Rusty owner on what's next for Rusty in the U.S.

Geoff Backshall shares the go-forward plan for the brand in North America.

Published: January 8, 2016

We followed up with Rusty owner Geoff Backshall to find out what will happen with the Rusty brand in North America now that previous licensee Happy Shovel is no longer operating the brand in this territory.

Geoff emailed us the following explanation about what is next.

“We see this now as an opportunity to further globalize our product offering and increase our ability to bring newness to the market.

“The Spring collection for 2017 will be the first true global collection and will eliminate the issues around the six-month lag between Northern and Southern hemispheres. The power of social media is what really drives this new model to be the most efficient way to deliver product globally to our customers.

“At the same time, we have always had a close relationship with Rusty Preisendorfer and the entire “surfboard family” down in San Diego and we believe this will also allow us to better incorporate joint surfboard and clothing initiatives.

“Rusty and ourselves developed the “BC” collection (before crowds) as a unique part of our collection that celebrates the brands roots with modern reissues of product from the mid-to-late 80’s. It’s only just been launched in the U.S. under the old structure and we are excited around expanding this offering to select specialty stores in the U.S. later this year. 

“As you know under the La Jolla period, the Rusty brand some how drifted away from the global premium brand positioning it enjoys worldwide. Happy Shovel began the first step in re-positioning the brand and the baton has now been passed on to the new company Rusty USA LLC to continue the quest.

“We have retained the majority of the staff from Happy Shovel and are now in the process of recruiting some additional staff to assist the team to grow the brand from our new Irvine office and warehouse.”

 

 

Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series