Quiksilver
– A History of Making Waves
One
in a series of Surfrider Sponsor Stories
Sunny
Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to the following copyrighted
material. For permission to reprint or excerpt it and/or link it to another
website, contact them at
SurfriderFoundation Huntington Beach/Seal Beach Chapter sponsor Quiksilver has never settled
for the ordinary. Since it was founded in 1969 the Huntington Beach-based
company has been making waves with its action wear designs, fabrics and
constructions.
Quiksilver’s first line of boardshorts, launched in 1970, revolutionized the market. With their two-snap/Velcro closures, yoked waist and scalloped legs for ease of movement, plus quick-drying cotton fabric, they were always ready for the next wave.
1970 Quiksilver boardshorts
A decade
later, Quiksilver took the lead again with ST
Comp hi-tech boardshorts made out of stretch fabrics and the eye-catching Echo Beach line of geometrics and bold
colors.
Echo Beach boardshorts
Letting
the surf world know that it was more than a brand, Quiksilver built itself into
a lifestyle company with its Quiksilver
Country array of themed action wear that told of a place with perfect waves
and invited surfers to discover it.
Quiksilver Country
Since then
Quiksilver has continued to make its presence known, with a whole division
devoted to denim, branching out into snow wear and skateboarding, and creating
the Roxy line of women’s surf wear, clothing and accessories. Other well-known
Quiksilver brands include: DC, Hawk, Moskova, GNU,
Libtech, and Quiksilver Waterman, as well as Quiksilver Womens.
SurfWriter
Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel talked to Ryan Ashton, Director of
the Quiksilver Foundation, to find out more about what makes Quiksilver such a
special company. “It’s a family environment,” said Ashton, leading us on a tour
of the campus that took us down “executive row” where founder Bob Knight’s
office is.
“We’re not run like a typical corporation. You can skateboard through the
hallways or go surf during the day to clear out your head. There’s also an
exercise gym in the building where employees can work out.”
Ryan Ashton, Quiksilver Foundation Director
Proof of
its success is that Quiksilver is now the number one action sports company and
a $2 billion business. To give athletes the complete Quiksilver experience, the
company has established its own retail concept stores with more than 800
locations worldwide
There are
even retail stores on the Quiksilver campus where the employees can shop.
SurfWriter Girls made sure to check them out and get a preview of the fall 2012
fashions.
As an
added surprise, we turned around and
caught a glimpse of Quiksilver ambassador surfing legend Kelly Slater stopping
in to scope out the merchandise.
Kelly Slater
Long
affiliated with top athletes like Slater, World Tour surfer Stephanie Gilmore
and skateboarder Tony Hawk, Quiksilver sponsors numerous sports competitions
around the world. In addition to this, Quiksilver is now a multimedia
powerhouse, with a full roster of board-related projects for film, TV, books,
and magazines.
Recognizing
the importance of giving back, Quiksilver created the Quiksilver Foundation in
2004 to benefit and enhance the quality of life for board riding communities around the world by supporting environmental, educational, health and humanitarian-based projects.
Ashton told SurfWriter Girls,
“Working for a company like Quiksilver we’re called upon to be stewards for our
environments and communities,” explaining that this philosophy is reflected in the company’s
logo – a mountain and a large wave.
A longtime Surfrider Foundation
sponsor, Quiksilver shares the same concern for keeping our oceans and beaches
clean and has sponsored many beach cleanups. Its focus is on “children,
education, science, oceans and the environment.”
As part of this relationship, Surfrider
and Quiksilver even joined forces to create a special edition, patch-work print
boardshort – the “Slightly Choppy,” designed by Scott Richards – with a portion
of the proceeds going to Surfrider. The shorts were a big hit and are now
classics.
Slightly Choppy boardshorts
In talking about working with
Surfrider, Ashton said, “We feel
privileged to further support their organization in a creative and unique way. We're always looking for unique ways to further our collaborations.”
Quiksilver has also started the QuikSCience Challenge with the
University of Southern California, creating a science competition for middle
school and high school students in California. Over 500,000 students have
participated in this and many have gone on to receive degrees in oceanography and
marine biology.
Another partner of Quiksilver’s is Stoked Mentoring, a non-profit
organization that uses action sports to rehabilitate and mentor at-risk teens.
“We take them surfing, build relationships with the kids, and have positive
experiences,” Ashton stated.
From a global perspective,
Quiksilver is involved with Surfaid International and is concerned with helping
people in impoverished countries. “We’ve developed a health center for the
residents of the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia on the island of Sipora and it’s
providing care to expectant mothers, children, and people in need,” said
Ashton. “We’re also showing people how to build earthquake-safe homes, how to
capture rain water, and safe ways of cooking. We’ve set up organic gardens for
growing safer vegetables, too.”
Photo Album of SiporaVillagers
Closer to home, Quiksilver is paying attention to the company’s use of energy and natural resources. “We’re looking at everything we do from sourcing raw materials and shipping, to store operations, to product life-cycle reengineering as a way to lower our carbon-footprint.” Ashton explained. To make it fun for everyone in the company, there’s an in-house art competition with the employees creating artworks made from recycled materials.
This
painting by Challen Carland is made from recycled shipping pallets.
It’s clear that Quiksilver is much
more than an action sportswear company. It’s using its resources to improve the
environment and reach out to people in need around the world to provide them
with a better quality of life.
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