Key takeaways:
- Faherty has launched a collaboration with heritage surf brand Quiksilver.
- The collection draws on Quiksilver’s archival prints from the 1970s through the 1990s.
- Authentic Brands Group, which owns Quiksilver, granted Faherty rights to the archive.
Faherty and Quiksilver sit in different corners of the surf and coastal apparel market. Faherty is an upscale coastal lifestyle brand built around travel, linen and easy weekend dressing. Quiksilver is a heritage surf label with a younger core customer base. The two brands have now teamed up on a new collaboration, out this summer.
While some in the traditional surf industry view Faherty as interlopers and pretenders, the brand has come along and taken the space that the surf industry ceded: a surf-inspired coastal brand aimed at customers who have grown out of younger surf styles and who have money to spend on quality, higher-end casual pieces. They must be doing something right — after 13 years in business, the brand has grown to $250 million in annual revenue, according to the company.
Faherty x Quiksilver. Photo courtesy of Faherty.
Building the Faherty x Quiksilver Collection
For Faherty co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Mike Faherty, who spent nearly 10 years working in design at Ralph Lauren before starting Faherty with twin brother, Alex, the Quiksilver project traces back to his childhood. He and Alex grew up surfing on the Jersey Shore and spent a lot of time at Brave New World, the East Coast surf shop that served as a hub for the region’s surf culture.
“I did all my shopping at Brave New World, and Quiksilver was really doing its thing then,” he said.
Faherty describes the collaboration as a pairing of “two brands built by surfers,” set around the theme of one Australian summer. The collection draws from Quiksilver’s vintage archive, including its sun-washed palettes and bold graphics from surf culture in the 1970s and ‘80s.
That framing grew out of a seasonal concept Faherty’s team was already developing: a Byron Bay-inspired, Australia and Gold Coast-flavored direction for the brand’s summer line. That concept became the bridge into a Quiksilver partnership. From there, the team went into the archives, doing vintage shopping and tracking down some of Quiksilver’s earliest pieces to use as creative reference points.
Faherty said the brand worked with Authentic Brands Group, which owns Quiksilver, to secure rights to the archive and reinterpret its artwork, then handled the design and development of the collection in-house, drawing on archival fabrics, washes and prints. None of Quiksilver’s apparel licensees were involved in the project, he said.
Faherty pointed to one print as a standout: a multicolor abstract design running through several men’s and women’s pieces, including dresses, shirts and swimwear. It originated with an Australian artist on the Sunshine Coast and appeared in a Quiksilver print from the late 1990s, he said. Faherty’s team pulled it from the archive and reworked it for this collection.
The roughly 10-piece line spans boardshorts, wovens, hats, T-shirts, a nylon jacket, women’s swim, women’s linen pants, and a hoodie. A key focus is the boardshort, made using InResST recycled nylon, a fabric created from end-of-life fishing nets, engineered to recreate the hand feel of vintage cotton-blend surf shorts while adding durability and quick-dry performance.
Faherty x Quiksilver. Photo courtesy of Faherty.
Faherty x Quiksilver Distribution
The collection is sold through Faherty’s own channels, online and across roughly 90 of its U.S. and international stores, with select Quiksilver locations internationally also carrying pieces.
The collaboration also includes a temporary pop-up called Faherty’s Surf Shop on Prince Street in Nolita for the summer. Described as an immersive experience bridging six decades of surf culture, the space features graffiti-style signage, a branded cash wrap and a three-screen video installation styled after 1980s surf videos.
Faherty said the Surf Shop pop-up has drawn a notable reaction from people passing by, with the response often rooted in nostalgia for what Quiksilver and surf shops represented to them growing up.
“Some tourists have been practically crying when they see it because of what the brand used to mean to them,” he said.
Faherty said the brand has driven its own marketing around the Quiksilver collaboration through its owned channels, including the Nolita shop, with Authentic also promoting the partnership on its end.
Faherty x Quiksilver. Photo courtesy of Faherty.
Faherty’s View on Surf Style’s Broader Customer
Faherty also shared his own perspective on how customer attitudes toward the brand have shifted over time. He said people understand the Faherty brand more now than they did in its early years, when the idea of “surf casual luxury,” and its price point, drew skepticism.
“People understand it more now and respect it because they’ve bought the product and it stands for itself,” he said.
He attributed the shift to a broader pattern of customers trading up for quality, comparing it to similar trends he’s observed in categories like wine and beer. And wives are encouraging their husbands to up their style game.
Faherty x Quiksilver. Photo courtesy of Faherty.
What’s Next
The drop arrives alongside continued growth for Faherty more broadly. The brand opened its first international store in Biarritz, France, this year, part of a real estate strategy focused on major resort markets. It’s working toward roughly 100 U.S. stores, Faherty said.
The brand also continues to expand wholesale, including a deepening relationship with Nordstrom, where the Faherty brand has become an anchor, with plans to grow further into European department stores.
The company remains privately held with no private equity investors. When SESO asked Faherty what the future looks like for Faherty on the business front, he said, “I think the universe is going to tell us what the plan is.”
