brand update
Launched in 1997 as the original action sports watch brand, Nixon’s quarter century has seen them collaborate with the biggest brands, working with the best athletes, artists and musicians and we caught up with Nixon cofounder Chad DiNenna to talk business. Tell us how Nixon got started, and what was the idea behind the brand? Nobody was paying attention to watches in action sports. It was an afterthought to a lot of other companies. In 1997 Andy Laats and I started Nixon with the goal to create custom-built, team-designed watches. A year later we sold our first watches to specialty boardsport shops in 7 different countries and we’ve tried to continue our mission ever since. What sets Nixon aside from other watch brands in the boardsports space? We are focused on watches and accessories, while many brands in the action sports space are mainly focused on apparel or hardgoods. Our NIXON.COM 86
focus is on the little things that you might not notice first but when you see them, realize you want. How are you planning to market the brand going forward? Making great products is our number 1 marketing tool! We will continue to tap into our team of athletes, artists and insiders to develop our product. Our focus is expanding our tools for the brand digitally and continuing unique and meaningful retail activations. What are your current best sellers? I have to say watches and accessories in general have been seeing a growth this past year. From the current collection the 5130
gets a lot of social shares, collectors like to show off their favourites and that is pushing new customers into the shops. In the digital watch-space we just launched the Heat, it is the thinnest 100M digital watch in the world. We developed this watch with 2x World Champion surfer John John Florence and it is used by many on the Tour as an everyday. Just before lockdown, we launched a line of smaller alternative bags made with recycled ocean plastics. The collection featured a tri-strap piece developed with Zion Wright called the Bandit that has quickly become the new team favourite and has been crushing it for us.
