It’s been rumored forever and denied forever, yet strangely today it was officially announced that Volcom, the big, powerful, publicly traded company has purchased tiny, core, eyewear company Electric Visual for $25.5 million in cash. Wooly is happy about it.
Culturally, Electric is a perfect fit for our company,” Woolcott continued. “We’ve known the Electric team for a long time, and we recognize they share the same passion and love for action sports as we do here at Volcom. Our companies are very much on the same wavelength, sharing similarities in product distribution, marketing efforts and a strong commitment to quality and innovation. Everyone here is stoked to welcome Electric into the Volcom family.”
Bruce Beach, who continually denied any such thing likes the idea as well (not surprisingly).
We believe this partnership will enable us to take the Electric brand to the next level,” said Bruce Beach, co-president and chief executive officer of Electric. “We are very excited about working closely with the Volcom team to grow our existing eyewear business and further expand into new product categories. Additionally, this partnership will enable us to grow our retail relationships and to continue to strengthen our operational capabilities.”
And we’re happy because it means we know at least four more millionaires. . . and they’re good people to know.
A gentle Canadian machinist lovingly goes over the basics of his 20-year-old chainsaw-powered skateboard. “Sometimes in life things aren’t what they seem. . . ”
Brian Schaefer, the founder of Skate Park of Tampa is interviewed by the local paper on the eve of the 14th Annual Tampa Am event. He talks about skateboarding and the beginnings of the park.
We at the time didn’t have this big picture of, like, this is where we want to be in 10 years, and this is where we want to be in 15 years. It just kind of happened and evolved. Ryan Clements, Barak Wiser, Rob Meronek, our crew has helped take it to the next level. I had no idea we’d be where we’re at.
Rossignol, in one of the most insanely misdirected marketing ploys ever, has hired skater/artist Steve Caballero to design the graphics for a pair of their new S7 twin-tip powder skis. How’s that for a collab? Talk about trying to suck some life out of skateboarding. They’ve also enlisted Andy Howell to wave his magic skateboarding art wand over another pair of skis. Is this for real? No wonder Bob McKnight is “anticipating continued weakness.”
Daniel James Hedlund, 30, of New Zealand died January 9, 2008 in an avalanche at Tignes in the French Alps. Hedlund was living in France and on his day off from his job as chef at the Alpaka Hotel when he got caught in a slide.
He went snowboarding with two friends. He jumped off a small cliff, and was was buried under about 1.5m of snow by an avalanche. . . One of the men he was with tried to dig him out with a shovel, while the other went to get help. . . ski patrol used a heart defibrillator on Mr Hedlund, but could not revive him. . . A doctor was flown to the scene by helicopter but Mr Hedlund died 45 minutes later.
According to police, the group was properly equipped with beacons and shovels.
Every year Zumiez has big part for all the people who moved more than 100k in product. This year’s party was held at Keystone, Colorado and the winner sold $600k in gear. Her name is Jennifer Huynh. She got buried in prizes handed out by two-thirds of the boarding trifecta: Kelly Slater and Tony Hawk. If only someone at T-Dub could have mentioned what shop she was from. Follow the link for all the photos.
The massive, unruly swell (too ugly for the Eddie) that has been pounding the North Shore of Oahu this week offered up another reason to never turn your back on Mother Ocean. A family was knocked down and washed completely under the road at Rockpiles. Luckily, Michael Borst was driving by at the right time.
“I was driving down the road I seen the wave come up and it washed the two girls and then I heard them screaming, and I pulled over here to the other side of the drain. She washed right to me and I grabbed her and the guy was right behind me and she was scared. I’m still in shock over the whole thing,” rescuer Michael Borst said.
A camera crew from KITV was there and caught it all on video. Click the link to watch the tourist takedown.
. . . get out of the water and don’t come back. This from the New Zealand Herald.
Lifeguards at Omaha beach north of Auckland were attacked by a bronze whaler shark this afternoon, which latched on to their inflatable boat, causing it to deflate. . . The surf lifeguards had gone out to investigate following sightings of the shark.
Kelly Slater will be joining George Lopez, Huey Lewis, Carson Daly, Jimmy Fallon, and 384 other amateurs golfers in this year’s Bob Hope Chrysler Classic which begins play on Wednesday January 16, 2008 at four courses in Palm Desert, California.
Pros, teamed with a different three-player amateur team each day, will play a different course each day. The fifth round Sunday, for the low 70 pros and ties only, will be played at Classic Club.
