R.I.P Summer Teeth

Nineteen days ago, Stab reported that Quiksilver had made some big cuts in their US branch. Those cuts included numerous team riders losing their sponsorship, employees being laid off and a number of programs under the Quik umbrella being severed, such as the DC Shoes surf program, VSTR and Dane Reynolds’ Summer Teeth. If you frequent this or most other surf sites in the world, this ain’t recent news by any means. But, Dane’s just provided his thoughts on the change and they’re worth re-posting. Stab digs (like most other things about the Venturan), Dane’s writing style. It’s endearing. So, here’s his take on shutting down his biz. “well, summer teeth is dead. you can say whatever you want, but you can’t say we didn’t try. i won’t bore you with too many details but here’s whats up. i started summer teeth a few years ago. quiksilver say’s uh uh, you can’t be affiliated with a conflicting brand, but we’ll do a liscensing agreement. i was like, ok, sweet. signed the deal. it lay’s dormant for a bit, then suddenly we need to catch up on seasons. fall 2012 they need 10 tees, sweatshirts, knits, hats, wallet, etc. spring 2013 10 tees, sweatshirts, hats, knits, towels, etc. fall 2013 10 tees, sweatshirts, knits, hats, etc. then they need an ad by wednesday. just like bang bang bang. wtf am i gonna advertise? we don’t have anything for sale and i haven’t even seen a sample from the first line! i go shoot some weird stuff, make an ad. then they need another ad. i’m like um ok i’ll scrape something up. this keeps going. i finally see the first tees, i’m not too happy with the t shirt blank or the print quality but it’s too late to change. at this point i’m sorta wondering what’s the point. anyways, i totally said i wasn’t gonna bore you with the details, but basically it just wasn’t very gratifying, and i was in limbo of where to go from there, then i read on the internet that quiksilver dropped half their team along with vstr and summer teeth. so it’s done. i’d like to thanks anyone who bought the tees. i appreciate the support. keep em they’ll be collectors items! if they don’t disentegrate into dust in 2 years. there’s no regrets, it was a huge learning experience. i appreciate that quiksilver believed in summer teeth, and i understand that they made an investment and needed a return. that’s just reality, but that’s why it bites. i wasn’t ready for it. i’m a surf junkie with minimal skills besides slicing waves. oh yeah, and look for summer teeth shit at ross or t j maxx i guess that’s what they do with expired inventory. the next line was gonna be a scorcher.” So, Marine Layer Productions, which then became Summer Teeth, has returned to being Marine Layer Productions. Which you can visit over here.