And more good news from the front!
The Middle East is in a very strange time zone, I’ve just realized. When the sun peeks over the horizon, into the desert sand and honking horns, it is very late at night back home in California and just after dinner in Australia. Two night times and how does that work? How is it morning here, night in the U.S. and basically night in Australia?
I should know and am sure the answer is clear but there is no way I’m sussing it out in this state. I have more work today, anyhow, a full slate but before getting out in it I must nominate the definitive guide to surfing’s best brawlers for BeachGrit’s best of ’18. It had me laughing start to finish.
There is no laughing in Torquay, Australia right now though because it was just revealed that Rip Curl had the worst of ’18, halving its profits from ’17 and potentially tanking its value. Shall we read from The New Daily?
Australian iconic brands Rip Curl, Quiksilver, Ozmosis and Billabong are struggling to turn weighty profits ahead of summer as consumers continue to turn their back on once trendy branded T-shirts and surfy swimwear.
The wildly volatile surf retail sector has been rocked by brand collapses and acquisitions in recent years, with Rip Curl being valued at anything between “$80 million and $400 million” depending on who you ask, according to retail expert Brian Walker.
Rip Curl Group’s full-year profits this year took a dramatic dive to $9.8 million, halving its encouraging 2017 profit of $18.4 million.
It is a huge step backwards for the company, which this time last year had reported a doubling in profits.
The company attributed the massive drop in profits in part to its de-valuation of subsidiary retail chain Ozmosis, The Australian reported.
Etc.
Oh I know how just two months ago we celebrated the surf industry’s return and maybe Rip Curl’s troubles are just a small speed bump on the way to glory but things don’t look rosy for the big three. (Quik, Bong and Rip).
It is very convenient that Rip Curl owns a retail chain, I suppose. An easy hook upon which to hang the precipitous drop in profits but part of me wonders if supply chain is the real culprit. In ’16 things were trucking right along with North Korean slave labor the engine.
Choo-choo!
Due to an unfortunate expose, however, that all went away and mysteriously vanished profits with it.
Hmmmm.
Well you win some and you lose some but the article did point to an interesting phenomenon. Even with profits halved…
“…Rip Curl is doing better than the others and I think that’s because they’ve stuck to a core ‘surf brand’ strategy and focused on their aspiring and hardcore surfer market.
“Their competitors have diluted their brand by going into fashion lines and activewear to appeal to a broader market and have lost their way.”
The aspiring and hardcore surfer market. Us!
I always knew we’d be the future. Should we all go work as Rip Curl slaves now? It would be very inspiring, pushing those North Koreans out of the way, taking up the needle and thread and bringing Torquay back into the light.
A summer blockbuster film even.
You’re opinions are wasting my air space! 50 years on and we are still killing it!
What about the 25897458073450893746 million followers that Gabe Medina have? Rip curl could ask for a dollar each. I’m sure if Gabriel would shave his ass and shoot for youtube they would give. So? the brands have to start monetizing their athletes according to their image…
And when they sneer at you for not being cool enough it’s ‘Lip Curl.’
They could make inroads to the Russian market by making it ‘Slav labour’.
Forgive me for not playing my usual pessimistic role here…. But i am curious if that $9.8m number reflects the company’s Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)? If Rip Curl is profiting that at the end of the year, that is still a very good number vs. Quik Bong which was reporting net losses for the past few years prior to sale. Sure, it would be half of last years number, however, turning a profit at all is a fucking Godsend in this industry. I would give my left nut to see what the hell Vissla’s balance sheet looks like? Haven’t seen nearly as much on the marketing front as of late…. wondering if the initial investors have come calling on their cash only to see it diminished with a very small market share. After all, let us not forget that Vissla’s founding father Paul Naude was indeed the one who paid $99 million for Da Kook, aggressively purchase retail locations, and grossly over pay for brands like VZ, Sector 9, Arbor, Nixon, Element, etc.
Not sure what the balance sheet numbers would look like, but Vissla is launching a new women’s brand, Jan 2019 — so the owners are still putting money into the brands.
What happened to Amuse Society?? Sounds like the woman’s line business is a retread.
I hear tale that they have lost 30 million to date.
Slightly off-topic, but if you want to view surf content that makes certain other titles seem like literary genius, take a peek at the local surf mag that Paul Naude founded in the 70s. It’s still available on shelves, believe it or not, and they’re still using the model of their website providing filler content to stimulate magazine sales. Cringeworthy stuff.
Visssla were main sponsors of world juniors and locally flow groms and boardriders club. Any brand that supports the groms deserves our support
Well, by your own logic, Body Glove has sponsored the NSSA for years. How many of those you got hanging on the railing??
This article brings up an interesting phenomenon with corporate surf brands. If your sales are tanking globally there’s a really good way to inflate the numbers – buy retail chains and set the buyers budgets they have to hit with your own effectively vertical products. Then when it doesn’t sell in your own stores liquidate it at the back end to Ross and the like. It’s a race to the bottom but I’m sure it makes those shareholders reports a lot more palatable.
Surf Retail 101
..and kill off the minor brands [ie Rusty/ West] in the process.
I’m always amazed Rusty still hangs in there.
Let’s not forget in the early 2000’s that rip curl dipped it’s toe in motocross and still makes snow gear… #coresurf
Having a huge distaste for the whole “the search” programme and long term contrived wayne lynch indigenous soul surfer advertising campaign a true cultural cringe of the very worst kind and not to mention the whole slave labor issue that started with making product in Mexico back in the late 1990s , if RC goes under ill be one sitting back cracking a tinnie and giving it the thumbs up.
…yep, BUT – they still make the best wetsuits [lots of] money can buy. So there is that.
You dick
Shouldn’t the title be more accurately ” Buy High – Sell Low” that seems to be most surf brands mantra no?
Rip curl has a huge store in downtown Santa Cruz in a building so expensive that Apple wouldn’t go into, the store is always empty, the locals wont shop at Rip curl, Across the street is Oneill and Pac Wave 2 local homegrown businesses.. Im sure RC will be closed soon.
Same for the one in Laguna Beach, if it’s actually still there.
They are tourist attractions
How’s the opium crop coming along?
Rip Curl should move to Ozarks its easy to grow opium there apparently!!
you know. for kids.
a hudsucker proxy reference! on a surf candy site? amazing
it made sense until the cover photo was changed. oh well
i guess the hula hoop could be an apt analogy for the surf industry though, thriving and suffocating on products you don’t use when surfing. alternatively, i blame all the cool kids switching from rashies to t-shirts.
« every step he took was a step up, except of course this last one. »
Strange days at BG with comments becoming articles and cover photos flipping ?
Is nothing sacred ?Or am I just getting too old to embrace the éphémère?
how is a boy to cope?
Report back to me when it makes sense
$9.8 million divided by 300 core surfers = Retail Price of Rip Curl 3/2 mm Flashbomb wettie?
Perhaps they could get into the surf-lingerie business with a ladies’ model called the’Flash-boob ‘.
That’s always been the missus’ opinion of most surf brand bikinis – either you lie perfectly still in it or you might as well not wear it. Fortunately in ze Europe a top isn’t really necessary on ze beach, and in ze surf she wears ze wetsuit.
Volcom has made a few that stay on in recent years. The trend toward one-piece styles is not bad either. Idk, Patagonia 4ever, though, really!
What about those really nice one-piece suits that France banned for some reason?
heh. good for preventin’ skin cancer, i’d think!
I can just see the UAE surf uniform now: day-glo neoprene full body burka thing with matching booties.
While in Abu Dhabi, I was warned that hitting on a burka-clad woman is an arrestable offense. But I swear the way they communicated with their eyes, I was thinking mixed signals have been the been the undoing, mostly freedom I presume, of many foreigners.
perventin’ preventin’
Patagonia, ya reckon? I’ll have a word with my bank manager about remortgaging.
Perhaps they could find inspiration from Electrix Six’s Clip “ Danger! High Voltage .” featuring flashing boobs ?
Nine Point Eight Million
For Claw and SingDing to share
Breaks my bankrupt heart
Which is probably at least 3times as much as they pay the world’s best surfer ?
That would be after they pay the worlds best surfers, surely
That would be after they pay themselves, their kids, their grandkids, their dogs, cats and the house mouse.
After exhausting every avenue, they’re still forced to declare that much
Nailed it!
Did we mention the racehorse they co-own that just ran the Melbourne cup? Those big cunts eat a lot of tax deductible hay