Hot Topic, Inc. is an American fast-fashion company specializing in counterculture -related clothing and accessories , as well as licensed music. The stores are aimed towards an audience interested in rock music and video gaming , and most of their audience ranges from teens to young adults. Approximately 40% of Hot Topic's revenue comes from sales of licensed band T-shirts. The majority of the stores are located in regional shopping malls .
14-796: The first Hot Topic store was opened in November 1989 in Montclair Plaza , Montclair, California , by Orv Madden, a former executive at The Children's Place , who retired as CEO in 2000 and was replaced by Betsy McLaughlin , who headed the company until 2011. Lisa Harper assumed the position of CEO in March 2011 until Steve Vranes was announced as the new CEO in 2016. The company went public and began trading on NASDAQ in 1996. In 2013, Hot Topic announced its sale to private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $ 600 million. The company ceased publishing financial data after 2013, as previously required as
28-420: A concept store that sells lingerie and clothing for women. On May 26, 2015, Hot Topic announced its intent to acquire Geeknet Inc. , owner of the online retailer ThinkGeek , for $ 122 million. However, the company received a $ 140 million counter-offer from GameStop , which Hot Topic did not choose to exceed. On October 14, 2015, Hot Topic launched BoxLunch, a gift and novelty retail store. For every $ 10 spent,
42-583: A meal is donated to a person in need. The company sponsored the 2004 Ozzfest concert tour, the 2005 through 2007 Sounds of the Underground tour, the 2008 Taste of Chaos tour, and had a stage at and sponsored the 2008 and 2009 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival tours. The company went on to sponsor Black Veil Brides 2014 Black Mass tour with special guests Falling in Reverse . Montclair Plaza Too Many Requests If you report this error to
56-436: A number of phases in its history, reflective of various alternative culture and pop culture (including geek culture ) trends (prime examples being Lolita , goth , or cosplay outfits). In the early 2000s, the store was known for heavily marketing nu-metal merchandise relating to bands. During that period, the store was also known for its sales of controversial gel bracelets (often rumored to be "sex bracelets") as well as
70-412: A public company. In 2024, Hot Topic was the subject of what cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock labeled the "largest retail data breach in history," involving the theft of personal data belonging to 350 million customers of Hot Topic, Box Lunch, and Torrid, with the stolen data reportedly including names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, and partial credit card numbers. The store has gone through
84-863: Is unsure if it will return to the US. For the first time since the tour began, Taste of Chaos had no dates in 2011. On June 18, 2015, it was announced that Taste of Chaos would return with its first festival in five years. The festival took place on October 3 at the San Manuel Amphitheater in California. It was at a Taste of Chaos show in Orlando, Florida , that Fueled By Ramen representative John Janick first saw Paramore , which led to them signing their first major recording contract. Ernie Ball International Battle Of The Bands started in 2006, to get popular upcoming small and unsigned bands to play
98-564: The post-hardcore , emo , pop punk and metalcore genres, while offering the same low ticket price and festival-style format as the Warped Tour. Taste of Chaos has been called the "Winter Warped Tour" since dates ran from October (internationally) through April (in North America) of the next year. The tour was highly successful in 2005 for many of the same reasons as its summer counterpart, including cheap tickets and major bands of
112-648: The Taste of Chaos shows in their local towns across many of the tour dates. Fans determined which band is able to win by voting for all bands though the Ernie Ball International Battle Of The Bands website. The top 20 bands in each city, by way of votes were reviewed by a panel of judges who selected one band out of the top 20 to play live in their hometown on the Taste of Chaos tour. The bands were selected based on their musicianship and live performance ability. They were judged by
126-654: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 218972642 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:40:31 GMT Taste of Chaos Taste of Chaos (or "TOC") was a live music tour that was started in the winter of 2005 by Kevin Lyman , the creator of the successful Warped Tour along with his friend and business partner, John Reese. The Taste of Chaos tour catered to fans of
140-405: The associated otaku subculture. Hot Topic launched Torrid , a concept store that sells clothing for plus-size women , in 2001. While still under the same parent umbrella as Hot Topic, in 2015 the company branched off to become Torrid, LLC. In 2008, Hot Topic launched ShockHound , an online retailer and social networking music site. In March 2011, Hot Topic made a public statement announcing
154-531: The equally controversial styles of phat pants -inspired bondage pants popular among teenagers in the late 1990s and early-to-mid 2000s. The store later focused on skinny jeans and merchandise related to scene , emo and hardcore punk music and fashion, with a much larger focus on goths and spiky chokers and clothing. At present, the store's selection is largely focused on licensed video game merchandise and internet memes popular on sites such as Tumblr , as well as anime , manga , Japanese films , and
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#1732779631916168-633: The genres. In the fall of 2005, the tour went international with The Used , Story of the Year , and Rise Against playing in Australia, Europe, and Asia. In 2007, each of the seven bands playing the entire tour was a Warped Tour veteran: five had played the 2006 Warped Tour and two ( The Used and Saosin ) had played TOC previously. The 2008 lineup was the first to feature Japanese bands, them being Mucc , D'espairsRay and The Underneath . In 2010, Taste of Chaos founder John Reese stated that although
182-778: The shutdown of ShockHound. The site is no longer live, all merchandise was moved to HotTopic.com, and the company ceased sales of MP3s . In August 2010, Hot Topic first ventured the international market with opening two outlets in Ontario , Canada , initially at Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga on August 11, and then at Scarborough Town Centre in Toronto the following day. The company has since also opened additional Canadian locations as well as locations in Puerto Rico . In 2012, Hot Topic launched Blackheart Lingerie,
196-654: The tour was successful internationally, it had "run its course in America" and would be replaced by the Uproar Festival . Reese stated that the replacement was due to, "running out of bands that fit within the profile of what Taste of Chaos was." Uproar will feature hard rock bands and will begin shortly after the heavy metal tour Mayhem Festival in August 2010. Kevin Lyman expects the tour to continue in Europe, and
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