinks that can be straight up harmful to kids. Anyone?
Kelly Slater reportedly just snapped up another house on the North Shore. This $7.8 million gem is located in Haliewa, according to a story in the Pacific Business News.
The 7-bedroom, 5-bathroom estate is located at 61-785 Papailoa Road, and includes one building and pool situated on 23,889-square feet of land. The ocean-front land was last purchased in 2000 for $1.85 million, and the property was built in 2001.
K2 Snowboards, Ride Snowboards, and the rest of the 
Australian retailer 
Shaun White and former Bad Things drummer Lena Zawaideh have finally settled their differences without going to court according to a story in 
Davis Allen Cripe (pictured right) was a 16-year-old high school student who died in April 2017 from what Richland County, S.C. Coroner Gary Watts is calling a “caffeine induced cardiac event” after drinking “a large Diet Mountain Dew, a cafe latte from McDonald’s and an energy drink over the course of about two hours,” according to a story in the 
