Fox, a global leader in performance action sports apparel, recently announced the election of Peter Fox to CEO by the company’s Board of Directors, according to a press release issued Friday, March 7. Previously Pete held the title of Chief Creative Officer. Former CEO Geoff Fox, the patriarch of the Fox family and founder of the 34 year-old company, remains on the Board of Directors.

Greg Fox will continue to serve on the Board of Directors as well as VP of Sales.

“This transition plan has been in the works for a while, and my retirement from day-to-day activities serving as CEO and Chairman has become official and complete,” Fox’s founder said. “I will remain on the Board, and look forward to contributing in that way for years to come. I continue to be excited by the dynamic path that Fox is on. Our best days are ahead of us.”

Quiksilver, Inc. announced Friday, March 7, that its net revenues for the first quarter of 2008 - which ended Jan. 31 - are up by 14 percent to $605 million, according to a press release issued by the company.

After increasing it’s global apparel revenues one year ago by 19 percent to $505 million, Quiksilver has been on a steady track for the fiscal year 2008. The company indicated that visibility into revenues and earnings is limited for the remainder of the year. It acknowledged, however, consensus estimates as published by First Call of $2.6 billion for consolidated revenues and $0.58 for EPS (both from continuing operations) and believes that such estimates should be achievable, according to the statement.

“Although we are no t satisfied with our financial results in general, we are pleased that our core apparel and footwear operations enabled us to partially offset the more difficult than expected results from our wintersports equipment busines,” Bob McKnight, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Quiksilver. “As we go forward, we are energized to regain focus on our core opportunities. We are executing a variety of strategies to improve our gross margin, reduce our expense levels and generatecash flow to repay our indebtedness. We are resolved to continue to pursue strategic transactions to reduce or eliminate our exposure to our winter sports equipment business.”

Check out what Quiksilver has to offer this season at the company’s official Web site.

(Oslo, March 4th, 2008). The Oakley Arctic Challenge (TAC) 2008 in Holmenkollen was a success with 7000 spectators, a new competition format and all time high exposure. Unfortunately the Holmenkollen Ski Jump arena will be re-built for the ski world championships in Oslo in 2011. TAC does not have an arena in Oslo for the 2009 season and the organiser is searching a new venue and host resort - in or outside Norway.

The Oakley Arctic Challenge is a 6 star TTR event; the highest level on the TTR ranking system. The TTR General Assembly is in late May. TAC needs to sort out venue and organising issues before the GA in order to make a new 6 star application. The management of TAC has already been approached by several parties for host resort position, but they whish to check out more options worldwide before deciding upon a venue.

Interested parties can contact:

Henning Andersen
CEO of TAC
henning@thearcticchallenge.com
+47 90695119

Oslo has been a great city for TAC with solid backup from the Municipality and the local crowd. The unique lifestyle/action combo with parties/concerts downtown and snowboarding a short bus ride away has resulted in historic positive feedback from riders, sponsors and fans. The TV pictures have been described as one of the best snowboard TV productions ever. With this bag of goodies, TAC is not leaving Oslo joyfully.

More information about TAC can be found on: www.thearcticchallenge.com

TAC will organise site inspections in March and April before deciding upon venue and new host resort.

Salomon Snowboards accepted the Volvo SportsDesign Award for Eco Design in the boardsports category, in Munich, Germany at this year’s ISPO.

The design award was presented to Salomon for the SickStick, a new school powder board. The Sick Stick features Salomon’s patented bamboo sandwich construction process, driven by the goal to improve the performance of Salomon products, while significantly reducing the ecological cost of snowboard production.

An international jury, consisting of design and ecological experts, chose the Sick Stick out of several well-respected nominees, including Arbor’s Wasteland, two surf products and a Brazilian skateboard. Over 300 products were submitted for consideration in 7different categories.

The Sick Stick is the result of a design collaboration with Wolle Nyvelt and Josh Dirksen. The new school powder board will be hard to miss on the hill. It is designed to spray a wicked ridgeline, straight-line a chute, butter 180 off a cornice and drop into pow. It will be available in three sizes: 156, 160 and 163. The suggested retail price will be $599.

For more information go to:

http://www.ispo-sportsdesign.com/

Citing “far-reaching changes in the summer sports market,” marketing and communications company Messe München GmbH has suspended the summer Ispo trade shows.

Ispo, which ran in Munich, Germany for more than 35 years, was a biannual monolith of a show, with several halls dedicated to all facets of the sporting goods industry—from ping-pong to offshore manufacturing, and everything in between—including action sports.The changes cited in the March 6 press release are increasing segmentation in areas such as running, kayaking, and sourcing—areas that all have different key players, industry demands, and ordering periods.

The other change mentioned was “rapidly progressing internalization.”Manfred Wutzlhofer, Messe München CEO, explains: “We at Messe München work closely with the sporting goods and sportstyle industries to detect developments at an early stage and consider them in our offers. The industry has confirmed to us in numerous discussions with exhibitors and retailers that the need for platforms in the summer remains substantial.”

Wutzlhofer goes on to say that they are currently considering new developments and will provide customized offers for the industry’s respective segments. New offers for summer 2008 are separate shows: “Running Order Show,” which is the first B2B event for running worldwide and “Sports Source Europe,” which follows on the heels of a successful “Sports Source Asia” show.

“Because sporting goods are becoming increasingly more fashionable and more oriented to lifestyle, they are increasingly subject to short-term trends,” Ispo Head Tobias Gröber explains. “In addition to Asia as the leading production region for sporting goods, sourcing markets at the doorstep of Europe such as North Africa and Eastern Europe, and especially Turkey and Portugal, are becoming increasingly more important.”

Messe München maintains the need for an event is still present, and is restructuring the show in a new partnership with Nielsen Business Media, which owns ASR, for joint trade fairs beginning in 2009. In addition, there will also be segment-specific trade fairs also starting in 2009.

Professional skateboarder Nate Sherwood, whose long-time involvement in the industry has gained him a reputation for reliability, has been added to the Factor54 staff to head up the lifestyle brand’s skate team and he’s stoked on the new opportunity.

A regular on Fuel TV’s “American Misfits” and a feature skater in 411VM’s “Up for Grabs,” Sherwood plans to continue working full-time at Duffs, the Oceanside, Calif.-based shoe retailer, but is excited to branch out at Factor 54, where he will have more creative control, he said during a recent visit to Transworld Business.

“I am wrenching on two jobs but I have a passion that burns bridges in skateboarding so I never put all my eggs in one basket,” Sherwood said.

Based in Costa Mesa, Calif. , Factor54 was founded by surfers and skaters who work to create clothing designs for skate, snow and surf. The company has been working to steadily build up its skate and surf teams, according to a press release it issued.

It was just a month ago that Factor discovered Sherwood while at the ASR trade show in San Diego and liked the boarder’s outlook on the industry. Todd Miller, Factor 54 founder and CEO, said he felt Factor’s skate program - in order to grow to a serious scope - needed a leader who has “lived and breathed” as a pro and who knows what the team needs to be successful.

“We have a lot of talent on this team and the program is at a point where it needs solid focus,” Miller said.

Sherwood, a Portland, Oregon native who currently resides in Oceanside, is sponsored by ‘eS Shoes, Ironic Skateboards, Kontrol wheels and Willy Santos’ Willy’s Workshop. The pro is also a steady contributor for Olliemag.com.

In celebration of launching it’s new collection for women, Quiksilver has selected six creative young women to participate in a year long residency at Site LA, a work and communal space that will allow the selected individuals - who range from an aspiring entrepreneur and an architect to an automotive designer and a singer/songwriter - to further develop a long-range project and inspire other women.

The women were selected from across a broad range of creative cultural fields, according to a press released issued Feb. 6, by Quiksilver. The company feels that the women’s presence, which will be documented throughout the year through videos and blogs that will be posted at SiteLA.org, will help inspire other young women to pursue their dreams and awaken within everyone the spirit of surfing, according to the release.

“Over the last 30 years, Quiksilver has provided the tools for boardriders to do some pretty impressive things. We have always strived to be a source of support and inspiration,” said Steve Tully, President of Quiksilver Brands in the Americas. “Now, as we continue to expand our vision and grow our community, we want to use our resources to awaken the spirit of surfing in everyone. We hope that by enabling these radical women and exposing their impressive endeavors, others will be inspired to follow their vision by doing what they love.”

Stay updated on how the year goes by checking in to SiteLA.org.