Fun while it lasted.
The early 1990s were a heady time for extreme sport aficionados. The dawn of a whole new movement. Radical kids pushing surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding harder and further and faster. A DIY mentality shoving out the old, designing the new. It was, for all intents and purposes, youth against establishment.
The defining brand of this whole era, of course, Volcom who not only coined the “youth against establishment” tagline but also represented the sharpest end of the nascent surf industry revolution. Founded in 1991 by Richard Woolcott and Tucker Hall, Volcom quickly established itself as the coolest of the core. After a dizzying decade-ish, the company, now Volcom Inc., went public and raised a then-staggering $89 million. Six years later, the French multinational Kering friendly tookover “The Stone” for a still-staggering $608 million.
Enter the surf industry apocalypse.
Volcom had trouble connecting with the new youth, whose focus had shifted from extreme to maybe online gaming, while also needing to provide shareholder value. Kering dumped the brand to Authentic Brands Group in 2019 who, in turn, licensed Volcom to Liberated Brands who, in turn, heavily discounted Volcom merchandise then went broke and is now liquidating all its Volcom stores after firing all its employees.
Bobby Abdel, a partner at the industry’s biggest account, Jack’s Surfboards told Shop-Eat-Surf of the crazy perpetual sales before the fall, “It impacts all of the clothing business in the surf market – the brands and the retailers. Customers look at everything, and they’ve been 40, 50, 60 percent off. We have to pay rent and pay our employees – we can’t match sales like that. But who are we going to complain to (at Liberated)? Everyone is gone.”
So now no more Volcom stores, or at least in these United States.
Not one.
But do you think that the aforementioned Establishment is sitting back and smirking after wingtip curb stomping Youth?
Take that, plucky youngsters.
Time to let the adults provide shareholder value.
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a smart shop creates their own and brands their own… then they own it. screw corporate surf
This surf gossip news is such a complete bore I don’t know who actually reads it.
Surf brands are NOT Cool, hip, trendy etc…with Gen Z. They sell at ROSS and TJ Maxx and Macys. I would never be caught wearing any of those brands. The surf industry is doomed.
can someone explain it like I am 5,
why is the industry going down the shitter when more people, than ever in history, are surfing?
My guess is the VCs who bought up all these companies overextended the production and profit is not supporting the increase in output and decrease in quality.
But I don’t know. I’m not a finance / economics kinda guy.
Volcom etc. pushed at Walmarts in Incestville, (insert landlocked state) doesn’t really ring true to the brands’ vibe either.
For starters, the “more people ever in history” getting in your way in the water couldn’t find their way into a local surf shop even if one landed on their Tesla or golf clubs.
Not sure that’s right. There was that big surf collapse in what was it 1988 or so, when Surfer magazine went from being as thick as a phone book to half the size in one year.
Whenever you can………… https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
If you have a history of addiction and depression, have a young family and have made more than enough money, probably not best to decide to do the whole band reunion schtick, and once again surround yourself with all the parasites that lurk on a major act tour.
addiction + depression + endless resources are more crafty than that, he was not pathetic nor a cunt.
great voice.
Perhaps my take was a bit harsh. However, his decision to reboot Soundgarden and take off on tour played right into the hands of his inner demons.
totally agree, touring is the worst place to be when youre that sick.
Random thoughts from an old guy who used to cover himself head to toe in nothing but Volcom for both surf and snow marking the start of a midlife crisis not too long ago…
Escramble and Football Schmootball remain two of the all-time greatest snow and surf flicks ever among so many other solid ones from Veeco…
Nothing was sadder than the recent ad campaign for golf polos with Jack. If that wasn’t the nail in the coffin for Volcom, what was? (loaded question which could hjave pages of responses I suppose)…
… who controls the paying of/upkeep of the Volcom house at Pipe? What happens to that when the Stone finally crumbles to dust once and for all?…
and was there no slogan more absurd at this point than, “True to This”…
Fuck off
All these stickered up gross are gonna make good realtors
Quik stores are closing in the US too. Corpo death spin is the new tail high rotation.
Billabong too where I live
Is it a true 540?
810
Bring it on. I’ll buy the last batch of the clothes I’ve worn since being a teenager off their death bed for cheap.
What makes a surf brand cool. Andy why should anyone care?
I saw Jack R in an ad with a golf polo. Putting the pressure to Nike.
Jack Robbo wouldn’t care apprently he has plenty of cash , unlike his old man.
You obviously don’t know his old man
Ramjet doesn’t like anyone in the surf industry.
Ain’t I the lucky one then.
Private equity against youth
Volcom had stores?
Sooo the “lawyer”/surf instructor
was tied to the volcom stone and tossed overboard in S.A.
It was a brand hard to find in Australia and when you did the quality was cheap and nasty…
They had a good logo and Bruce Irons.
We owned a surf shop in the period that Chas is talking about. I don’t think it was even in Australia until much later. Early 90s US imports were More Core Division and No Fear (whatever happened to them?). And of course Rusty. That brand was absolutely huge for a while.
Sunny Garcia told stab in a 2014 interview (that only partially got released for their Surfers Get Paid) show that when he won his title in 2000 that No Fear told him that he’ll never be better than he is now so offered him a reduced contract. It’s Sunny, so take with a huge heap of salt but it’s not that hard to believe. Not hard to believe that company would go bust as well. No Fear likely did what Airwalk and QuikBongCurl did and went into the chain stores and became uncool. I’d bet my cat that they sold to some larger company that ran it into the ground and sold it off for pieces.
i think jackrob can zen it back to life pre heat with the correct frequency.
he better hope so.
he just needs small boards that work for him which are not the sharpeyes!
wasn’t their last tagline was True to This ?
funny.
irony is a cold b@#$h…