“I was really struggling with all the turmoil surrounding Volcom. I was in a dark place. Florence is a positive light in a sea of chaos."
If any proof was needed that the start-up surf brand Florence, formerly Florence Marine X has become the hottest brand in surf, the appearance of Richard Woolcott, founder and former CEO of Volcom, as an investor is probably it.
Florence Marine X was launched with $12 million in seed cash in 2020. John John Florence quit Hurley and got into biz with Hurley founder Bob Hurley, appointing honey blond star of Endless Summer II, Pat O’Connell, as prez.
Surf fans are aware of the collapse of the surf industry, Billabong, Quiksilver, RVCA, Hurley, all swallowed by hedge funds.
The day has come to join forces! So fired up to announce that i will be Surfing under my own Name and will be moving forward under the FLORENCE flag, beyond excited to bet on myself, my brother you may have heard of him (@john_john_florence ) who pioneered this epic endeavor and the incredible team at @florence_marine_x, the future is very exciting, we have the power to reshape the surf industry for future generations
A few months later, the baby bro Ivan Florence also joined the team.
The brand is, to coin an old phrase, hotter than Africa.
And, now, Richard Woolcott, Volcom maestro, a company he sold to the owners of Gucci and Saint Laurent for $607 million, pocketing sixty-one mill personally, has poured some of this cash into Florence telling Shop-Eat-Surf.
“I have always liked the Florence brand and what it stands for. They are focused on building innovative, performance driven products for surfing and other ocean and water-based sports and activities. It’s a modern, utilitarian outdoor brand that fits my lifestyle and product needs.
“The first product I bought from them was their hooded rash guard a few years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. I also like the fact that the company was started by two well-respected surfing families, the Florence family and Hurley family. With everything going on in the industry, they have been a breath of fresh air, a positive light in a sea of chaos.
When Florence approached me at the end of February about getting involved, I was really struggling with the Liberated bankruptcy and all the turmoil surrounding Volcom. It was extremely hard for me emotionally to see the brand that I had dedicated most of my life to being torn apart. I was in a dark place. With the support and encouragement from my dad, I decided to take the meeting with Florence and see where things would go.”
Wooly also said, “The days of billion dollar brands are over for now. There will always be the exception, but overall, it’s better to live within your means and do what’s best for the brand, the customer, and industry long-term.”
Do you miss the old days when money flowed like honey and when surfers were known for their Baudelairean flair for extravagant personal dress and an atmosphere of decadence hung over it all?
Or is this new Amish-esque conservatism more your flavour?
I prefer the latter.
…. expensive, considered design, functional clobber. (Purchased hooded rashie previous Oz summer – awesome!)
However, I’m most excited they’ve sponsored Margo!!!!
Gottta luv that… ?
amish- esque hahah stuffs always a good giggle : )
Do people that wear lululemon eat lunch?
who do you think buys all the kale salads?
At least you responded. Jen is apparently jumping up and down at a beach somewhere lol
Shakamanahanabraaaaaahhhh
I guess Wooly can wipe his tears with 61 million dollar bills
Interesting as it would have seemed that the company already had the financial horsepower in-house. However, having 10-20 million of personal assets tied up in shipping containers full of goods from China would tend to keep one up at night.
Now with all this tariff nonsense, who knows what’s next.
I think he meant surf brands.
Agreed…its spreading. The product while over priced is pretty good. I used Airtex stuff on a recent photoshoot is the swampy garbage pail called Florida and that shit works!
Here in San Diego surfers’ wear Vuori
Soft plastic clothing, edited models, mass marketing. A winning combination
great piece in TSJ, Jen
Copy and paste here. I spent all my money on a surf trip
little long to paste, but bottom line is that Anna Gudauskas (married to Dane) is a hardcore badass who traveled the world for years and surfs unridden spots in places like Alaska and other polar regions , at least when she’s not being a mom and sliding at the queen
1. Corporate marketing speak comes as naturally to these industry lifestylers as does breathing.
2. For $61 million, speak however you want.
3. Wolfgang must be 12? And Wooly 75? Guess that $61 million lets you pull a Belichek.
4. Can’t wait to see the Florence vs. Outerknown battle for best green washing unfold in the years to come.
Pretty sure Wooly is about 60, not 75.
Richard (and his Dad) made a lot more than $61M selling VLCN stock over the years, historical data is still online as a public company.
Woolcott is + or – 60 but naming your kid Wolfgang is worrisome
Does anyone here actually own any of their products? If so, any good?
No, I haven’t but I could get a hooded rash vest from Temu for €8.00, or I could get one from Florence Marine for €88.00!
That’s really helpful, thanks. At least we now know you have no idea if the products are any good.
Well unfortunately a hooded rash guard would be as useless to me as a chocolate teapot!
Boardshorts are very good. Have held up for 3 years.
The problem with Florence is that they have sprinter van vibes.
Love me a sprinter van
#sprinterlifegoals
My wife got me a light weight jacket for my birthday a couple years back. Minimal logo. Good quality.
Trunks approved
The hooded rashie is legit. Not a fan of having the hood up whilst riding waves, but when sat around waiting it’s handy to have that extra protection, especially in the tropics. When not wearing the hood, the bunching of the hood behind the neck will save you some cash on sunblock.
Who is actually going to buy the florence stuff? (other than DLS)
Just going to be elbowing into the patagucci clientele market rather than normal folk
Not to mention calling a kid Wolfganged ….
Patagonia has built a massive business in this segment of the market. It’s a smart play whether “normal folk” buy it or not.
Their hooded rashguards actually sell like gangbusters. So much so that a lot of companies are starting to rip off the design and they in turn are selling out too
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Thats a kook or curren entry right there
What most people don’t realize but JJF himself had actually disclosed in an interview pre-FMX, years ago (of which I can’t remember where) was that after he left Hurley, he enjoyed the fact that he was now free to wear and “test” any products he wanted to. His accessory sponsor was Dakine which ironically as a surf – born brand, (who also were not the first – I think you could chalk that up to fishing or paddling brands) had made these things for all the years he was riding for both brands. But JJ was not able to use dakine’s for obvious contractual reasons. So Dakine quietly and I suppose successfully sold the piece for years to every market BUT core surfers. People wore them as practical layering in the snow. Fishermen, and many of the “kooky” offspring of surfing in SUP, and Foilers wore them because lots of them (skilled ones) don’t fall too often and barely even get wet on hours long paddle runs. It was conceived mostly as a UV piece. It’s pretty safe to say that that UV minded purpose today has taken a step back to it now being more fashionable and looking hip for their wearers than staving off sunburned ears. I mean wetsuits and traditional lycras already cover up necks to right below one’s chin and back hairline. So these things basically keep longer hair out of your face and protect your ears (or very practically) middle aged men’s bald heads from sunburn. But the performance benefits for a teenager with a full head of hair? Questionable at best.
So, FMX actually “ripped off” others as well – which is normal and accepted in modern capitalism. More accurately, they took an existing product made for other markets and marketed it directly to core surfers. No different than Dorian who took an existing scuba safety device and applied it to surfing. By the time patents expire, the inventing/pioneering brands have already made their dough. So I do not consider them sell outs. This is Capitalism and marketing executed at its finest levels. I don’t hate. I congratulate. Well done FMX. Well done.
Cripes
Wooly sure doesn’t look like surfer, barely even a ‘surfie’.
And old enough to be his ‘sons’ grandfather.
(kinda like old lady Kintner who’s ‘son’ Alex got killed on his surfmat in Jaws…)
Just thought about that the other night while watching it with my youngest. And where was that Kintner boys daddy??
I don’t think these guys understand what made the big three big, nor do they understand what made north face, Columbia and Arcteryx big, or for that matter, Lululemon.
The next big thing will be lululemon for men. They just have to find that sweet spot between men who do yoga and gay men who do yoga.
No surfing brand will make it huge until surfing becomes cool again. It will never be cool while all the pro surfers wear black wet suits and ride white surfboards, and call themselves “athletes”.
Wait, wait, wait. You actually think surfing will become “cool” again? That ship sailed long ago and was sunk by Covid.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Surfing is too old to be cool. Pros were retiring at 28 when you could use surfing to sell t shirts to inland kids.
Also do well on social media you have to overtly try, which is hard to do if you want surfers to think you’re cool.
The surf industry died the moment Kelly went bald.
To my surprise, I know more non-surfers who are wearing florence than surfers..
Have you seen those surf tights Nath wears?? Maybe they’ve hit the mark
Please, please drop the X.
it would be so much better as Florence Marine.
Seems to just be Florence on all the branding now but the Instagram is still Florence Marine X
always wondered whether the X was a subtle nod to their mom
I still can’t get over them naming their company Florence Marinex, it sounds like a geriatric diarrhea medicine. Decent guys though of course, but the lame name, the lame red hazard flag, and the plastic clothes are junk.
That is what everyone thought about Hurley when it came out also.
I heard the Volcom house kicked out the surfers at the end of the winter season and is just gonna be an AirBnB moving forward. The end of an era! And they better do a deep cleaning of that place before the renters arrive, who knows what kind of biohazards the groupies left behind
They have been doing that every year for over a decade.
To clarify: the word is the surfers aren’t coming back this winter and it’ll just be a year-round short term rental
heard the same
Lot of history in that house and even before Gerry Lopez built it.