Key Takeaways:
- Salty Crew created a new women’s sales role as women’s becomes its fastest-growing business.
- New hires will lead retail marketing and the brand’s international expansion.
- Sister eyewear brand Ritual Vision also has a new sales lead.
Salty Crew has made three key hires to support growth in women’s, retail marketing, and international markets, General Manager Jason Shelton told SESO at Surf Expo.
Salty Crew meeting with the Island Water Sports team at Surf Expo. Photo by SESO.
A New Women’s Sales Role
Carrie Prentice has joined as Director of Sales for Salty Crew Women’s, a new position. Prentice comes from Brixton and previously worked at Vans and Quiksilver. She and Shelton worked together at Quiksilver.
“That’s a new role based on what women’s is doing for us, and it’s quickly become the fastest-growing part of the brand right now,” Shelton said. “Sell-through has been very strong in all the key categories: swim, apparel, and tees. Retailer feedback on the product line has been great, so the timing was right for Carrie to join Court (VP of Sales Courtney Kincaid) and the sales team in furthering the momentum.”
Roughly 80% of the accounts carrying Salty Crew’s men’s line have picked up women’s, according to Shelton.
“That includes all the key surf specialty stores in California, Hawaii, and the East Coast.”
A Salty Crew Women’s section at 17th Street in Virginia Beach. Photo courtesy of Salty Crew.
Retail Marketing and Latin America Leads
Jack Denny, who came over from Dark Seas, now runs retail marketing and works alongside the rest of the marketing team.
The Line Agency, led by Pat Lloyd, previously with Volcom and Columbia, is leading the brand’s Latin America expansion, including adjacent territories.
The hires build on foundational work the brand did after COVID, including beefing up product development and an earlier round of hires in other areas.
With that platform in place, the focus has turned to growth.
“We’re excited to have Carrie and Jack on board in women’s and retail marketing,” Shelton said. “Both of them share our view that sell-in is just step No. 1. The real work happens in creating great brand storytelling at retail to drive real sell-through and growth.”
Ritual Vision and Globe International’s Fiscal Year
A Ritual Vision display. Ritual Vision and Salty Crew are both owned by Globe International Limited. Photo courtesy of Globe.
Separately, industry sales veteran Joel Olenik is now leading sales for Ritual Vision, an Australian surf eyewear brand whose team riders include Noa Deane, Mason Ho, Mikey Wright, Harry Bryant, Hughie Vaughn, and Parker Coffin, with Dion Agius leading creative for the brand.
“Ritual is now in most of the best surf shops in the U.S., and it’s been super fun to see how stoked the core surf kid is on the brand that has all of their favorite surfers,” Shelton said. “The energy around Ritual has been just next level.”
Both brands are part of Globe International Limited. Globe International doesn’t break out Salty Crew’s results, but for its fiscal year ended June 30, the company’s three core brands, Salty Crew, Globe, and FXD, generated AUD 183.1 million ($131.5 million) in revenue, up 4.3%.
Net profit after tax rose 12.3% to AUD 11 million ($7.9 million). “The investment focus in our FY27 for Salty Crew is primarily around retail marketing and women’s,” Globe International CEO Matt Hill told SESO in September.
