HARDCORE ACTION! AS THE ACTION SPORTS APPAREL SEGMENT CONTINUES ITS GROWTH SPURT, EXECUTIVES MUST DECIDE HOW TO REACH OUT TO THE MAINSTREAM WITHOUT ALIENATING CORE CONSUMERS. TEMPTATIONS INCLUDE BROADER MARKETING, EXPANDED DISTRIBUTION -- AND EVEN SELLING OUT.

Daily News Record, December, 2003 by BAILEY, LEE

In the early 1960s, in the wake of Gidget, surfing played a bigger role in popular and consumer culture than ever before or since. Ten years later the tables had turned; surfers had been abandoned by the mainstream and were considered the dregs of coastal communities. Their skateboarding brethren fared no better.

In the last five years, however, action sports like surfing and skateboarding, not to mention snowboarding, BMX and motocross, have enjoyed a resurgence both in terms of core participation and mainstream interest. Recent history holds important lessons for those who ...