Authentic Brands Group, the owner of Volcom, RVCA, Quiksilver, Billabong, DC Shoes, Spyder, and myriad other brands, is pulling licenses previously held by Liberated Brands and giving them to new operators.
After Authentic acquired the former Boardriders brands in September 2023 for $1.2 billion, Liberated, which previously held the license for Volcom and Spyder in partnership with Authentic, took on a lot more, including:
- The U.S. and Canada wholesale license for Billabong, RVCA, and Honolua brands in the adult sportswear, activewear, swim, outerwear, headwear, and base layer categories.
- Retail and e-commerce in the U.S. and Canada for Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, RVCA, Honolua, and Boardriders.
- Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, RVCA, DC Shoes, Element, VonZipper, Honolua, and more across Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Indonesia, including wholesale and more than 200 retail locations and e-commerce.
- Wetsuits for Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, and RVCA in North America.
Authentic has found new wholesale partners in the U.S. and Canada for Volcom, RVCA, Billabong men’s and women’s, and Spyder, according to our reporting, including:
- O5 Apparel, which already has the wholesale license for Quiksilver in North America, will take Billabong men’s and women’s.
- The Levy Group, which has the Roxy Swim and outerwear license, will take Volcom.
- RVCA is likely going to a new company that reportedly has deep ties to the industry but the backers are still under wraps.
- Spyder is going to Outdoor Collective
Here at SES, we know people who work at both The Levy Group and O5 and they have positive things to say about how those companies operate – and that they have the resources to invest in the brands. Both companies, based in New York, have opened offices in Orange County, California, and added well-regarded industry executives to their teams.
Having the ability to invest in and grow the brands is a key reason why Authentic is moving the brands away from Liberated, according to David Brooks, Authentic EVP action and outdoor sports.
“At Authentic, we understand and respect the responsibility that comes with owning legacy brands and are committed to making thoughtful decisions that ensure their long-term success,” he said.
“As part of this commitment, we have made the strategic decision to move certain brand operations from Liberated Brands to new licensees. These partners will bring necessary investments in product innovation, marketing, and strengthening relationships with specialty customers and retailers while delivering exceptional experiences to consumers.
“This is not new territory for us; Authentic’s platform is designed to safeguard brands, offering the expertise and resources to navigate license transitions with precision, knowing both how and when to act. We have been working diligently with the Liberated leadership team to ensure this process is smooth.
“This transition is the best path forward for the brands, their partners, and the consumers who love them. We are confident that our new partners will position the brands for sustained growth in the years ahead and are excited to announce them in the coming weeks,” he said.
We have reached out to Liberated leadership for comment, and will update this story if we receive a statement from them.
Phased Plan to Pull Liberated Licenses Globally
Finding new wholesale homes for the brands in the U.S. and Canada is the first phase of the plan.
However, Liberated will also lose the license for Volcom in the rest of the world, and for all of the former Boardriders brands in Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Asia.
Liberated will keep the e-commerce and retail business for the brand in the U.S. and Canada for now, though Billabong and Quiksilver e-commerce is expected to go to O5 when that group is able to digest it.
From our reporting, we know 05 has been lobbying to obtain the e-commerce business because they believe the discounting Liberated has implemented online has hurt Quiksilver’s wholesale business and has led to many unhappy retail accounts.
Categories like wetsuits, which Liberated ran for all the brands in the North American market, will also go to new licensees, but those deals are not yet signed from what we understand.
Liberated Employees in Turmoil – Again
For Liberated employees, their situation is eerily similar to when Boardriders closed down.
Some will be hired by the new licensing partners and those interviews are underway, we are told, with a targeted start date of Jan. 1. Some will stay on to help fulfill outstanding wholesale orders that were gathered under Liberated.
Another group will stay on to help manage the remaining e-commerce and retail business.
And then another subset of employees will likely be let go.
Liberated leadership discussed the changes with employees during a Town Hall meeting at the company’s headquarters in Costa Mesa this afternoon.
Liberated’s Struggles
Industry executives were surprised when Liberated took on so much after the Boardriders sale, instantly more than doubling in size and greatly adding to the complexity of its business.
Here at SES, insiders at Liberated told us they didn’t necessarily want to take on that much of the Boardriders business, but were encouraged to do so by Authentic CEO Jamie Salter, who has a stake in Liberated. We’re also told there were more skeletons in the Boardriders brands’ closets that were found after close that the Liberated team was not expecting, which made business more challenging.
From the beginning, people working at Liberated described a chaotic environment, with extra-lean staffs and operational challenges given the overnight increase in volume.
Several former Boardriders employees initially joined Liberated, including Billabong Men’s GM Mark Weber and Billabong Women’s GM Katie Singer, and then quickly left by choice.
Liberated’s shipping problems in 2024 led to retailers not getting the goods they needed to drive sales, a problem that other new licensees experienced as well during the complex transition of the brands out of Boardriders.
In addition, the difficult overall conditions in the surf market also added to Liberated’s woes. The company has implemented a few rounds of layoffs, including of some Boardriders employees they had initially hired.
New Territory for Volcom
Volcom moved to a licensing model several years before the Boardriders brands when former Volcom owner Kering sold the brand to Authentic Brands Group in 2019.
The brand has remained relatively stable until now because the former management of the brand spun up an operating company, Liberated Brands, which acquired the operating infrastructure from Kering and the global licensing rights from Authentic. The management of Volcom largely stayed the same.
Volcom’s distribution and strategy has mostly remained intact, without a lot of mid-tier distribution such as Kohl’s – though it does do a significant business with Nordstrom Rack and other discount chains. The brand has had less money to invest in marketing and product initiatives under the licensing model, however, because that model requires annual royalty payments to Authentic.
The retailers that do well with Volcom really rely on it, especially in bottoms, and the brand is very important in snow because of its robust and well-regarded outerwear program.
Impact Coming for Retailers
Billabong, RVCA, and Volcom are some of the most important brands for industry specialty accounts, and retailers are bracing for more disruption as the brands transition to new operating partners.
When discussing the coming changes with an important industry account, one retailer, who asked not to be identified, said it would be so great to get back to business as usual – you see a line, buy what you like, it arrives on time, and you sell it to consumers.
“I’m so tired of all the turmoil,” he said.
The question becomes will the latest upheaval of the industry’s biggest brands – now including Volcom as well – propel retailers to diversify their retail floors even more? Or will they stick with the brands with deep heritage and name recognition that still ring the cash register?
It’s a dilemma that nearly every retailer we talk to is grappling with.
