Billabong History
Earlier company descriptions, brand line-ups, store counts and photographs from the history of Billabong, kept for historical reference.
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The Company Description of Its Time
Billabong is a lifestyle brand sportswear and casual clothing manufacturer, and its historical profile gives the corporate shape before the story: Billabong International Limited's core business is the marketing, distribution, wholesaling and retailing of apparel, accessories, eyewear, wetsuits and hardgoods in the boardsports sector under the Billabong, RVCA, Element, Von Zipper, Honolua Surf Company, Kustom, Palmers Surf, Xcel, Sector 9 and Tigerlilly brands. Billabong International's products are licensed and distributed in more than 100 countries and are available in approximately 10,000 doors worldwide, through specialized boardsports retailers and the company's own branded retail outlets, with the majority of revenue generated through wholly-owned operations in Australia, North America, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and Brazil.
Expansion, Listing and the Brand Portfolio
By the 1980s Billabong had firmly established its place in Australian surf culture and was ready for international expansion, beginning with the large North American market, then licenses in New Zealand, Japan and South Africa, and a European beachhead in the late 1980s. Through the 1990s the surf industry grew exponentially, and the company followed its core customers into other boardsports markets - skate, snow and wake - replicating its proven business model. Restructured by the close of the decade, Billabong made an initial public offering in Australia, listing on the Australian Securities Exchange in August 2000, which gave the company greater financial capacity to grow.
The acquisition sequence shows that growth being spent: Von Zipper sunglasses and the Element skateboards brand soon after the float; Honolua Surf Company in January 2004; Kustom footwear and Palmers Surf in September 2004; Nixon watches and accessories in January 2006; the specialist wetsuit brand Xcel and girls swimwear brand Tigerlily in 2007; the Sector 9 skateboard brand and DaKine in 2008; the online entry through Swell.com and an interest in Surfstitch.com in late 2009; the RVCA brand in July 2010 and Canada's West 49 retail chain that September. The later notes record the refocus: West 49 sold in February 2014, and in September 2014 the sale of the SurfStitch stake and Swell, narrowing the company's strategic focus to its mono-brand core.
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