Retail giant PacSun files for bankruptcy!
Are you good at business? I’m not. Ideas, magical ideas, ping off the inside of my skull all night long. Each one worth a million dollars. Two even. They cross all manner of industries, from toys to special hairbrushes to a pocket knife that doubles as a vape pen.
In the morning, when the sun shines harsh, I realize they are all very terrible plans and I am destined to blog/write the great unfinished surf novel. It gives me some measure of comfort though to know that PacSun executives are also bad at business. The surf wear retailer filed for bankruptcy today and few tears were shed. The Los Angeles Times reports:
Beachy teen retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. used to be the place to go for surf and skate apparel.
But on Thursday, the Anaheim apparel company commonly known as PacSun filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the latest in a string of California teen activewear retailers that have struggled to adapt to changing fashion trends.
Those companies have been plagued by the same issues facing many apparel companies — the move toward online shopping instead of bricks-and-mortar stores, and the popularity of so-called fast fashion retailers, which quickly cycle through new looks and stay up-to-date with the latest styles.
“Fast fashion is killing these guys,” said Paula Rosenblum, an analyst with Retail Systems Research. “If the surf look is not in, you’ve got to pivot to another brand of styling.”
And there you have it. Surf = California Pizza Kitchen + Eddie Bauer. A smarter business man than I, and one engaged in the industry, said:
Let’s see…Publicly traded company that required unsustainable double digit growth to feed the beast. At some point the masses don’t need more surf shit and Pac Sun could simply no longer force feed it to the mainstream. This is actually the second time around where they found themselves trying to adapt to a more urban consumer because surf went soft. Happened in the mid 90’s as well.
In many ways, PacSun is the bloated poster child for the whole US surf industry: Out of touch with the core consumer, too many products, poor quality products, terrible branding, too many store fronts, etc. They also do these super cheesy private label lines that they rip off the design from the other brands and sell it at a price point. Full train wreck.
From the actual bankruptcy filings. In PacSun’s opinion, “the action sports segment of the retail industry, around which the company’s early success centered, is no longer as relevant as it had previously been.”
Maybe it’s just the big box retailer/PacSun model is no longer relevant?
Hope springs eternal! But do you know what the great Michael Tomson, founder of Gotcha and More Core Division told me? He said, “I used to think the surf industry was a boulevard of broken dreams. Now I think it’s becoming a mass burial site.”
Would you like to invest in my company? It makes pocket knives that double as vape pens.
There was a whole bit on BBC radio yesterday about surfing in England and Australia. If it’s not dead now it obviously will be soon. Old, white and dying.
Best exchange this year…
what is Pac-Sun?
Chas I would very much like to invest in your company! The amount of times Ive been overtaken by a vape induced THC psychosis only to find no weapon at hand. Best of all I can hide it in my anal cavity when I go to prison and teach that twink cell mate of mine a lesson for not wearing his hair in pigtails like I asked.
Wait what was the topic? Pacsun?
Can I still wear boxers under my boardshorts?
If you live the NY/NJ area it is mandatory.
It doesn’t matter if it is a chapter 11 – just like Quik they will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes!!
ah once upon a time , like… ah last year ,supplying Pac Sun was a sign ,you had made it in the surf industry , and now oh no , don’t tell me surfing in no longer fashionable to non-surfers!!
Some of PacSun’s bigger debts:
Nike: $5.6 million
Hurley: $2.8 million
RVCA: $847,000
Rainbow Sandals: $429,000
Volcom: $400,000
Rainbow Sandals you cheeky bastards.
No wonder Conan had to short sale that house!
The word cunt has lost its mojo. It basically means sir in Australia these days. If you said “oh, sorry cunt” when you accidentally bump an old man coming out of a lift or something I doubt he’d ever bat an eyelid.
i hate that is so frowned upon in the US. It’s a fantastic word
That’s how it started here. People just kept using it til that frown turned upside down
my friends who watch footy and i just use it freely. if england and aussies can do it why not us?
Brilliant! A vape pen that you can stab yourself with out of shame for vaping!
Unfortunately not a lot of repeat business.
And at any moment can blow up in your face
Clearly they didn’t invest in the burgeoning hundred dollar t-shirt market that puts a smile on underprivileged kids and their single mom’s alike.
They should have changed the name to Pac Sup and sold vests and whistles to the over 50 SUP crowd.
That’s good!
And shark protection devices. Don’t forget shark protection devices.
Death to retail! It’s so primitive! Prepare to welcome the next great era in surf business — where they finally cut to the fucken chase and actually sell people waves!
I’m telling you cunts, there will come a time when you will look back at the days of boom time surf clothing companies with regretful nostalgia.
I can’t wait for the surf industry to die….. to ride reasonably priced boards shaped by fume intoxicated mad men through the uncrowded line ups… for our lifestyle to no longer be a shitty version of the NFL…. I could write for the inertia
I remember riding my bike home from a surf at our local onshore wind option on a bleak Kiwi winters evening as a young teen and being struck in the chest with a half consumed can of Lion Red beer as one of the bogan occupants screamed “Fucking Seaweed Wankers” out the window. Those were the days.
So kids what do you want to be when you grow up? “a police man” “a fire man” “a horse” me: “I wanna be dora”
maybe its dead, as you can buy a bd from Asia , where fume intoxicated mad men make bds …….and not too expensive!
I stopped in to my “local” mega mall (for you aviation enthusiasts it’s where Lindbergh started his solo flight to Paris) PacSun last week and noticed that big name surf stars were woefully under represented in the store advertising. If Hurley is paying JJF seven figures a year shouldn’t his face be everywhere ? Even if surf style isn’t necessarily in why aren’t they marketing him like any other athlete and trying to generate sales that way?
Have you really looked at his face? Like, really?
I never could quite put my finger on what was wrong….. eczema??
Mommy drank while preg-o’s.
My wife thinks he’s cute. But she teaches Special Ed so I’m not sure if she thinks he’s cute cute or Special cute. Anyway…he’s a superstar so they need to do a better job of getting the JJF “brand” generating cash.