Category: Surfing

Flashback to the Origins of Skate-Surf Culture: Venice Beach Surf and Skate Fest Brings-out Retro Boards, Decks, Classic Cruisers, and Memorabilia

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From old-school wooden Alva, Hobie, Sims, and Tenderfoot skateboard decks, to classic cruiser bikes like the 1965 Flightline, the Venice Surf and Skate Fest was a reminder of where the surfing, skateboarding, and beach cruiser crossover first took place. Retro surfing posters, Beach Boys music, and even classic Zipees roller skates rounded-out a scene that […]

Sustainable Surf Partners with Association of Surfing Professionals Tour To Green-up Events

ASP RipCurl Pro Search Somewhere in San Francisco

The non-profit organization Sustainable Surf, the leader is creating surfboards out of recycled materials and guidelines for green events, has partnered with ASP North America for the 2012 season. This could set new standards for action sports events in general. The goal of the partnership is to provide a useful framework for looking at event […]

MAGIC, S.L.A.T.E., Street, Workroom, Project, Pool, (capsule)—Label Networks’ Review of America’s Largest Fashion Trade Show Scene and Where Trends Are Headed

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 Story and Photos by Kathleen Gasperini and Tom Wallace The flurry of fashion trade shows in Las Vegas from February 12-15, 2012 bring with them a diverse angle of what’s taking shape in fashion from a wide spectrum of genres particularly in the United States. While we mostly concentrate on youth culture influences, including streetwear, […]

Billabong’s Partial Sell of Nixon Generates $285 Million Towards Debt Payment—Plus, The Changing Tide of Action Sports

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Hours after posting the initial story about the potential Billabong takeover, last night came more news as Billabong and Nixon announced the partial sale, or 48.5% of Nixon, to Trilantic Capital Partners (not to be confused with Texas Pacific Group which put in a bid earlier in the morning for Billabong for $766 million). The […]

Retail Round-Up: Billabong Take-Over Bid; VF’s Strong Q4 Thanks to Timberland Buy

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Ever since Billabong’s horrid December 2011 financial report of a drop of 44% for an all-time record low on December 19th, the surf brand has been under a microscope among financial advisors as to what’s next for the troubled action sports company. After the December report, Goldman Sachs announced a structure review, with Billabong stating […]

Changes in Qualifying Process for Top Surfers for World Tour 2012

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On the cusp of several changes taking place in the sport of surfing, here’s the latest about the shift in the qualification process for the Association of Surfing Professional’s World Tour for 2012. Announced today, January 24, 2012, the ASP Board of Directors has voted to ratify several refinements to the ASP World Tour and […]

Legendary Street Artist and Dogtown Co-Writer Craig Stecyk III to Debut “Fin”—Investigating Artisan Garage Culture

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C.R. “Craig” Stecyk III, the co-writer and production designer of “Dogtown and Z Boys” with Stacey Peralta, is debuting a digital film short called “Fin” as part of his collaboration with Hurley in a film series project capturing personages of Southern California. The soundtrack includes Social Distortion, Breakdown, Tommy Guerrero and Steve Alba and the […]

Pro Surfing Initiates Anti-Doping Policy for 2012

ASP RipCurl Pro Search Somewhere in San Francisco

The concept has been in the works for some time so it’s no surprise really that Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), which has been going through a crisis recently, has initiated an Anti-Doping Policy for their 2012 season. Unlike many other professional sporting events, surfing has never had such a policy, which many in the […]

How Surfing Is Going Through Its Own “Arab Spring”—From Bobby Martinez Getting Booted to Questions about the ASP World “City” Tours to Lack of Women’s Sponsorship— The Soul of Surfing Under the Spotlight

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In the past few years it seems we’ve been writing more and more about the sport of surfing and not necessarily because of its soulful nature and attraction among youth culture, but because of the complex business issues surrounding the industry. Now, hitting mainstream Los Angeles this week, a poignant article by Tibby Rothman was […]