Updated: Photos from Surf Expo September 2023 Edition

Change was definitely in the air at Surf Expo Thursday, where nearly all the key industry players were on the show floor looking to take advantage of the unfolding opportunities.
Published: September 8, 2023

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Meetings, networking, and buying for 2024 were in in full swing in Orlando, Florida at Surf Expo’s September edition.

If there had to be a single theme from the floor of the show, it would have to be change.

After the sale of Boardriders to Authentic Brands Group finally closed last week, there was a palpable sense of seismic changes in the industry on the verge of getting underway. For example, several new licensees for Boardriders brands are exhibiting at the show to meet with retailers and reassure them about the new operating model. Many of the brands jockeying to take marketshare from behemoths like Quiksilver and Billabong in light of the sale sense a golden opportunity and are pitching retailers hard to get more real estate in stores. And several retailers we talked to at the show are on the hunt for new brands like never before in a quest to diversify their brand mix because of the Boardriders sale.

Liberated Brands brought Captain Fin, Volcom, Billabong and RVCA to the show, even though its deal to take on a chunk of the Boardriders portfolio in the Americas is a few days away from closing. Liberated executives and members of its new executive team, such as former Billabong GMs Mark Weber and Katie Singer, met throughout the day with retailers in a tent at the back of the brand booths.

Executives from Florence Marine X, IPD, and Firewire walked the show floor even though they weren’t officially exhibiting because there is a sense that you have to make an appearance at Surf Expo given all the changes going on in the marketplace. And the aisle that had the next wave of brands that seems poised to move up, including Salty Crew, Roark, Katin, Rhythm and Vissla, was one of the most vibrant areas of the show – Salty Crew in particular was packed much of the day.

The other element that led to a sense of change in the air – seeing industry executives in new jobs at different brands, including longtime Rip Curl women’s product leader Mary Miller in the Salty Crew booth; Paul Harvey, also formerly of Rip Curl and Xcel, now at O’Neill; longtime Roxy and Quiksilver sales leaders Sasha Hartloff and Jeff Brusven at the Levy Group, which won the license for Roxy swim and technical outerwear; and veteran Billabong marketing exec Mike Wallace now in the Roark booth.

We have photos from the show below and will have more stories and photos to come.

All photos by SES.

Editor’s Note: For more coverage of Surf Expo, click here. 

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