Author: Kathleen Gasperini

Youth Culture’s Top Rankings of Most Sustainable Brands Reveals Changes in Spending Patterns and Influences

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One of the highlights within our 3rd Annual Sustainability and the State of the Future Youth Culture Study 2014 comes to what brands 13-25-year-olds believe to be the most eco-friendly or sustainable. The responses reflect a changing marketplace, including changes in spending patterns and why they buy the things that they do. In this story, […]

Street Leagues Skateboarding Tour Ends on Highnote: Nyjah Takes Home $200,000 as World Champ, Paul Rodriguez Rings NASDAQ Opening Bell

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The last stop of the Street LeagueSkateboarding Tour ended on a high note. First, on Friday, August 22, 2014, in honor of the 2014 Street League Skateboarding Nike SB Super Crown World Championship descending upon the Prudential Center in Newark on Sunday, August 24, pro skater Paul Rodriguez, rang the NASDAQ Opening Bell. On Sunday, […]

Bread & Butter Backtracks on Barcelona—Stays in Berlin

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Late-breaking news on Friday evenings are often the most intriguing: Bread & Butter has pulled back on its recent announcement of moving the January fashion trade show to Barcelona. Instead, they’re not going anywhere and will host the show once again in Berlin.  No word yet if their plans for Seoul, Korea, are changed for […]

Legends Gone: Goodbye to Robin Williams and Jay Adams

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The sad news of Robin Williams passing away by suicide at the age of 63 has effected people across all ages. His work in comedy and films, even his many USO visits to some 90,000 troops, will always be remembered. For many of us working in youth culture industries and organizations, we remember Robin Williams […]

VF Corporation, Owners of Vans, The North Face, Timberland, Shares Latest to Improve Bangladesh Worker Safety…But There’s A Pink Elephant in the Room

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When the tragic event of Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza building collapsed in April 2013, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,100 garment workers, the veil masking fashion’s dirty secrets was stripped away. Suddenly, people demanded to know what was going on with the garment industry and workers’ safety, people questioned conditions, fair wages, building safety, […]

Street League Skateboarding Enters Strategic Partnership with International Skateboarding Federation, Works on Olympics and Youth Games in Nanjing

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Skateboarding is getting more streamlined and moving closer to reality of an official Olympic sport (not just the Youth Games) after today’s announcement by Street League Skateboarding. On August 12, 2014, Street League Skateboarding (SLS) and the International Skateboarding Federation (ISF) announced a strategic partnership as the SLS endorses ISF recognition by the International Olympic […]

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Hosts World’s Hottest Rock Bands at Inaugural Gibson Brands Alternative Press Music Awards

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There’s no doubt that the inaugural AP Music Awards last night, July 21, 2014, could have also been called the Vans Warped Tour Awards or even, the Kevin Lyman’s Bands Awards. Many of the amazing bands that were represented got their start with Lyman seeing their talent and putting them on Tour for hundreds of […]

Surfing Round-up: Kelly Slater Launches Drink Brand Purps; ASP Hires Chief Commercial Officer and Opens NYC Office; Vans US Open of Surf to Kick-off in Huntington Beach

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There’s another new nutrition drink on the market and this time, it’s coming from surfing’s kingpin, Kelly Slater. Called Purps (rhymes with burps), the packaging fonts and website are in purple, illustrating four different sized bottles/shots of beverage choices. Slater is among the brand’s founders, along with scientist Dr. Chris Schaumburg, and designer PM Tenore. […]

Volcom Documentary Chronicles 21 Years of Insane Action Sports Footage and Life Lived Completely Out of the Ordinary

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There’s been a growing nostalgia in the action sports world these days with snowboarding coming up to its 30th or 35th anniversary depending on who you ask, and the advent of skateboarding and surfing homegrown video technology and movie-making capabilities. So it makes sense that Volcom just announced the upcoming release of a new documentary […]

Alternative Energy and Lifestyle Effects on Youth Culture—How Brands Need to Adjust for the Future

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In our upcoming 3rd Annual Sustainability and the State of the Future Youth Culture Study 2014, we reveal a number insightful shifts in the youth culture marketplace based on their concerns, buying patterns, trends, and ideas regarding global climate change, a world of limited fossil fuels, and expectations from brands regarding sustainability. In this story, […]