In an era that bred creativity, lies the foundation of a global giant of the surf world: Quiksilver. In 1969 an Australian wetsuit maker by the name of Alan Green had an idea for boardshorts for surfers. In his base of Torquay-Victoria, Australia he made some, brought his friends on board to help, sold some of the shorts, and overnight had found out that surfers liked boardshorts….And so Quiksilver was born.

Quiksilver is now synonymous with not only surfing, but specifically boardsport youth fashion. It is one of the most successful multi-national surf companies in the world, and has managed to grow from strength to strength over 4 decades, taking a massive $2.2 billion in net revenues in 2008 alone. So what is its secret?

Since its inception in the 1970s Quiksilver has been extremely forward thinking. What does this mean? Well think “outside the box”. Quiksilver has made a point over the years of diversifying, expanding, whilst prioritizing core values. The company has obtained a large number of smaller organisations in the boardsport and water sport industries, such as DC Shoes, Hawk, Raisins, Radio Fiji and Leilani. Quiksilver has made sure that it has always been an attractive business model from the beginning. It was one of the first surf companies to go public and to appear on the New York Stock Exchange in 1986.

Yet what has it meant for surfers and boardriders? Quiksilver now sponsors around 500 professional and amateur boardriders, including the iconic surfer and 9x world champion Kelly Slater, the infamous skater Tony Hawk, and even singer/songwriter/surfer Jack Johnson back in 1987. The company has had a huge part in the development of numerous surfers, skaters, snowboarders and athletes around the globe. Even the creation of the women’s brand Roxy has helped move surfing forward.

Roxy was created in 1990 when the surfer industry and its fashion was very male dominated. The establishment of the all girl surf fashion company helped to push the industry to new places, and of course- encourage girls everywhere to dream of, if not actually take up, surfing and snowboarding.

Today Quiksilver has over 600 stores worldwide, sells surfwear, boardsports equipment, accessories and apparel. Furthermore, the company sponsors the very special Eddie Aikau Big Wave International; and hosts 2 of the ASPs world contest, the Gold Coast Pro and the Pro France. The company continues to expand with the use of clever marketing campaigns, which seek to ask the public for “permission” for it to grow bigger. Whilst on the more understated side, the company has set up the charitable organisation The Quiksilver Foundation. The organisation works with boardriding communities to help improve health, education, the environment and youth projects in that area.

Quiksilver is one of the biggest sponsors on the ASP tour. Its biggest European event is the Quiksilver pro which takes place in September in Hossegor, one of the destinations we offer for Surfiing Holidays in France

Quiksilver has managed to navigate with creativity some pretty competitive waters over the last few decades. It will be good to see what the company fashions over the coming years and where it can help the board sports progress to next. In the meantime, take a look at this classic 80s advert… genius.

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