Hurley Rides Enthusiasm for New Styles
Making a major splash at a key industry trade show, local surfwear guru Bob Hurley’s new line premiered to rave reviews last week.
Hurley announced this summer that he will leave Billabong to form his own surfwear company, and buyers swarmed side-by-side displays of the Hurley International and Billabong spring collections at the Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo. But it was the Hurley line, which featured bold board shorts with metallic flowers and animal prints, that created a stir at the San Diego Convention Center.
“I’m bringing in Hurley as soon as I can,” said Bloomingdale’s buyer Suzanne Weber, adding that she intends eventually to phase out Billabong, one of the industry’s most famous labels. “For Bloomingdale’s, I like Hurley better, just because they didn’t play it safe.”
One buyer waiting outside the display area said he would buy Hurley “sight unseen,” based on his 13 years’ experience with the Costa Mesa apparel maker, who for 15 years was the U.S. licensee for Billabong Australia. Hurley’s contract with Billabong expires in June.
Hurley’s team designed the spring lines displayed at the trade show for both his company and Billabong. Officials from the Australia-based company said they “monitored” the process and are happy with the results for Billabong. “They’ve done a good job,” said Dougall Walker, Billabong’s international marketing manager.
Most buyers also were pleased with both options, according to Hurley, the toast of a huge party on the show’s opening night. “People are just happy to have two good lines,” he said.
As Hurley collected praise on the ground floor, Billabong officials were busy at their international booth upstairs, introducing members of their new management team and showing their new Billabong Girls collection by Burleigh Point Ltd. in San Francisco.
They skipped the Hurley party, Walker said. “We’ve been working long days and getting up early,” he said.
Hurley’s roots run deep in Orange County, where the surfwear industry is centered. He opened Hurley’s Surfboards in Costa Mesa 20 years ago. Generally, people with such backgrounds get points for “authenticity,” a crucial factor in the industry.
But it’s unclear whether he can compete effectively with major brands--such as Billabong and Costa Mesa-based Quiksilver Inc.--in areas where the Hurley name is virtually unknown.
Stuart Berman, a buyer for about 300 retailers, said his orders will be about 60% Billabong and 40% Hurley.
“The great respect that retailers have for Bob Hurley and [designer] Lian Murray will necessitate giving them a strong test,” said Berman, who described Hurley’s first wave of surfwear as a “very impressive first collection.”
He predicted the new company will be successful.
“It won’t happen overnight,” Murray said. But “within a few years, they’ll be right back up.”
While the differences in Hurley’s surfwear offerings were in some cases subtle--mesh trim on the surf trunks, women’s board shorts without Velcro--buyers said Hurley’s line was overall a bit “edgier,” more daring, than others.
Berman liked Hurley’s “strong” T-shirt graphics, and polyester jerseys with cotton inside. “That’s really hot in the clubs right now,” he said. In the juniors line, he favored the lace-up denim shorts and glittery T-shirts.
In the Billabong line, Berman praised the expanded selection of colors.
Weber gave Hurley points for his cheetah board shorts, among other things.
“I definitely think Hurley is the most exciting line that I’ve seen after coming from MAGIC [a Las Vegas trade show], where I shopped thousands of vendors,” she said.
But not all of the 18,463 people who attended the San Diego trade show were enthralled by the options, Hurley’s or otherwise.
“It’s the same old business, man,” said Erik Ekman, a sales representative from Oregon. “And that Hurley thing, it’s stupid. They’ve divided their power.”
