Women’s surfing just got a boost for 2014 with the announcement from the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) that an event in Maui has been added as the final stop on the 2014 ASP Women’s World Championship Tour (WCT). The event will be hosted in the world-famous Honolua Bay from November 24 through December 6, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Story and Photos by Kathleen Gasperini and Tom Wallace The flagship Agenda trade show in Long Beach, CA, from January 7-8, 2014, represented a quintessential snapshot of where the marketplace of streetwear, action sports, and music-inspired lifestyle apparel, footwear, and accessories is headed. The show was packed with business being done at the brisk pace […]
The owners of Surf Expo, George Management LLC, has been purchased for $335 million by Emerald Expositions Inc. owners of Outdoor Retailer trade show. Interestingly, in the on-going evolution of trade shows, outdoor and surf have grown closer, especially a seen at the summer OR shows where several surf brands have been exhibiting and participating […]
Last weekend December 14, 2013, pro surfing came to a dramatic season ending at Banzai Pipeline on Oahu’s north shore with Kelly Slater, 41, winning his 7th Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons in massive 15-foot waves. Slater defeated John John Florence (HAW), 21, in a hard-fought, 35-minute Final that ended with less […]
AGENDA, the leading forum for the action sports, surf, streetwear, lifestyle and footwear industries, has a lot going on for its upcoming trade show January 7-8, 2014, in Long Beach, CA. First, it’s announced a strategic partnership with FLEXFIT—one of the world’s largest vendors of custom, private label headwear—as its exclusive headwear sponsor for an […]
Kelly Slater vying to win again at the Billabong Pipe Masters. Photo by Cestari/ASP. The North Shore of Oahu is currently packed with the top surfers in the world vying for the coveted win of the Billabong Pipeline Masters in Memory of Andy Irons. Billabong Pipe Masters represents the pinnacle of the 2013 Association of […]
They call it their “profit improvement plan” to streamline the brand, and focus, but another way to put it is that Quiksilver, once the kingpin of surfing and action sports, has had to deal with a harsh wake-up call that they simply aren’t popular with their once-core market of teens. Quiksilver hasn’t turned a profit […]