Billabong Brand To Be Dropped By U.S. Management
Company will launch new Hurley line.
Edited by John Stouffer
(6-3-98)

In a move that shocked the action-sports industry, Bob Hurley, president of Billy International, announced earlier this week that his company will drop the United States license for Billabong clothing by June of 1999 and would be launching its own action-sports apparel label called Hurley this fall for January shipping.

Billy International had been the U.S. licensee for Billabong Australia since 1983. Under Hurley's management, Billabong has become one of the mainstays of the U.S. surf-apparel market, and the company branched out into skateboarding, snowboarding, and the action-sports lifestyle apparel markets.

Last year the company did 60-million dollars in sales, and is projecting to do 70-million this year with the Billabong brand. Hurley won't make any predictions on how much business the company will have with the new name: "It's up to the market to say what we'll do next year."

But he says everything that retailers have come to expect from the company will remain the same. All operations will continue at the Costa Mesa, California headquarters just the way they had been, except with a new name. The 1999 Spring Hurley line will be launched at the Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo in San Diego this September, but the company will continue to run and manage the Billabong brand through the remainder of the contract, which ends in June of 1999.

The company will ship Billabong snow wear this fall and will continue to support the brand with advertising and team riders through the season. They will launch the new snowboard apparel line at trade shows in the spring.

The U.S. company introduced snowboard clothing to Billabong in 1988 and Hurley feels it is an important part of what they do. He plans on continuing to address that market with the new line. "KJ [Kevin Jones] is in our office right now working on it [then new line]," Hurley says.

All team riders (including snowboarders) have contracts with Billy International and will remain with the company and ride for the new brand. "The snowboard team riders are very excited about it," he says. "They're part of a big family here."

Hurley says that if the Australian owners want to change things earlier, he'd be open to it. The company says the parting was amicable.

"We've both done really well," he says of the business partnership. "It's been a pretty flexible relationship in the past, and sometimes we didn't even have a contract. The years with Billabong have been a great ride."

There's a good chance that the Billabong brand will continue in the U.S., if he Australian owners find a new company to take the license.

Although Billy International dealt only with domestic sales for Billabong, Hurley says he plans on taking the new line global-a task his company hasn't managed before. "I find it thrilling," said Hurley about launching a worldwide brand. "I travel a lot. I'm more interested in influencing the world with our marketing and making clothes for teenagers everywhere."

So far the response from retailers has been overwhelmingly positive, says Hurley, who says he's been on the phone talking to the company's accounts for the last several days.

The company will continue with the concept of building "classic designs with an edge."

"My company has been able to create and maintain a quality product that appeals to guys who surf, skateboard and snowboard," Hurley says. "But the market is always evolving, and I have to be able to change and expand.

"I have my roots in the surf and music world and that's where I listen to my customers," he continues. "We make clothes for the normal guy by staying in touch through surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and going to competitions and concerts."

Hurley's creative team, which includes acclaimed designer Lian Murray (designer of the Billabong USA line and formerly of Mossimo and Quiksilver) is a surfwear-savvy group that is looking forward to developing new product categories that will ultimately lead to new market segments.

"Success in this business is based upon adaptability and willingness to change-quickly," says Hurley, who points out that his team can quickly have a design ready for retailers to see within six weeks because of his domestic production base in Costa Mesa. "This new label, where my talented (design, promotional and management) team will remain intact, opens a spectrum of exciting future possibilities."

The Hurley design philosophy will remain unchanged, with a product lineup that will include denim, knit shirts, walk shorts, board shorts, pants, outerwear, wallets, backpacks, belts, T-shirts, and revolutionary zipperless wetsuits.

"My philosophy is to never tell my audience what they should wear, but rather listen and observe what they like," says Hurley. "Let the kids rule the world and we'll just be their partners."

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