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Location: Blogs Sean O'Brien's Blog |
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| Posted by: Sean Obrien |
11/27/2007 |
It's Worldwide (No Duh.)
I remember going for a hike in Switzerland after a summer ispo show. I was at the top of a long gondola ride in Blatten, across a long dirt trail leading into the mountains, and a long ways from anything. It was the perfect scene: little Swiss cottages, the sound of cow bells, steep green hillsides below snowy mountains. I was walking by one especially picturesque little farm house when someone came out the door. It was the first person I’d seen in quite a while and I was startled.
But I became even more startled when I took a closer look at him. No, he wasn’t some craggy old-timer in lederhosen. Instead he was a kid of about sixteen, rocking a black DC Shoe Co hoodie, Volcom jeans, and muddy skate shoes.
“Hello,” I smiled, giving a half wave.
“Gruss Gott,” he replied, giving the standard Bavarian greeting.
It was then that it struck me. I suddenly heard the sonorous voice of Billabong’s Paul Naude in my ear as I recalled from memory the keynote speech he gave at the SIMA surf summit about the growth of the market and the opportunities that represented.
I walked on as the guy went to milk his goats or make some cheese or practice his yodeling. He never knew how much he surprised me or how he caused me to be lost in thought for the rest of the hike. I wondered, as I often do, what the role of the specialty retailer would be in a world where you can’t seem to escape the boardsports lifestyle—no matter how far off the beaten track you roam.
I think you wouldn’t argue with me much if I said that the reins are firmly in the hands of the brands, and that they’ve done a great job expanding our market. This has offered growth to both specialty stores and poseurs like Hollister. The business is unbelievably more sophisticated than it was even ten years ago and that’s a good thing. But we're in a huge period of change and nothing ever stays the same for long.
This whole thread of thought returned over the Thanksgiving holiday when I went on a roadtrip up the coast of California to San Francisco. There on one of the most iconic corners of the city, Haight and Ashbury, the center of the 1960s counterculture, the brirthplace of Rolling Stone magazine and all the rest, now stands a RVCA store. Now, I won’t make too much of this. After all, I think a Jamba Juice is caddy corner. But it’s still impressive to see a relatively smaller boardsport brand occupy such a prominent retail space.
I got out of the car and peered through the window (the store wouldn’t open for hours yet). It was slick. Suddenly I thought of that kid up in Switzerland and for the millionth time began to ponder where all this is heading. What will the next ten years—or twenty—look like for the boardsports lifestyle and its retail channels? Who will the retail players be? What will "the brands" represent to both the active participants in the sports and the millions of wanna-be’s that fund our dreams? How can we make sure that the next time I take the tram up to that remote Swiss village, that I encounter the same panoply of familiar brands?
I have many ideas of how that will occur, but one thing seems clear: The future is always more interesting—and surprising—than what we think it will be. I, for one, am really curious to watch it all play out. 
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Re: It’s Worldwide |
By Doog on
12/4/2007 |
| Reminds of this one trip I went on to Cali. There in the middle of Bro Brah land I saw a guy wearing lederhosen! I thought it was so cool that someone was still an individual and chose to be different and wear something different. <br><br>My other comment to this blog is: It is cool seeing our industry's brands going global. It so much cooler than seeing a kid wearing Hollister or Gap in a foreign country. |
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Re: It’s Worldwide |
By Amen Brother on
12/5/2007 |
| There is a bar downtown where I hear they wear Lederhosen -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Is that were you saw him? Better even than the Minneapolis airport I've heard! |
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