The world’s largest sportswear maker, Nike Inc, is exploring options
for its surfwear brand Hurley International, including its possible divestment,
according to people familiar with the matter.
Nike’s potential
retrenchment from the surfwear market is emblematic of the stance of most major
consumer companies towards the sector. Surf brands have lost their appeal among
non-surfing consumers, who now prefer boutique brands and retro streetwear.
Among the
options that Nike is considering for Hurley is an outright sale of the Costa
Mesa, California-born brand, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the
deliberations are confidential.
It is not clear how much
Nike could fetch by selling Hurley. Nike declined to comment.
Nike purchased
Hurley from founder Bob Hurley in 2002 for an undisclosed sum in an effort to
expand beyond athletic-focused apparel and into other sportswear for surfing,
skating, and snowboarding.
Bob Hurley
founded the company in 1979 and achieved notoriety in the 1970s for shaping the
surf board for world champion Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew.
In the last few years, the burgeoning appetite for clothing
associated with the beach lifestyle and culture waned, to the point that former
global leader Quiksilver filed for bankruptcy in 2015 before being taken over
by private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management .
Mainstream
fashion has dropped surfwear in favor of athleisure, while emerging fashion is
turning toward urban streetwear brands like Carlyle-backed Supreme, and
throwback looks like the revived sportswear brand Fila and Champion.
Last year,
Boardriders Inc, the company behind Quiksilver, Roxy and DC Shoes that is owned
by Oaktree, acquired its struggling Australian rival Billabong, owner of its
namesake brand along with other lifestyle brands such as Element and VonZipper.
- Reuters
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