Quiksilver will “discontinue" its female lines, and retailers were “notified of the elimination this week by representatives for the Huntington Beach-based apparel company,” according to Connelly & Liddane of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. The move is the “first major change" since the company brought in new CEO Andy Mooney to replace Founder Bob McKnight. The news comes “just a month after the Surf Industry Manufacturing Association Image Awards honored Quiksilver Girls as the women's apparel brand of the year.” The Quiksilver Women's line “may have been overshadowed by Roxy, the company's popular women's and girls' line.” Quiksilver Women launched in '08, "focusing on 18-to-24-year-old customers” (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 2/28).
PANTS WITH SOME PADS: Professional BMX rider Kevin Robinson called his new Grindz pants as “cool, fashionable-looking pants but they have built in knee pads, hip pads and a tailbone pad.” Robinson said, “Kids never want to put their pads on now, they're too cool to wear pads, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.” Robinson said Grindz are not strictly for BMX riding. He added, “I have construction workers that love them. If a guy’s laying carpet, he’s on his knees all the time, he has the knee pads built in” (“The Crossover,” NBC Sports Network, 2/27).
UNDERNEATH IT ALL: Lululemon CEO Christine Day said that the Canada-based retailer is the “secret underwear of choice for most NHL players.” She claimed that hockey players are “flocking to the yoga-pant maker’s new line of boxer briefs -- they just can't talk about it in public because of pre-existing sponsorship deals.” Day said that Lululemon “started sending out free samples to teams after hearing that some players were into their [briefs].” She said the company then surveyed the teams involved "and they told us that they loved the Lululemon underwear" (CANADIANBUSINESS.com, 2/15).
