Bike Skate Helmet
Skullcandy by frbiz
www.skullcandy.com/
Skullcandy’s Park City headquarters features a half-pipe for employees
Skullcandy is a privately held company based in Park City, Utah that designs and produces headphones, earphones, hands free devices, audio backpacks, MP3 players and other audio enabled lifestyle products. The company was founded in 2003.
Skullcandy’s products are targeted at the action sports demographic (snowboarders,skateboarders, etc.) outdoor, and general consumer market.. Skullcandy’s products are created and designed in their home office of 60 people. Skullcandy products are sold through retailers, specialty outlets and their online store.
Contents
1 Company history
2 Product reception
3 Partnerships
3.1 Action sports
3.2 Sponsored athletes
3.3 Not-for-profit
3.4 Music
4 National tradeshow & event presence
5 References
6 External links
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Company history
Rick Alden formed Skullcandy in 2003 with the goal of designing music listening products that fit into an active action sports lifestyle.[citation needed] With a background in snowboarding and actions sports, Alden envisioned a music need in board sports. The first Skullcandy producthe Skullcandy Portable Linkas introduced at the 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The LINK system combined headphones with hands-free cellular technology, allowing users to both listen to music from a portable audio device, while making and receiving calls through their cell phone. In 2003, Alden sold the first products to Milo Snow & Skate, an action sports shop in Utah.
Alden was named one of vSpring Capital’s “Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs” of 2008, and holds a patent for technology that integrates mobile phones and music players, LINK technology.
In December 2008 the company was noted as being “the world’s coolest ear bud,” by both CNN Money and Fortune Magazine.[citation needed] In addition, the company received local standing in 2008, placing in the Utah Business Fast 50, featuring the top 50 best and most innovative companies throughout the state. The company has quickly jumped to its place as the third most-sold headphone in the U.S. marketplace. In 2005 the company had $1.3 million in annual sales, while its 2009 ranking puts it in place to hit the $100 million mark. As quoted by the Salt Lake Tribune, “We’re gunning for No. 1,” said Andrus, Skullcandy’s President.
Also during the fiscal fourth quarter of 2008, Skullcandy was financially backed by Goode Partners, a New York based private equity firm.
Product reception
A pair of Skullcandy “Hesh” Stereo DJ Headphones.
Skullcandy has received mixed reviews for their headphone’s design and general performance Writing on the reflection of the company’s products, the Salt Lake Tribune stated, “These headphones don’t look anything like black leather or vinyl earpieces most companies make, or even iPod’s trademark white earbuds. Instead, the striking designs draw their graphic imagery from hip-hop culture, accessorized with everthing from rhinestones to faux animal skin.” Skullcandy was given a “C” rating by the Better Business Bureau for reasons including customer services issues, guarantee or warranty issues, and refund or exchange issues
Headphone Models:
Over The Ear-
-Agent
-G.I.
-Hesh
-Ti
-SK Pro
On Ear-
-Lowrider
-Icon
In Ear-
-Asym
-Chops
-Ink’d
-Holua
-FMJ
-Titan
-Smokin Bud
-Riot
Partnerships
Action sports
The desire for music integration in the action sports arena lead to Skullcandy’s growth with other mainstream action sports brands including Giro Helmets, Burton Snowboards, Smith, Sessions Outerwear, Von Zipper, and Dragon Optics. As the Giro helmet brand grew, Skullcandy partnered with the brand to incorporate music technology into a line of helmets.
Sponsored athletes
Known for their relationships with various action sports industries, Skullcandy currently sponsors professional athletes in snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding, wakeboarding, motocross, and the biking communities. Working with athletes such as snowboarders Terje Hakonsen, Louie Vito, and Mark Frank Montoya has spawned some of Skullcandy’s signature action sports pieces including the Terje Nine and MFM Pro.[citation needed]
Not-for-profit
Rick Alden, CEO & founder of Skullcandy, making the largest one-time donation to Boarding For Breast Cancer.
Skullcandy is currently involved in supporting “Boarding for Breast Cancer” initiatives. Boarding For Breast Cancer (B4BC) is a nonprofit, youth-focused education, awareness and fundraising foundation designed to increase awareness about breast cancer, the importance of early detection and the value of an active lifestyle. Skullcandy announced their 2007 donation of $36,723.80 to Boarding for Breast Cancer at the 2008 SIA show, making their contribution the largest one-time donation the organization has yet to receive. A B4BC supporter since 2006, Skullcandy donates 5% of all pink products sold to support the organization efforts.[citation needed]
Music
In 2008, Skullcandy announced its partnership with Metallica for the band ninth studio album, Death Magnetic, released in September. The collaboration produced Metallica-branded Skullcandy headphones, Metallica Hesh and Metallica Lowrider, to debut alongside the new downloadable album.
Skullcandy continued this promotional effort in 2009 by collaborating with Hip-Hop artist Snoop Dogg, and plans to debut the “Snoop Crusher”, a Snoop Dogg branded Skullcrusher in May 2009. They also sponsored Los Angeles band Killola.
National tradeshow & event presence
Skullcandy has been present at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Macworld, SnowSports Industry Show (SIA), Surf Expo, the Action Sports Retailer Show (ASR), Magic,and Interbike. In addition to the company’s international tradeshow presence, Skullcandy also partners with a variety of action sports events and national concerts and music shows. Some of these include the X Games, Zumiez Couch Tour, South by Southwest (SXSW), and Vans Warped Tour.
References
^ Johannes, Amy (2008-02-20). “Rymax Marketing Partners with Skullcandy for Incentive Products”. Promo Magazine. http://promomagazine.com/incentives/news/rymax_skullcandy_incentive_0220/. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
^ “Skullcandy adds Scot Carlson as vice president of finance”. Globalsurfnews.com. 2008-04-01. http://www.globalsurfnews.com/news.asp?Id_news=33488. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
^ Marketwire (2008-03-16). “vSpring Capital Releases Its List of the 2008 Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs”. SYS-CON Publications. http://www.sys-con.com/read/519954.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
^ Cannon, Karl R. (2007-04-03). “20 patents include core brace”. Deseret News Publishing Company. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20070403/ai_n18785984. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
^ http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/30/technology./copeland_skullcandy.fortune/?postversion=2008123011
^ “Skullcandy Feeds Your Head”. Salt Lake Tribune. 2008-04-20. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_12149760/. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
^ http://search.ecoustics.com/editorial/reviews/skull-candy-headphones
^ Day, Bradford (2005-03-07). “Skullcandy Skullcrushers Headphones”. TheTechLounge. http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/194/Skullcandy-Skullcrushers-Headphones/. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
^ “Gadget Envy: Skullcandy Double Agent Headphones”. Rolling Stone. 2008-04-17. http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/04/17/gadget-envy-skullcandy-double-agent-headphones/. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
^ “Skullcandy Feeds Your Head”. Salt Lake Tribune. 2008-04-20. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_12149760/. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
External links
Corporate site
Categories: Companies based in Utah | Headphones manufacturers | Headphones | Noise reduction | Consumer electronicsHidden categories: Articles lacking reliable references from November 2009 | Wikipedia articles needing style editing from November 2009 | All articles needing style editing | Articles needing cleanup from November 2009 | All pages needing cleanup | Wikipedia articles with possible conflicts of interest | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from February 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from June 2009
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January 12, 2012 2:59 am 
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