SMITH PACKING UP AFTER 50 GLORIOUS YEARS

[Jaded Loc]

I am not here to bash them as they have done way to much for me in so many different aspects from providing me with great friends to keeping me in the best eyewear known to man but this a blow to the evolution of the ski bum dream.

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?...4#.VEfHAZRoRBk

[TahoeJ]

Something tells me they wouldn't be doing this if Bob Smith was still around...

[ill-advised strategy]

Clearfield and Portland aren't so bad. New Jersey, umm, yeah that's a bummer.

[LightRanger]

Something tells me they wouldn't be doing this if Bob Smith was still around...

Of course. Bummer for sure. I doubt it was totally unexpected though. I wonder if Rev will chime in here.

[Supermoon]

My dreams of moving to Ketchum and still having a good job have been thwarted once again.......

[Benny Profane]

Don't we have a long standing maggot who works for them?

Wow, new jersey. That's cold.

[abraham]

I don't think the rev is there still.

[systemoverblow'd]

The thread title and OP make it sound like Smith is shutting down, not just moving locations...

[grskier]

Is Super G still there?

[snapt]

Lot of folks already jumped ship.

[Bobcat Sig]

There are a lot of other places worse than Portland, including Jersey. Sure, it's for their eastern distro hub. Still. Jersey? Ugh

[josef]

A buddy's sister works there. They have known about this for some time. Apparently it was between PDX and Denver.

[Hacksaw]

I'm sort of surprised it took soo long.

[Hugh Conway]

lolz, listening to a consultant group that included San Jose and San Franciso in potential "outdoorsy" HQ locations.

For the national design headquarters, a month-and-a-half-long location study done by Mercer Group presented data from seven Western U.S. cities—the west part of the country embodies the trend-setting, outdoorsy vibe that Smith will continue to manifest, Delgado said. Cities studied included Ketchum, San Jose, Seattle and San Francisco, Hayes said.

Here's to yet another PDX based outdoor company with interchangeable bitchy hipster employees and shitty interchangeable product.

[Hott Butt Mud]

In 2014, does it even fucking matter where companies are located?

I mean who fucking cares where the HQ is. If these employers had any balls they would hire the right people and allow them to work from any place they goddamn wanted to.

[::: :::]

I mean who fucking cares where the HQ is.

The employees?

I'd be sad if I was moving further away from skiing

[Benny Profane]

In 2014, does it even fucking matter where companies are located?

I mean who fucking cares where the HQ is. If these employers had any balls they would hire the right people and allow them to work from any place they goddamn wanted to.

It's 2014. Why do plastic sunglasses still cost 100 to 200 dollars?

[Bozo T. Clown]

I get it that the market isn’t ski and snowboard goggles, but active lifestyle accessories, from the beaches of Los Angeles to the frats of Iowa to the discos of the Jersey shore to Italia itself. Still Portland seems awfully… cloudy for a sunglasses company. How will they test them, with sun lamps? But maybe it’s genius. Eyewear fashion doesn’t have anything to do with lighting and vision. The hipsters of Portland can show the denizens of overcast Northern Europe how to wear shades 365 days a year. Then the Scandinavia in winter market.

[josef]

I get it that the market isn’t ski and snowboard goggles, but active lifestyle accessories, from the beaches of Los Angeles to the frats of Iowa to the discos of the Jersey shore to Italia itself. Still Portland seems awfully… cloudy for a sunglasses company. How will they test them, with sun lamps? But maybe it’s genius. Eyewear fashion doesn’t have anything to do with lighting and vision. The hipsters of Portland can show the denizens of overcast Northern Europe how to wear shades 365 days a year. Then the Scandinavia in winter market.

Hopefully they test them at night. What the fuck type of testing to you think they are doing in Idaho? Tint is done on a machine and fit is fit.

[Bozo T. Clown]

Hopefully they test them at night. What the fuck type of testing to you think they are doing in Idaho? Tint is done on a machine and fit is fit.

A machine? How ingenious. Let me guess, your PhD was in vacuum deposition?

[splat]

They should have capitalized on the trend long ago.

[Tye 1on]

where's my fuckin jetpack?

[Supermoon]

I get it that the market isn’t ski and snowboard goggles, but active lifestyle accessories, from the beaches of Los Angeles to the frats of Iowa to the discos of the Jersey shore to Italia itself. Still Portland seems awfully… cloudy for a sunglasses company. How will they test them, with sun lamps? But maybe it’s genius. Eyewear fashion doesn’t have anything to do with lighting and vision. The hipsters of Portland can show the denizens of overcast Northern Europe how to wear shades 365 days a year. Then the Scandinavia in winter market.

I bring my sunnies with me every day here in PDX, but then again, I'm an optimist.

[jamesp]

Lot of folks already jumped ship.

you mean they've seen the writing on the wall that their bum fuck Idaho BS no longer flies with the people that have been paying their wages for the past 18 years?

[Super G]

The employees?

I'd be sad if I was moving further away from skiing

yeah this here is the big bummer. Its been a helluva ride working at Smith and living in this town. The last 10 years of my life here have been as good as I could have ever imagined, fueling my wildest ski dreams. As Jaded Loc pointed out, working at Smith has been the evolution of the ski bum dream. Now its on to a city, where I get the feeling I wont be able to put my boots on in the office and then drive to the mountain for a few lunchtime hot laps. End of an era, for this town and this brand, as it is impossible to stay right in the sweet spot forever. And that is what living, working, and skiing here in Ketchum has been--a decade long ride right in the sweet spot.