Sims Licensed Exclusively To The Sports Authority

[skategeezer]

You know, for a number of folks, Sims Snakes were IT. Tom Sims pioneering wheels and boards and overall stoke for skateboarding fired a lot of people up 3 decades ago. Even in the 80's, the Sims name had cachet. I guess this agreement with the Sports Authority will mean big things for Sims, but I can't help but think its bittersweet...and a taste of things to come.



Sims Licensed Exclusively To The Sports Authority

By Press Release

Posted 10.25.2006


(ENGLEWOOD, CO) October 25, 2006 –Collective International, LLC (Collective) and The Sports Authority have announced an unprecedented, exclusive Master License agreement for Sims®. Under the five year Master License agreement, The Sports Authority will retain exclusive rights in the United States to market and sell all categories of Sims® branded action sports lifestyle products including snowboarding and skateboarding hardgoods, snowboarding boots, footwear, apparel and related accessories in all of its stores. The Sports Authority is one of the largest sporting goods retailers in the nation operating over 400 stores in 45 states.

“Sims has tremendous growth opportunity for The Sports Authority across several action sport product categories,” said Bruce Pettet, president and CEO for Collective. “We feel The Sports Authority will serve as an ideal partner to showcase and elevate Sims’ formidable brand equity while ensuring the long term interests of the brand.”
Tom Sims is an action sports icon and a legend in the histories of surf, skate and snowboarding. Sims personally holds a number of skate and snowboarding titles. Sims’ contributions to action sports as an athlete and product innovator are unmatched and have helped create a foundation for the industry today. He has been instrumental in pioneering the concept of athlete endorsement and athlete-driven product development throughout the last three decades. Tom Sims’ namesake Sims® brand began in 1963 when he introduced the world’s first snowboard, launching an entire sport and culture. Since then, Sims® has grown as a globally recognized action sports brand, introducing a number of industry firsts including the first women’s specific snowboard design and the first high back binding, among others.

“The Sims brand is an action sports industry pioneer and carries an immense recognition among our customers across the country,” said David Campisi, president of The Sports Authority. “Collective delivers succinct design and marketing tools that will help us grow the Sims brand to its full potential in all our stores.”
About Collective Licensing
Collective was formed in January 2004 and is the owner and/or license operator of the Airwalk®, Vision Street Wear®, Sims®, Lamar® and LTD®, World Snowboarding Championships®, Sugarboards®, Carve®, genetic™, Dukes®, Rage®, Ultra-Wheels®, Premise and Skate Attack® brands. Collective is based in Englewood, Colorado

[sharcsplean]

How sad.... does anyone know how many times Sims has been bought and sold in the last decade?

[EBasil]

Oh, for sure: those green Sims Snakes were IT...great wheels. Before that, the big red translucents were great wheels, but the Snakes took things up a notch.

If Sports Authority comes out with a r/w/b Sims repop shirt, I will buy more than one. If they issue a bunch of mall-board junk with the Sims name on it, I'll be happy for Tom and just plain bummed to see that legacy trashed.

[rawls]

If they release any skateboards, I can bet you they will be graphically enhanced cookie cutter designs. If that happens, it will be a real shame because there is some opportunity to do something real special, building on past influences to make something unique.

People will see Sims stuff, and yet be clueless about the namesake. Which will inturn detract from the corer-than-thou shoppers and market, because Sims obviously isn't core!!

Lets see if they can put out a serious product. If the first release is taperkick longboard with some bennett reissues and wide old style wheels, then we will know who the market is right off the bat. They are trying to recapitalize on past markets and edge in.

If they put out a popsickle stic, then we know the Sims namesake is gone and their reintroduction into the skatemarket is soley a trend response.

[EBasil]

Originally Posted by rawls

If the first release is taperkick longboard with some bennett reissues and wide old style wheels...

I had this convo with someone at ASR, and still think that call is a dead-bang winner --at least in the short term. Someone had a Taperkick copy in the Board Building forum a long while back that even resolved the issues with splitting those oak plank originals had (I know my heart still aches from mine). I hope I'm just being too negative when I fear that this isn't likely to happen, though. Popsicle sticks and coreless wheels, comin' up!

[mangels]

My first ever longboard was a 44" Sims Taperkick w/ Tracker Fulls. I had two sets of wheels I used inter-changably on that board: a set of Powerflex 5's and a set of Powell-Peralta Bones. In a fit of generousity, I gave it to my nephew after I had it a couple years. He sold it almost right away ... I wish I had that board back.

Who knows, maybe they'll bring it back. Although I doubt it will be like the real 70's boards were. I still have an authentic 70's Logan Earth Ski. The current reissue isn't the same size and shape as the 70's original was.

[Cpt Planet18]

I live near englewood.......small world

[phidauex]

Oo, those taperkicks look pretty sweet. What makes them special? How are they constructed (it looks like two v-lam plies, and a horizontal ply in the center)? I've been building up some vlams, and I've been thinking it would be fun to make some 'updated' versions of classic longboards. Of course, you wouldn't want to update it too much. But with the new Bennet reissues, remaking some classic rides is a pretty feasable idea.

Can anyone give me some more specs on it, or a quantitative idea of how flexy they are?

peace,
sam

[EBasil]

dog, the Taperkick was an oak plank, with a wedged kick that was trimmed from the underside. They were heavy, didn't flex and were a really fun board up until when they'd split along the grain lines that passed through the truck mounting holes. Today, I'd say a better call would be to go ply, with a wedged tail under the outer layers of oak veneer.

[Mister Surly]

first "real" board was a SIMS "Hardcore" model....muy rad!

i LOVED the B-52 wheels to!

http://www.skateboardzoo.com/skatebo...heels/Sims.htm

[msk]

phidauex had it right: the Taperkick was 2 v-lam outer plys, with a veneer running crossgrain in the center. I used that method of construction for many decks at the time, either v-lam or just solid birch or maple for the outer plys, and walnut or cherry veneer for the crossgrain layer. I "stole" that method of construction after one of my friends bought one of the first Taperkicks.

The Woodkick was the solid oak/glued wedge model.

The advantages of the Taperkick were that they were very light (I think they were mainly poplar?), had a warptail rather than a glued wedge (one of the earliest wood boards done that way), and because of the crossgrain layer, weren't prone to splitting like most other (usually solid oak) wood decks at the time were...

[EBasil]

Dang, you're right, MSK. Cloudy memories of this:



...perhaps clouded by the pain when it split in two, lengthwise and I had to ride a GRENTEC dug out of the garage. (yeah, yeah...that one's a fake, but I'd skate it).

[mellowkat]

I didn't know Sims invented Snowboards in 1963!
How much marketjng power does Sims have now? Outside of guys reliving the '70's, I doubt anyone would recognize it as a skateboard brand!
Maybe they will buy up the Wee Willy Winkle brand too, Cool logo!!