Billabong has reported a $233.7 million loss after another $146 million in impairment charges, restructuring costs and financing costs combined with a 50% drop in earnings from their Americas operation. CEO Neil Fiske is blaming the result on the prior 18 months of corporate turmoil which led to a huge loss in …
Billabong Sells Up SurfStitch and Swell
We reported on happenings in this space last week and it’s finally come to pass… At a much, much lower price than was being reported. Billabong has scored itself around $35 million for the sale of SurfStitch and Swell to a consortium of investors including the SurfStitch founders. The reports …
O’Neill Featured On Undercover Boss
This one caught me off guard – on Monday evening I happen to be flicking around channels and came across an episode of Undercover Boss that features none other than O’Neill. For those not familiar, this show appears to be some sort of scripted “reality” series. This episode stars Toby Bost, Americas …
Billabong And Surfstitch Making Moves
Over the last two weeks, there’s started to be some interesting rumblings on the Gold Coast about Surfstitch. The reports in Rag Trader and Motley Fool suggest that Surfstitch management have been meeting with fund managers to look at buying Billabong out of their 51% of the business in order to publicly …
Nowhere Bound With Desillusion
Desillusion have put out a road trip clip featuring JR Watson, Dylan Gordon, Ben Barnick, Cierra Cegielski, Holly Hanson and Samson Hatae. The guys camp, ride motorbikes, skate, surf, see some snow and shoot guns… Not a bad little trip at all. It’s shot and editing in Desillusion’s own awesome …
Quiksilver Announces New Licensing Agreements
Although this might look like it’s going to be the worlds most boring article (and it might still get there) I’m thinking that this is actually pretty interesting. Tucked away in the generic release announcing half a dozen new licensing partnerships, was the announcement that Quiksilver had signed “SARL Euroglass and …
American Apparel CEO Sacked
Many of you may not believe it, but there was a time when American Apparel was relevant and meant something to the surf, skate and snow industry… If only for taking customers away in hordes and shifting fashion into a new direction that ultimately led to Quiksilver and Billabong’s near collapse. …
Quiksilver Shares Have Been Tanking
Quiksilver delivered the results from its second quarter on Tuesday night Australian time and there were a few surprises (read: gut punches) for investors. A loss was expected but it was widely thought to be around $0.02 – $0.04 per share. In fact the company lost US$42 million (on revenues of …
GoPro Going Public
GoPro is preparing for its IPO which will make Nick Woodman and his investors (including Foxconn in China) a nice chunk of change. Engadget has done a neat little write up on the potential for future growth in the company. They say that while cameras will always be part of …
Someplace Else Trailer By Riley Blakeway
Ozzie Wright, Andrew Brophy and a few artists feature in this trailer for a film created by Riley Blakeway for Corona. It is all about a seven-day road trip in Mexico and it continues the beer brands association with some cool surf, skate and snow film makers. Taylor Steele created the From Where …
This Is Unfortunate
Electric launched a revised version of their logo a while back – really just a modernisation of their original, but with an unfortunately racist past. The logo is exactly like the one on the cover of a KKK publication, White Community, seen in the below photo from 1947 (is that a young Donald …
Richest Action Sports Stars
The Dingo has been part of some program discussing the wealthiest action sports stars. It covers Shaun White, Tony Hawk, Ryan Sheckler, Rob Dyrdek and a couple of moto guys who are all doing quite well. Doesn’t really cover what they’re doing with the dough… Be nice to hear about the …
Volcom’s ‘True To This’ Online Premiere
The Berrics is hosting a 24 hour online premiere for Volcom’s new video, True To This. The vid is surfing, skating and snowboarding in one – I haven’t quite got all the way through as yet but so far the riding is awesome (and from some of the biggest names …
Surfing Magazine’s Swimsuit Issue
Surfing Magazine have released their annual Swimsuit Issue, this year titled ‘From Aruba With Love’. It was shot by Jason Lee Parry on location in Aruba with four NY based models; Britt Maren, Shelia Marquez, Rachel Thomas and Megan Irminger. I’m not exactly sure how these themes play into the shot but apparently they were …
Google Glass Coming To Oakley’s
Google has done a deal with Oakley and Ray Ban to bring their Glass product onto their frames. For those that haven’t yet seen it, check out the video explaining Glass above… I’ve tried it out and at this stage I’m not sure what the benefit would be to most …
‘My Name Is’ With Cam Stynes
Our friend and long time industry guy, Cam Stynes, has done a bit of an interview about painting and The Sailors Slum. He talks about his current process and favoured materials for painting along with what it means to him. Pretty rad little interview. Check it out.
Flow And The Rise Of Superman
This looks like an action sports version of The Secret – it definitely feels like its about to sell me on a weekend seminar where I have to sit in a hot tent for hours and hug strangers. The Rise Of Superman seems to be about the brain acting in, …
Dragon And Surfing World’s Summer Floatable Party
During the Aus Open of Surfing, Dragon got together with Surfing World for a bit of a party. The hook was around floating sunglasses which is definitely why everyone was there and absolutely not because of the free beer on offer. Click through a few shots from the night above.
Marajuana Now “A Fashionable Ski Accessory” in Colorado
Colorado’s legalization of pot has led to a concern about snow goers hitting the hills high. The Huffington Post reports that the mountains in the state, which include Silverton, Copper, Snowmass and a couple of dozen more are not embracing the change to the laws in order to attract tourism. …
Billabong Presents Turn Around Strategy – Brands To Go
New Billabong CEO Neil Fiske presented his vision to shareholders yesterday for the future of the business. There’s going to be a few brands cut – RVCA, Element and Billabong were the winners selected, all others will be looked at for potential and if it isn’t there, they’re gone. That …
Rob Dyrdek Creating Show For Xbox
Rob Dyrdek is apparently creating a comedy about retired pro skaters for Xbox One. It’s yet to have a title but it will be the third series Dyrdek has on the go alongside Ridiculousness and Fantasy Factory. Ian Edelman is the writer who is best known for the mildly entertaining …
SurfStitch Readying For IPO
There are reports that SurfStitch are getting themselves ready for an initial public offering in the near future. The online retailer, which is 51% owned by Billabong, has an annual turnover of around $80 million and in the previous financial year suffered a $7.6 million loss but only due to …
Action Sports Athletes And Cars
Despite the dire economic conditions and the poor state of several flagship brands, surfers, skaters and snowboarders are earning more than ever before. And all the evidence you need is on facebook and Instagram. Over the weekend, Nyjah Huston posted a photo of himself posed with his new Audi R8 …
IVI Vision Australian Launch Party
IVI Vision has launched in Australia with a bit of a party held last week. The company, which is part owned by the entrepreneurial Rob Dyrdek, is releasing its first line at the moment. They even got their brand ambassador Keith Hufnagel to attend the party! Check the shots from the …
Billabong Deal Delayed By ASIC
Billabong is having to delay their vote on the refinancing proposal from Oaktree after the Australian regulator, ASIC, rejected an independent report. ASIC requests these reports in cases where a transaction is large enough and will have a substantial effect on shareholders in the company. In this instance, they claim …
Billabong’s Cash Is In And West 49 Is Sold
Is it time to start looking at buying Billabong shares again? The initial cash injection is in – $300 million to repay a line of credit and they have offloaded the West 49 retail chain. The sale was a little painful because they received only $9 million for them after …
Nike x Poler With Alex Olson
Nike has hooked up with Poler to put out some shoes and apparel. To promote the collaboration, they got Alex Olson to skate New York then adventure somewhere in Iceland. You can’t really see much of the gear, a lot of the shots are really dark and they only turned …
Jerry Hsu, Austyn Gillette And Josh Harmony Get Fashion
Founder of Alleged Gallery, Aaron Rose, has worked with a suited Jerry Hsu, Austyn Gillette, and Josh Harmony for this fashion-y slow mo clip. Set in a New York set at Paramount Studios, the guys dressed in Dior Homme, Saint Laurent, and Prada, cross paths with three models in their …
Quiksilver’s Lessons From Billabong
“Yay for shares!” There’s a poorly written article that consistently gets names wrong (excuse me Mr. Pot, what did you say?) all about the lessons Quiksilver can take from the troubled times at Billabong. The shares are trading at US$8.28 on the NYSE today, the articles author believes that based …
Quiksilver Sells Maker Of LibTech And GNU
Mervin Manufacturing, the company behind LibTech and GNU, has been sold by Quiksilver. The company was initially acquired in the late 90’s by Quik and more recently have kicked massive goals and seen huge growth through some of their snowboard tech. The purchase was made by Extreme Holding… No, really. …
Rip Curl Bucks The Trend And Makes A Profit
Photo: Nat Young by ASP/Kirstin Rip Curl has surprised pretty much everyone by turning a profit. They have powered through a restructure and ridden a resurgent retail sector, which seems to be eluding most other brands, going from a little over $4 million loss in 2012 to a $14 million …
Coastal Capital Looking To Sack Billabong Board
If you thought things were going to settle now that there looked like there was (another) approved deal for Billabong, you were wrong. The fun continues with Coastal Capital continuing to buy shares gaining 7.6% ownership of the company. Apparently the purchases are to get them into a position where …
Ross Rebagliati Embracing The Past
For those who frequent Whistler in the Northern Winter, this may not be news to you. But I read it yesterday and was blown away… Ross Rebagliati, the 1998 Winter Olympic gold medalist, who subsequently lost and then regained the medal due to THC being found in his system, indicating …
Billabong Sold Nixon And Told No One
This image has no relevance to the article but it’s McCrank’s profile image in Nixon’s team section and is awesome. Billabong had offloaded half of its share in Nixon a while back to hold back the banks for a little while. About a month ago, they got rid of the …
Brian Singer And Doug Warbrick Step Down From Rip Curl
Rip Curl’s founders Brian Singer and Doug Warbrick are stepping down from the company after 44 years. The guys started the iconic label in 1969 shaping boards, and made a decision a year later to start creating wetsuits. From there it boomed. In 1981 they started selling their tech under …