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As CEO and Chairman of the Board at La Jolla Group, Toby Bost oversees the Metal Mulisha, O’Neill, Lost, and Rusty brands. When he lost one of his friends and best Metal Mulisha riders to an FMX accident earlier this year, he helped take the lead to establish the Lusk Legacy Foundation and signed on as a founding member of the Board of Directors for the new American Freestyle Motocross Association.

Full FuelTV Article here.

We caught up with Bost after the 1st Annual AFMXA Awards and amateur contest to find out more about his involvement with the AFMXA, his vision for the future of FMX, and the legacy he’d like to leave in honor of the life – and death – of Jeremy Lusk.
Obviously the Metal Mulisha is heavily behind the AFMXA, with you and Brian Deegan on the Board and Ronnie Faisst as the official spokesperson. Why was it important to you personally to take the lead as a Board member with AFMXA?

We all have a vested interest in the growth and evolution of freestyle motocross. Given the sport’s increased popularity, additional support was needed to keep it moving forward: i.e. structure and guidelines for organized events, corporate backing, better safety policies and procedures in place, attention to emerging talent. As CEO of a company leading the industry, it was important for me to be a part of the Association to help implement these things and support the future of the sport.

Is the AFMXA something that had been in the works previously, or did it fully spring from the death of Jeremy Lusk and the establishment of the Lusk Legacy Foundation?
Through Jeremy’s untimely death, we realized how little organization there was in the sport. We knew we could collectively make a difference in the areas of safety and education, and want to build a legacy that Jeremy and the sport can rest on.

What do you personally hope will be Lusk’s legacy in terms of the future of FMX?
The Lusk Legacy Foundation (LLF): a non-profit established to protect and support athletes and their families in the event of severe injury and/or death. It offers a support system that comes to the aid of riders that go through life changing experiences as a result of the sport. We can’t prevent accidents from happening, of course, but through the work of the AFMXA and the LLF we can cut down on the number of them and be prepared to respond in an appropriate manner when required.

Obviously there’s a lot of could’ve/would’ve/should’ve talk we could get into about Lusk’s death or any of the major accidents we’ve seen in FMX, but going forward, what do you see as the must-have goals to secure a future for the sport and the safety of the riders?

Short term: the goals are focused on better preparation in the event of an accident. This includes CPR/first aid training, medical consultation via a 1-800 number, and med evac insurance for all professional riders that join the AFMXA. Longer term: tackling the larger challenges that the sport faces. These may include standard equipment guidelines, race course standards, safety precautions at all events, and more stringent medical response requirements.

What was the thinking behind starting with an amateur event on November 7?
Freestyle moto is missing an amateur platform that nurtures and develops talent. To further advance the sport, it’s necessary to provide a safe environment where young international talent can compete. Through these competitions, we hope to develop professional athletes that move through an organized ranking system before going pro.

Now that the Dew Tour has essentially dropped FMX competition, do you see an opening for the AFMXA to bring its own pro events series?

I’m not going to rule out a pro event series. The AFMXA is dedicated to being “the voice of the riders,” so we will work with the athletes and sponsors to create the best possible scenario for everyone. There are definitely a lot of exciting possibilities down the road.
For the sake of shifting gears a bit…What’s on the horizon for Metal Mulisha? What are you personally looking forward to, in terms of the brand, riders, events, etc?

The Metal Mulisha is continuing to grow as a lifestyle brand. We have an authentic and extremely passionate audience that we want to continue to communicate with at the highest possible level via great products and content. There are so many things to be excited about going into 2010 – between freestyle moto, offroad trucks and MMA, the possibilities are endless. Look for a head-turning MM marketing campaign in 2010 that may be coming to a major city near you.

For more on the AFMXA, see our previous interviews with official spokesperson Ronnie Faisst, 2009 Lusk Legacy Rider of the Year Blake “Bilko” Williams, and founding member Nate Adams, and our complete list of winners from the 2009 AFMXA Awards.

CEO and Chairman of the Board, La Jolla Group and O’Neill Clothing
Age: 39
Fact: He was headed in the direction of becoming a third-generation orthopedic surgeon but went into the apparel industry instead.
How he chose his career path: “I knew in high school that I didn’t want to wear a monkey suit to work every day.”

Read the article here.

Toby Bost was just 36 when he became CEO of action-sports licensing company La Jolla Group, overseeing four wildly popular apparel brands – O’Neill, Lost, Rusty and Metal Mulisha. A sign of their success, and his: In July, the company’s headquarters moved into bigger digs. Still based in Irvine, the brands are now under the same roof, and the headquarters features skateboard ramps in hallways, basketball courts, a workout room, a retail shop and conference rooms named after popular surf spots.

“Growing up wakeboarding, skating, surfing, fishing – anything and everything outdoors – I knew it wasn’t my style to do something I didn’t have a passion for,” says Bost, who also serves as chairman of the company’s board of directors.

Bost landed at La Jolla Group in 1999, and by 2006, he’d been promoted to CEO. But he’s no newcomer to the action-sports industry – he’s been in it 15 years.

“No two days are alike, which is what makes my job entertaining,” Bost says. “It’s exciting to wake up and not know how the day is going to unfold. The more unpredictable the day, the more interesting it is.”

– Ashley Eliot

The Transworld Motocross Awards have concluded from the The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and the winners have been awarded their trophies. Just in case you still don’t get our live updates via Twitter or Facebook and Brian Deegan receives the ROCKSTAR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD!

Check out the article here.

SurfAid has launched an Emergency Response Appeal to help the people of Padang who were hit by a huge earthquake (7.6 on the Richter scale) on Wednesday 30 September.

Our Program Director, Dr David Lange, narrowly escaped death as he fled the Ambacang Hotel, which then collapsed, killing many and trapping others.

Any donations you can make are greatly appreciated.

Please donate here.

Thank you

By MATT HIGGINS
Published: July 30, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Two weeks ago, Cameron Sinclair, a professional freestyle motocross rider from Australia, crashed hard during a competition in Madrid, hitting the dirt head-first after failing to execute a double back flip on his motorcycle. With serious injuries, and with no one among his friends, family or support staff who were present able to speak Spanish, Sinclair needed help.

Full Story Here:

As he was whisked to a hospital in critical condition with bruising of his brain, a concussion, a ruptured liver and a fractured cheekbone and shoulder, members of the American Freestyle Motocross Association began to put plans into practice: Doctors in California who are fluent in Spanish soon called their counterparts in Madrid to consult on Sinclair’s care, and they translated for his fiancée, who was at the hospital.

Now that Sinclair’s condition has been upgraded to stable, a freestyle motocross association insurance policy will help defray the costs of a $190,000 air ambulance to his home in Melbourne, where he is expected to make a complete recovery.

“Those guys have been fantastic,” said Adam Bailey, Sinclair’s agent, who was in Madrid before returning to the United States last week to attend the X Games, where the freestyle motocross events began Thursday night here at the Staples Center. “Throughout the whole ordeal, we’ve never felt alone.”

In freestyle motocross, in which riders perform aerial maneuvers while soaring dozens of feet through the air while being scored by judges, competitors operate almost without a safety net, regularly flirting with danger and death. Although risk is a big part of the sport’s appeal, founders of the association are hoping to succeed where previous efforts have failed in trying to mitigate some of the risk by focusing on rider safety and assisting with medical care when things go wrong.
The association, a collective of riders and action sports industry figures, was formed almost six months ago after the death of Jeremy Lusk, 24, a top freestyle rider who won a gold medal at the 2008 X Games.

Lusk, of Temecula, Calif., died Feb. 9 after he crashed while attempting a Hart Attack back flip at a competition in San José, Costa Rica. Lusk failed to fully rotate while soaring more than 20 feet above the ground, landing on his front tire and crashing face-first into the dirt. He sustained severe head injuries and died three days later.

Riders say they believe he is the only professional to have died in competition.

Horrible crashes are part of the game in freestyle motocross. Brian Deegan, who has won more X Games medals in freestyle motocross than any other rider, lost a kidney — and nearly his life — after a crash in 2005 while filming a jump for a television program. He attributed the crash to windy conditions. He also said wind and a lack of adequate practice time were factors in Lusk’s fatal crash.

While mourning his friend in a Costa Rica hotel room last winter, Deegan hatched the idea of the American Freestyle Motocross Association. In addition to coordinating medical care, the association intends to create a unified voice to address safety at professional and recreational events and demonstrations.

“The sport of freestyle motocross is only 10 years old,” said Deegan, 34, who runs a freestyle team through his clothing brand, Metal Mulisha. “There’s so much money being thrown at it, but the riders are still on their own. There’s no voice for them.”

An offshoot of motocross, freestyle developed during the 1990s in Southern California when racers took to the hills to pull maneuvers while launching through the air. Soon small-scale competitions were organized. When freestyle made its debut at the 1999 X Games, the sport exploded in popularity.

Still, freestyle remained largely unorganized, with riders competing as independent contractors around the world.

Past attempts to unify failed, in part because of aggressive negotiating tactics by some athletes. Those efforts rankled promoters and cost athletes opportunities and money in a sport where many events are invitational. “At this point we’re going against the fact that a lot of people have tried and failed,” Deegan said.

The association hopes to build its membership through corporate sponsors and membership from professionals and recreational riders through its Web site, www.afmxa.com, while working with promoters.

Tim Reed, the senior director of sports and competition for the X Games at ESPN, said network officials believed that “we feel we have the proper stuff in place to make the athletes safe” at events like the X Games, like safe courses and proper medical care. But he said the association could help improve standards at smaller and newer events.

Travis Pastrana, who will compete Friday in the Moto X Best Trick event at the X Games, said a group like the freestyle association was not necessarily needed for the large, televised events, but was for smaller operations, where up-and-coming riders are pushing to prove themselves.
“This is a sanctioning body for the younger guys, who don’t have as much pull, and are afraid to speak up,” he said. “I think it’s a good time.”

At the 2007 X Games, Pastrana landed the first double back flip, leading to an exponential progression in tricks’ risk factor.

“It’s become more dangerous with people pushing the bar for the level of tricks that are being thrown now,” said Toby Bost, a member of the freestyle association’s board. “Somebody does a double back flip and then it’s, well, one-up that. Not only has it been dangerous, but it’s becoming more and more dangerous and that’s where we fit in.”

Bost is chief executive of the La Jolla Group, a licensing company for several prominent action sports brands. His involvement, along with that of an ESPN executive and two doctors on the freestyle association’s advisory board, should give the association the kind of credibility previous efforts have lacked.

The successful response to Sinclair’s injury, which occurred at one of the sport’s largest events — a Red Bull X-Fighters tour stop — has already demonstrated that the association can get things done.
“This is an example of what can go wrong,” Bailey said about Sinclair’s crash. “But this is a success story.”

NOTES
Two years after he made television highlights with a 45-foot fall from the mega ramp, Jake Brown of Australia won the gold medal in skateboard Big Air as the X Games opened. Brown and Bob Burnquist, the two time-defending champion, tied with a score of 94.0, but Brown won a tie breaker.

IRVINE — La Jolla Group, the action sports licensing company, will officially open its  new corporate headquarters today during a private party. The massive site, some 200,000 square feet, houses four of the most prominent brands in the industry, O’Neill, Lost, Metal Mulisha and Rusty.

I got a tour yesterday from Toby Bost, La Jolla CEO and chairman of the board. He told me that the company planned the $4 million in improvements to the facility before the recession hit, but that the company decided to stick with the goal of moving from its former campus-style site on Pasteur in Irvine. La Jolla is looking beyond the current bad economy, he said, and is working to attract “the 21st Century executive,” a 20- or 30-something employee who is dedicated to the surf and skating lifestyle.
“We definitely embrace the social aspect of the age group,” he said. “We wear what we make.”

Among the 13 conference rooms, four showrooms, photo studio and two warehouses was a room dedicated to marketing by social networks, which Bost said he believes will be a major business consideration for the future.  There’s also a fitness room, basketball court, model retail store and indoor skate park with quarter pipes and rail hits.

Click here to watch the video.

Athletes and Action Sports Leaders Take Proactive Role in Promoting Safety Regulations and Cultivating Overall Growth in Freestyle Motocross and Affiliated Events

Irvine, CA (July 20, 2009) – The American Freestyle Motocross Association (AFMXA), a collective of Freestyle Motocross riders and action sports industry leaders, today announced its official launch as an organization established to manage, protect and develop the sport of freestyle motocross at both the professional and recreational levels. Inspired in memory of American freestyle rider, X Games gold medalist and Metal Mulisha team member, Jeremy Lusk, the AFMXA is dedicated to improving rider safety, preparation and education through programs and services that will assist athletes in improving their skills and experience in the sport. Additionally, the Association is committed to increasing awareness around medical treatment, emergency response planning and training at events worldwide.

With interest from recreational riders, corporate partners and action sports companies around the globe, the AFMXA was organized in an effort to create a unified voice at all sanctioned and non-sanctioned freestyle motocross events, parks, facilities and demonstrations; and implement a safer environment for athletes. The Association will encourage neck braces for riders; report on standards for suitable weather conditions and proper ramp landings at events; assist with providing trained on-site and on-call medical assistance; and prepare safety policies and emergency response plans. In addition to providing guidelines for safer practices, the AFMXA will host an annual awards ceremony to recognize top athletes and companies for their accomplishments and influence on the sport.

The Association’s advisory board consists of prominent figures in the action sports and medical industries, including Metal Mulisha founder and most decorated Freestyle Motocross rider in X Games history, Brian Deegan; CEO of La Jolla Group, Toby Bost; ESPN’s Lizz Leach; Ryan Hagy, Cameron Steele, Dr. Pete Katsyiannis, and Dr. Gus Gialamas, among others.

“With the tragic death of Jeremy Lusk, it became clear that this sport, which has grown significantly over the last few years, needed an Association to develop and oversee stricter safety guidelines,” said Toby Bost. “The AFMXA works to define racing rules and evolve the sport for athletes and supporters. As corporate sponsors, it’s our responsibility to do more than just put our product on riders. We need to be activists for the industry as a whole — and that means being proactively involved in establishing processes that enable freestyle moto to keep growing.”

“The AFMXA is the voice of all freestyle riders and the time has come for us to properly organize our sport — it starts with safety,” commented Brian Deegan. “It’s also about time that athletes and industry leaders are recognized for their achievements and dedication. I look forward to the positive changes this Association and its members are going to make for freestyle motocross.”

Earlier this year, the Lusk Legacy Foundation was established to help improve overall safety in the sport, protect the livelihoods of riders and their families, and provide them with legal, medical and financial consultation and representation. The Lusk Legacy Foundation has been named the official charitable organization for the AFMXA.

On July 30th at 5pm PST, ESPN will broadcast a special presentation on Jeremy Lusk and the AFMXA.

By DAN BEIGHLEY
Orange County Business Journal

Clothing maker La Jolla Group Inc. has made a big investment in a new Irvine headquarters.

The company, which makes clothes under the O’Neill, Lost, Rusty and Metal Mulisha brands, recently consolidated operations in Irvine, where it used to be spread among five buildings.

La Jolla now operates from 200,000 square feet of space at 14350 Myford Road near Tustin, where it has 150,000 square feet in one building and 50,000 in an adjoining one.

About 140,000 square feet of warehouse space makes up the bulk of the operation.

La Jolla employs about 350 people in Irvine.

The new space is double La Jolla’s old headquarters in the Irvine Spectrum.

The company sells clothes inspired by surfing, skateboarding and motocross through J. C. Penney Corp., Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., Macy’s Inc. and other retailers.

La Jolla has revamped its Irvine building to include skateboard ramps, a gym, an indoor basketball court, a 2,000-square-foot store as well as 6,000 square feet of conference and showroom space.

Chief Executive Toby Bost, clad in jeans and a T-shirt, declined to say what the company spent on the improvements.

“We built the building around action sports,” he said.

La Jolla Group has yearly sales of more than $200 million. Last year, sales grew 15% in a tough economy, Bost said. In 2007, they were up 30%.

Sales last year were helped by La Jolla’s opening of six of its own stores in California and Las Vegas, as well as a flagship O’Neill store in Anaheim.
The stores employ about 100 people.

Half of La Jolla’s business comes from its O’Neill brand, which it licenses from brand owner O’Neill Trademark BV under a “long-term” contract, according to Bost.

The other half of La Jolla group’s revenue is split evenly among its three other brands.

The company is feeling the clothing industry’s challenges, as shoppers pull back on purchases and stores such as Wal-Mart and Kohl’s have come up with their own lines of surfwear, Bost said.

“There’s definitely a recession going on in surf,” he said. “Fall is usually the toughest time for the industry. This one should be the toughest.”

For more on this story, see the July 6 edition of the Business Journal.

By ANDREW HORAN

Read the article at ShopEatSurf.com

The La Jolla Group is moving to add brands to fill out its portfolio, O’Neill Clothing and La Jolla Group CEO Toby Bost said last night.

He was speaking to a more than 100 action sports folks gathered at The Camp in Costa Mesa for an Innovator Series discussion hosted by GroupY and moderated by Shop-eat-Surf.com founder and CEO Tiffany Montgomery.

Toby was engaging and forthright as he answered questions from Tiffany and the crowd and dispensed advice and insight into his company and the state of the action sports industry. La Jolla is the privately held licensee for O’Neill Clothing, Lost Clothing, Rusty and Metal Mulisha.

Here are some highlights, in Toby’s words. I’ve consolidated some answers from different questions under the headings. For more photos, see GroupY and ZexSports later today.

Adding brands to the portfolio

We get presented with opportunities all the time, and there are some great opportunities out there.

We are building diversity within our portfolio. We’d love to be able to cover every level of distribution, and every level of action sports. We want to be in every sport in action sports.

So you can definitely read between the lines. We’ll be doing something soon.

The La Jolla Group business

We have a formula, and it’s super important: you have to know who you’re getting in bed with, who you’re going to be working with.

So we can pick great brands to partner with, and not spend a lot on an acquisition fee. Great brands that might need help with financial backing, operations, merchandise design and production. … Our model doesn’t have any cash out of pocket.

The owners of La Jolla don’t work in the business. They’re five guys who went to college together. … One of the owners is Kurt Rambis of the Lakers, and you know, he doesn’t have a lot of time to worry about whether we’re shipping T-shirts.

State of LJG and the industry

We’re a private company, so we don’t report sales, but it’s safe to say they are north of $200 (million).

The biggest challenge we have is managing inventory. There just has been no way to forecast it. For the fall, we took it down 10 percent – and the industry was down 30 percent. Holiday will probably be off 20 percent, and that’s where we are (on inventory).

The major retailers have figured out how to tune down their buying, and we can rely on their pre-booking. The core stores, there’s been mass confusion, and people taking the approach of not putting in any orders. There’s a lot of educating going on. We’re telling people, “even if you’re down 20 – 30 percent, don’t leave yourself exposed because you didn’t buy, because your customers are still coming in and they expect new product.”

A lot of us (wholesalers) have stepped in to see that the core retailers make it. We have all identified that we want to keep the core retailers alive.

We have some pretty tough times still ahead of us, so you’ll definitely see more manufacturers stepping up to aid the core retailers.

The Rusty-JC Penney deal

We took on the Rusty license as the whole macro economic shift was happening. We weren’t being given the opportunity in the core market to build the brand back to its glory days. And we were victims of this “Sea of Sameness” in the industry, with the Top 5 – including O’Neill – and even second- and third-tier brands, this market saturation.

And at the same time buying dollars were shifting.

We’re a growth company, so we had to think, how do we put Rusty back in the spot where it was in the 90s?

You’ve seen product segmentation work with Nike and Vans. So we’re going after it through product and brand segmentation. Penney’s caters to the mid-level of retail, and we’ll also cater to the core market.

I know a lot of people were offended by it, but Penney’s has 1,100 doors, and that allows us to some special things for the core market. We can get creative with the product, so it doesn’t look like this “Sea of Sameness,” and we can give them margin support.

For the core market, we’re definitely going to take risks with the Rusty product. In the past, we fell into the trap, “you have to have the price-point board short, the price-point walk short.”

I’m happy to say we’re moving forward at a fast pace. It feeds a need for action sports on a national scale. (But) we’ve lost a few key customers, and we get it. We have to perform, and we’ve asked our key customers to hold us to performance.

Supporting the core market

We definitely believe in the core market, especially those retailers who carry hard goods. Definitely, special things happen for that core market.

There are a lot of term incentives going on, like net 180 days or net 100 days. The net 30-60 days model is dead.

And we’re helping with margins. We need to help them make up for their revenue loss with profitability.

Marketing in down times

We have a tight formula, marketing is always a certain percentage of sales. But as a company, we’re never afraid to spend on marketing. You can never spend enough in marketing. You can’t be afraid to take the risk and invest.

Social media and marketing

We’re having a lot of fun with it. The whole social element is so new and exciting, and the impressions are vast. For print, it’s been pretty tough lately.

I blog (internally) once a week, and a lot of the executives and director level have the opportunity to write on it. (He also has personal Twitter and Facebook accounts, along with brand accounts).

The web is pushing us to evolve, fast. The key to it is the content. We’re all pressed to put out great content. That’s what sets apart anybody, in any industry.

Young people today, they want to know what’s going with your athletes, your company. They want to feel like they’re part of your brand. They want to come back and see something new and fresh, every day.

For the young bucks out there, there’s a lot of opportunity in social media. We have a department now called social media marketing.

You need people out and about, and we’re building an army to be at every event.

Our summer intern program this year is going to be in the social media group. They’re going to be blogging, about the company, products.

Advice for young people in the industry

My advice for young people just starting out in this industry: hard work and perseverance get you through the ranks. We have a ton of success stories of people coming up through the ranks. You’ve got to be able to break down a garment to be a CEO in this industry.

Don’t be afraid to compromise what (salary) you think you should be making for the opportunity to rise up.

Shifting trade show spending

In the last cycle, we took the approach, you go to a trade show to do what you do: show product to retailers, not show off your booth to the industry.

There was a lot of internal marketing going on in the industry. We were spending upwards of $250,000 to construct big, giant booths.

We found that we could take that money and it could be better spent supporting our retailers. So, we’re taking down the curb appeal on the booths, but inside, we’re still doing the job in there, doing what we’re there to do: sell product to retailers, not market ourselves to each other.

That big booth, that’s out the window. That’s the old model. Those old booths are sitting in the warehouse, in crates, gathering dust.

His background

Early in high school, I told my friends, “I want to run a company like Quiksilver some day.”

I majored in business at the University of San Diego, but I was supposed to be a third generation orthopedic surgeon, so I’ve really brought it down.

I don’t tell many people this – I’m not proud of it – but my first job was at Boondoggles. It was cheesy surf. I started as something like the office manager, got to wear a lot of hats, saw how production and finance and the business operated.

Then I went to No Fear, and that was a great opportunity to run the pre-production and understand how to put garments together. I was production manager, VP of manufacturing. The Simo brothers were great mentors and that’s where I learned how to market and sell.

I had a short stay at Rip Curl, it was really a stepping stone to O’Neill, where I came on as vice president of manufacturing, and was COO, side-by-side with Kelly Gibson, who ironically left to go to Rip Curl.

Being a young CEO (at 38)

It’s definitely the dream job. I pinch myself for an opportunity like this.

I thought when I took this job, that with these hands and a computer, I could run the company. It took me about a year to get out from behind that computer and go out and build relationships.

It was something I didn’t realize as COO. I left all that to the sales department. But my job is to get out and meet and greet the customers and find out what the specialty core retailers need.

California Apparel News (apparelnews.net) just featured the La Jolla Group in an article titled “La Jolla Group Redefines Action-Sports Business Model.” Check out the write-up here.