Thanks to an alert from a reader, and a follow-up with a journalist who wrote about their results, I was able to come up with a copy of Rip Curl’s financial statements for the year ended June 30. There’s no discussion of operations or breakdown of what’s selling and where like we’d have if they were a public company. But I’ll take what I can get and I thought you’d be interested […]
Rip Curl Financial Results
November 5th, 2013Market Evolution; Things to Think About from Quik CEO Mooney and My Spin on Them
October 8th, 2013I wrote about Quiksilver’s quarter maybe a month ago. In the conference call, CEO Andy Mooney had some really interesting things to say about how the market is changing. I set them aside to think about. I felt they were comments that were appropriate to a general discussion of market evolution, rather than the particulars of Quik’s situation, though obviously they apply there as well. The first thing he says, talking about Europe, […]
A Tale of Two Retailers
September 25th, 2013A recent trip to the East coast found me in a mid-sized, somewhat economically depressed city that’s undergoing quite a revival in its downtown core. I had the chance to walk the downtown with one of the people intimately involved in that development as he explained the vision and showed me the construction. Part of what he does is talk with local retailers to explain to them what’s happening and how […]
A Quart of Paint
August 22nd, 2013If you’re a homeowner, you know that you can never complete your project list. All you can do is try to keep it from getting longer. At our house, outside projects are my job and in the Northwest, that means get them done in the summer. In the spirit of shortening the list, I stopped by a Sears yesterday to pick up a quart of exterior primer paint for one such job. […]
Relaxed Fit
August 2nd, 2013Maybe a month ago, I was walking through a local mall visiting all the usual retailers to see how things looked. I stopped at a PacSun store and was attracted to a table with some Volcom shorts on it in colors I really liked. There was a sticker on the shorts that said, “Relaxed Fit.” I paused for a moment, looked around the store to clear my head, and then read […]
Brand Extensions, Market Niches, Internships and Other Notes from the Agenda Show
July 30th, 2013Agenda did its usual good job of putting on what I’ll call its youth culture show in Long Beach last Thursday and Friday. I don’t really like that term, but I like “action sports” less at this point in our industry’s evolution and I really hate “fashion.” And not everything is “urban” or “street” wear so it’s youth culture until somebody comes up with something better. I’m waiting for your suggestions. My request […]
The Dilemma of Growth in Action Sports
July 22nd, 2013Help me out here. Name me one company that (1) has its roots in action sports, (2) has grown to have revenues greater than, say, $200 million, (3) has gone public, (4) hasn’t been acquired and, (5) is continuing to grow and prosper. In retail, I’d name Zumiez though I imagine some people won’t like that. A nonretail brand? I can’t think of one. Can you? The genesis of this article is […]
Whether to Laugh or Cry; Tommy Hilfiger Debuts Surf Line
June 14th, 2013It’s Friday evening, my wife is out of town, and a friend sent me this article from May 20 announcing the debut referenced in the title. I’ve had a glass of wine and think I’m going to break a rule and have another one as I write this. Or more. God knows what I’ll end up saying. If you search the subject, you’ll find some additional information. According to this article, the line will […]
K-Swiss Acquisition of OTZ Shoes: There’s More Here than Meets the Eye
May 29th, 2013When I first read about this deal, I thought “Good for the team at OTZ. I hope K-Swiss does well by them” and kind of let it go. Then at a reader’s urging, and through a few clicks on the internet, I decided there might be something to write about here. I don’t have any information that isn’t public. First, I went and looked at K-Swiss. It felt like a confused brand. It’s certainly not […]
Some Interesting Numbers
May 15th, 2013I was lucky enough last week to be at IASC’s Skateboard Industry Conference. I was sorry to have to leave early, but among the things I enjoyed doing while there was making a presentation. As part of that presentation I showed some numbers provided by Snowsports Industries of America and I wanted to share them with you. Here they are for five complete snow seasons. 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/1012 […]
