The struggles rippling through fashion retail are resulting in many changes for brands, especially those in action sports, denim, and sportswear. Zumiez’s January financial reports released February 5, 2014 record a net sales decrease of 24.3% to $38.1 million from $50.3 million last year within the same five week period. Comparable store sales are down […]
Kelly Slater has reached a remarkable pinnacle, winning his 66th Association of Surfing Professsionals (ASP) win, and his 8th victory at the notoriously huge wave hotspot, Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, at the Volcom Pipe Pro on February 5, 2014. As an 11-time world champion, Slater knows Pipe and seems to get […]
Just when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) thought they had another event that would attract a younger crowd, not to mention the star-power of two-time gold medalist Shaun White, the Sochi Olympic course for the snowboarding Slopestyle event which is to debut this winter, has been debated as not up to world class standards. Some […]
The month of January, 2014, has been unusually packed with trade shows and snow sporting news. Starting with the naming of the USA snowboarding team, Kelly Clark’s gold win at Winter X Games in Aspen, Sochi Olympics kick-off, Outdoor Retailer Trade Show, and now, followed up by 2014 SIA Snow Show January 30-February 2, in […]
Story and Photos by Tom Wallace and Kathleen Gasperini The big question is why is the outdoor lifestyle becoming more popular? The jam-packed Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2014 from January 21-24, 2014, in Salt Lake City, UT, was energetic, inspirational, a networking hub, and business-central for a marketplace that seems less effected by the economic […]
On Sunday night, January 19, 2014, after the final Mammoth Grand Prix, a qualifier for snowboarders hoping to make it to the Olympics, the results were in. The 2014 USA Olympic Snowboard Team which includes Halfpipe and Slopestyle, is an American dreamteam and will be a dominate force to watch during the Olympics in Sochi, […]
While earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the main talk was how brands like Intel are now finally moving into the realm of wearable technologies, the focus has often been on pieces and ideas that are not actually youth culture focused. And yet, it is the youth marketplace of today that are […]
The kick-off to Bread & Butter Berlin, which ran from January 14-16, 2014, at the Airport Berlin-Tempelhof, launched with a massive opening party, a spectacle of lights, and a celeb-studded crowd. Under the theme “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” (I Am Berlin), Bread & Butter continues to be the centerpiece of European contemporary trade shows, but […]
Shaun White has dominated many snowboarding events, from winning the Austrian-based Air & Style in 2003 and 2004, to winning a series of gold medals in the X Games, and twice in halfpipe at the Olympics. It makes sense that the next phase of his career might include actually owning an event that he’s won. […]
Stokehouse Unlimited, launched by former Billabong President Paul Naude, has announced yet another brand within the action sports lifestyle industry. Under the direction of Summer Rapp, formerly of Roxy, and Mandy Fry, formerly of Billabong and Volcom, they’ll be launching a women’s surf and lifestyle brand with a roll-out starting this summer, 2014. This is […]