The Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” as the soundtrack to an Instagram post. A funeral-like flower arrangement reading “End of an Era by PM Tenore.” An illustration of tombstones bearing brand logos floating in the water.
The message was anything but subtle or open to interpretation for anyone familiar with the drama currently playing out within Southern California’s surf and skate apparel industry.
RVCA founder Pat Tenore, along with Los Angeles’ Known Gallery owner Casey Zoltan, curated an exhibition that bowed July 21 in Costa Mesa named “Exit Through The Surf Shop.” It opened with an evening reception drawing fans of Tenore, friends, family, surfers, shapers, industry executives, and artists.
Work on display included several pieces previously at RVCA headquarters, including a lowrider ice cream truck by Mister Cartoon, along with boxing and MMA rings from the RVCA training center.
It’s no secret Boardriders’ sale to Authentic Brands Group has been met with plenty of industry opinions and handwringing over the deal.
Boardriders owns some of the industry’s largest and longest-running surf and skate brands, including Billabong, Quiksilver, DC, Roxy, RVCA, Element, VonZipper and Honolua. It’s a big business with those brands distributed in some 7,000 retail accounts, 500 company-owned stores and online shops in 35 countries. Authentic said the overall business does about $2.9 billion in retail sales annually.
The concern raised by some is a non-industry owner coming into a space known for its insularity around perceived outsiders. The logic is distribution of the brands could get watered down under a new parent in the off-price and mass channels. Some of that’s been going on for years now and how things play out under Authentic remains to be seen.
End of an Era?
Still, it was the “Exit Through The Surf Shop” tombstone-bearing flyers that turned heads and generated social media snickers. Logos for Tenore’s RVCA, along with Body Glove, Billabong, DC Shoes, Hurley, Quiksilver, Roxy and Volcom were referenced.
The bottom of the flyer took from Porky the Pig’s signature, “That’s all folks!!”
Hurley founder Bob Hurley posted the illustration, writing “The landscape is changing…future vs past!!! The Truth!!!” He later removed the post.
His original comment drew a mix of reactions. Some of it included support, sounding the usual “surf brands need to be surfer owned and operated” mantra. Others, meanwhile, criticized him given his decision to sell Hurley to Nike in 2002. That criticism included a pointed statement from Hurley-sponsored surfer Brett Simpson.
“Still some great people at those brands! You guys are the ones that sold out….” Simpson wrote.
The Business of Surf
More than two decades of IPOs, investments and sales to larger companies now comprise the DNA of many of the industry’s oldest businesses, helping push them to where they are today.
Here, a list of some of the top acquisitions and IPOs across the current crop of major players.
Quiksilver Inc.
The company went public in 1986 and then went down a path of diversification. That included the launch of the first surf brand aimed at females, Roxy, in 1991. In 2004 the company paid $87 million for DC Shoes. The next year it acquired Skis Rossignol for $320 million before unloading the struggling business for $147 million.
Big debt pushed Quiksilver to bankruptcy in 2015 and it emerged under new parent Oaktree Capital Management the following year. The business rebranded to Boardriders Inc. in 2017.
Billabong International Ltd.
Billabong International became the subject of multiple suitors in 2012. The company, at the time, operated its namesake business in addition to brands such as Element and RVCA.
TPG Capital and Bain both entered the data room of the Billabong International business, made offers, and then walked away in 2012.
The company was then nearing a refinancing deal with Altamont Capital Partners and Sycamore Partners the next year. However, that fell to the wayside in favor of one from Centerbridge Partners and Oaktree Capital. The latter gave Centerbridge-Oaktree a 40.8 percent stake in Billabong shares and three board seats.
Boardriders then bought the Billabong group in 2018, consolidating nearly all of the industry’s largest players under a single parent.
Vans
The shoe company went public in 1991, raising $43 million in an initial public offering. In 2004, the business was acquired by VF Corp., which also owns The North Face and Supreme, for $370 million.
Volcom
Volcom, started by Richard Woolcott and Tucker Hall, filed for an initial public offering in 2005.
The brand, within the industry, was an anomaly for bridging surf, skate and snow with art and music. It was also the last of the action sports companies to go public.
Six years later, French luxury conglomerate PPR (later renamed to Kering) bought Volcom for $697.5 million.
Kering later made the decision to refocus its efforts entirely on its luxury portfolio, selling Volcom to Authentic Brands Group in 2019. Volcom management, operating as Liberated Brands, became the licensee for Volcom.
Hurley International
Hurley, started by Bob Hurley, was sold to Nike Inc. in 2002 for an undisclosed sum.
The Beaverton, Ore. sportswear firm held the label for more than a decade. A shift in strategy to expand direct-to-consumer led to Nike selling the surf business to New York-based Bluestar Alliance in 2019.
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