SURF BRAND MOVE TO DISCOUNT RETAIL CHAINS

JUNE 12, 2008 From a post on ASRbiz.com

HANG TEN IN KOHL'S
There seems to be a trend of iconic surf brands moving into discount retail chains. First we were shocked by Shaun White cutting his sponsorship with Volcom and announcing a soon-to-be line of clothes by Target. Next we find out that Wal-Mart will be the exclusive supplier of OP. After that we learn that Kmart will be producing their own surf branded clothing (is that an oxymoron or what?). And what about the Laird Hamilton line in Steve & Barry’s? So maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised to learn that Kohl’s has obtained the right to license the legendary Hang Ten brand and will be offering it in 240 of its stores. And, I shouldn’t be surprised to read that Quiksilver will be designing it. But, I am. I guess that they’ve had such great results with their Tony Hawk partnership that Kohl’s would like them to design the Hang Ten apparel as well. I don’t know, to me it just seems . . . weird. Everything is crossing over, it seems as if all brands are now incestuous, which doesn’t seem right to me.