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Newport Company Acquires World Industries Brand

The Newport Beach licensor of skateboard and clothing brand World Industries has bought the business from Australia’s Globe International Ltd. for $8 million.

I.e. distribution, which has licensed the World Industries name for shoes and snowboards since 2004, has acquired rights to the brand as well as its licenses around the world.

John Dickinson, president of i.e. distribution, worked at Globe in 2002 when the company acquired World Industries.

He left Globe in 2004 to start i.e. distribution as a World Industries licensee making shoes and snowboards.

The deal “almost is like a management buyout,” Dickinson said.

I.e. distribution is looking for a manufacturer to license the World Industries name for clothes, he said.

Before, Globe produced clothes for skate shops, while Irvine-based Ray’s Apparel Inc. made clothes for sporting goods and department stores.

Ray’s no longer produces World Industries clothes.

World Industries is a legendary skateboard brand started in 1987 by professional skateboarders Steve Rocco and Rodney Mullen.

In recent years, Irvine-based Billabong USA’s Element has stolen some of World Industries’ thunder in skateboards.

In shoes, rivals include Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc.’s DC Shoes and Lake Forest-based Sole Technology Inc.

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