New Swimwear Ads

New swimwear ads for Surfshot and SURFER October magazines. Ads were created by SGS art department

Halibut Matt

Submitted by Matt Meistrell:

Speared it last Thursday off Redondo Beach....in 30 ft of water. The Fish took me for a ride and did not give up easy.

Billabong acquires DaKine in latest buy

As reported on shop-eat-surf.com: Aug. 21, 08
Billabong International announced today it is buying accessories maker DaKine Hawaii, Inc.

Billabong has agreed to pay US$99.9 million, in addition to a later payment of a minimum of US$33.3 million if certain conditions are met, according to Billabong’s financial statements.

“DaKine is well established within the boardsports sector and it is a brand that has built its reputation on the quality and reliability of its technical range,” Billabong CEO Derek O’Neill said in a statement.

“It is a brand that is focused on function over fashion and this, together with a strong team of athletes and compelling marketing campaigns, had endeared it to active boardsports participants.”

DaKine founder Rob Kaplan will remain integrally involved in the company and will work out of the brand’s regional office in Maui. He said he welcomed the synergies and additional infrastructure Billabong had to offer.

The statement said all employees and the current management team will be retained and continue to work of DaKine’s head office in Oregon.

DaKine is expected to contribute 4 percent of Billabong International sales in the 2008-09 financial year and is expected to be earnings per share positive in year one.

More to come later on Billabong’s earnings, released today.

ASR-Body Glove "LINE UP" Digital Mag ad

Check out the new format for ASR's Digital Magazine online. You can also get the exhiitor list and 08 Floorplan here.

ASR/Digital LINEUP Magazine.

Holly Beck participates in Breast Cancer Awareness event

As reported on Surfline.com: August 13, 2008

Read the complete story here.

New Sport Diver Magazine Ad

New ad for Sport Diver Magazine featuring Holly Beck.  This is a shot from the recent Tahiti trip that Holly, Cheyne Magnusson, Alex Gray and Greg Browning went on.  Greg was down there to film our 3 team riders surfing and diving in Tahiti.  He is now editing the footage for a pilot called "Drop Zone".  This is a concept of bringing youth to the dive market and mixing the 2 sports together to help generated excitement and interest to the sport. This was a concept that Greg and Robbie Meistrell formulated about a year ago and now it's beginning to take shape.  Look for video clips soon as well as the full edited movie. 

New Wakeboarding Ad

New ad for Wakeboarding Mag featuring Rusty in his signature vest made by our USA Wetsuit division.  

Body Glove Country-Japan Advertising

Yugo Harada and Matt Walden from Body Glove Japan are doing a great job over in Japan in keeping the Body Glove brand moving forward.  They are currently doing a campaign title "THIS IS BODY GLOVE COUNTRY,"  basing the theme off the rich history of the brand.  Body Glove Japan also offers a retro looking wetsuit with the Original Body Glove logo on it.  When we were down in Japan last year we saw a lot of those in the water.  Good work to the Body Glove Japan crew.  Keep it up.

Ad for Blue Magazine

Ad for Glide Magazine

INSPIRATION

Cool stitching design on the pattern on the gray backpack.  Could be cool to see that style done on the music cases.  Simple, but adds a fresh cool style to it.

Oh crap.  The sharkman is back.  In the same garbage they sold before.

INSPIRATION

Denim Textile Show

Cheyne Magnusson Photoshoot

A few more shots from the photoshoot I did with Cheyne Magnusson a month ago. Cheyne is wearing the Body Glove Freedive wetsuit made and designed by our USA wetsuit manufacturer.

Fancy That: A Neoprene Laptop Bag That Doesn't Say Wetsuit

Article submitted by Christine Braun-Body Glove Int.-Designer.

From the website called *geeksugar 8/6/08

As a lady, and worse, a lady who cares about the design of her computer as much as the design of her clothing, you know how hard it can be to find a nice-looking laptop bag. Sometimes I'll be on a roll, posting a pretty laptop bag almost every day, but I hunt for those suckers! For every gorgeous, slouchy leather laptop bag, like this one by Hayden Harnett, there's scads of ugly, ugly bags.
Generally, it's the fabric that brings the tone down; for some reason, some manufacturers think that our laptops will be the target of bullets, battering rams, and other things the army — and not a girl going to work — needs to worry about.
Neoprene used to be on my list of offensive fabrics, but I have to reconsider this material because of this Rose on Red Laptop Bag ($45). The fabric loses its industrial-ish, masculine edge with a rose stamped into its side, but on the same token, the near-imperceptibility of the image prevents it from screaming "I'm a chick!" Well played, bag people.

REWARD OFFERED FOR STOLEN GEORGE FREETH STATUE

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE - Body Glove founder Bob Meistrell stepped forward Friday, Aug. 8, to offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of the George Freeth bust and the arrest and conviction of those responsible for stealing the icon from the Redondo Beach pier.

The bronze sculpture of Freeth, who is credited with bringing surfing to theUnited States from Hawaii 100 years ago, was snatched sometime overnightWednesday from the pier, where it has been a fixture since 1977. Meistrell, who owns Dive N’ Surf in Redondo Beach, is distributing reward posters to other local surf shops, as well as to scrapyards where the artwork might wind up in exchange for money for its metals.

Redondo Beach police believe thieves knocked the bust loose from its concrete pedestal sometime between midnight and 5 a.m. Thursday. They had no new leads as of Friday. The bust is thought to weigh about 100 pounds, but no monetary worth has been established.

Created by sculptor Terry O’Donnell, an El Camino College teacher who died in January, the bust was the city’s way of honoring the historic figure who popularized surfing both as a sport and a culture in the South Bay. Freeth came to California in 1907 at the age of 23. He also was a pioneer in lifeguarding, saving 78 lives.

HOW TO HELP :

WHAT: $5,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of the George Freeth bust and the arrest and conviction of any guilty individual.

INFORMATION: Bob Meistrell at Body Glove, 310-374-3441, Ext. 292 or 277, 201 Herondo St., Redondo Beach, CA 90277; www.bodyglove.com.

Dude Cruise Photos

Check out photos on Transworld Surf.com  from a recent trip that Body Glove Video/Team Manager Greg Browning went on with Body Glove Wetsuit team rider, Bruce Irons and other pro surfers.  Mike Balzer also went on the trip to get photos of Bruce surfing and other lifestyle stuff.

Emerging Markets Next Target for OP

As reported on shop-eat-surf.com.

Recycle your plastic.

Read this article about trash in the ocean.  Thanks Sarah for finding the story.  Everybody read and do your part.

Hidden, a 3.5 million trash heap lies in the ocean.

Cool Watch Inspirations

Check out these watch designs for inspiration.

Watch with a cassette for a face.

A pair of Diesel watches on the market. Check out more Diesel watches here.

BRUCE IRONS WINS RIP CURL PRO

Body Glove Wetsuit team rider, Bruce Irons recently won the Rip Curl Pro Search WCT contest. Read the complete story on surfline.com.

The Girls Next Door and Hugh Hefner

Dave Jensen from Dive N Surf has been teaching scuba diving to the three girls from the Playboy tv reality show, "Girls Next Door". Yesterday the 3 girls, Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson and Bridget Marquardt showed up at Dive N Surf to buy gear and then head out to Bob's boat, The Disappearance. Dave was taking the three girls out to finish their scuba training with 2 open ocean dives. I was on board to take photos of the event. As you can see I got no photos to post. Turns out their own photographer was supposed to be on the boat so they asked me to shoot photos they can use. Then they changed their mind and Hugh didn't want any other photographer shooting any shots. So I had to empty my card in front of them so I wouldn't use it for our company. I had to put the camera away and sit on the boat while the girls did their dives. First dive they couldn't finish so they came back in and took a rest. Second dive one of the girls couldn't do it any more and the other two went down and finished a set of their skills. We came back in and waited for Hugh Hefner to show up with his entourage of more girls. They hung out on the boat and watched the other 3 put their gear back on and jump in the water again at the dock. Keep an eye out for the episode and see tons of Body Glove Bikini's and Wetsuits featured on the girls. The show airs on E! channel.

Japanese Economy Shows Signs of Slowing, Australian Retail Sales Soften

As reported on shop-eat-surf.com: August 5, 2008

Economists are watching Japan closely after the country’s unemployment rate rose and household spending fell in June.

The jobless rate rose to 4.1 percent, the highest level in nearly two years. At the same time, household spending fell 1.8 percent, the fourth monthly drop, Bloomberg news reported. And retail sales fell 3.3 percent in June vs. June 2007 when adjusted for inflation.

Japan’s export market has also taken a hit as consumer spending slows in other parts of the world. Exports, which helped lead Japan out of a recession in 2002, fell last month for the first time in more than four years.

Those recent reports lead economists to believe Japan’s economy contracted in the second quarter.

``Japan is on the verge of a recession,'' Yoshiki Shinke, a senior economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo, told Bloomberg. ``Consumer spending may not remain strong enough to prop up the economy.''

The Bank of Japan, responsible for the country’s monetary policy, said the economy is slowing further because of weak business investment and consumer spending.

Elsewhere in the Asia/Pacific region, Australia retail sales unexpectedly fell 1 percent in June.

For the second quarter, retail sales dropped 0.6 percent after falling 0.3 percent in the first quarter.

This is the first back-to-back, quarterly decline in retail sales since 1996, according Westpac Institutional Bank.

In the second quarter, the sharpest decline in retail sales came from the department store, clothing, and hospitality and services sectors.

For the third quarter, Westpac expects retail sales to get a boost from tax cuts and an easing of fuel prices. However, the bank predicts consumer spending to be weak into the second half of 2008 and well into 2009.

Our Friends At Hippy Tree Are Making Strides

As reported on shop-eat-surf.com: July 30th, 2008

Our friends, former Body Glove Wetsuit art director, Andrew Sarnecki and Josh Sweeney are getting their brand name out there. Here's a link to a recent story on their Hippy Tree Company.

http://www.shop-eat-surf.com/Site_3/SHOP-EAT-SURF.COM/Entries/2008/7/30_HippyTree_runs_with_nature_theme.html