YEAH BILLABONG

I recon most retail atm would be on the lower end of the scale regardless of what you are selling.

I said most not all ok.....

Its been a harsh few years for surf retail I bet a few of those Billabong guys wish they could wind the clock back. Likewise for the Qsilver guys after they bought Rossignol.

www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes

I can say i stopped going to surf shops years ago ! How can you justify paying their ridiculous prices when everybody knows how cheap they pay to get them made off shore. The thing that tipped the scales for me was a father and his son were looking at surf boards to bye in a surf shop .They were looking at second hand boards and the price that the shop attendant was asking for this board that had been in the sun so long it had turned that light orange colour was just outrageous . You wouldn't even ask your mate to give you $50 for it .
That's what greed gets them !!! and the figures show it .

I used to buy surf label clothes when they were made in Australia. Since all the stuff is made overseas I may as well buy the cheap clothes from Lowes, especially clothes I wear to the beach where I couldn't care less about how I look.

Not bad from a company started in a garage at Burleigh Heads,must have sold a sh-t load to get this big hey,stop knocking a champion oh that's the Aussie way

Mac, don't bring logic into it, that will just confuse the confused

Hasn't the bloke who started Billabong ended up broke after spending his money on things like fast cars and race horses and then losing the rest in a messy divorce?

Nope, not true.

http://www.billabongbiz.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=154279&p=irol-ownershipsummary

Top Holders
Shares Held% O/S
Merchant (Gordon Stanley)69,705,46317.0
Perennial Investment Partners Ltd.56,147,99413.7
Colonial First State Global Asset Management (Core39,791,3919.7
Macquarie Investment Management Ltd.23,857,7285.8
Templeton Global Advisors Ltd18,577,0994.5
Baillie Gifford & Co.15,849,8513.9
Templeton Investment Counsel, LLC14,942,7463.6
Concord Capital Limited14,847,3803.6
Maple-Brown Abbott Ltd.12,602,4513.1
INVESCO Australia Ltd.12,561,4443.1

think i found the problem.


Just wonder where the other 40$ goes in a GFC

my apologies to ignorant queenslanders everywhere.

I on the fence.

I am impressed with the longevity of most surf brands' things like t-shirts and boardies - they might look the same but better / thicker material and double stitching with quality synthetics means they last say 3x longer than Target and K-Mart brands. Trouble is they cost about 5x more.
I do think the quality almost offsets the cost. I have 'bong boardies on their 4th summer now and look like the day they were made.

OTOH, with the phenomenal size of Billabong, and the fact trendy groms just had to have $200 hoodies I have no idea how they could not make money. I think they got too entrepreneurial and tried to diversify into other crap.
They'd have been better off dropping prices 5% and putting seconds on eBay to counter the asian copies - just for a while - to ensure they stayed viable

Yeah every one needs a bong

But your point is right, ASP would collapse. Good or bad..

so what you're saying is line ups everywhere would be free from kids whose parents are videoing them from the shore....?

and my hard earned boat trip in north indo won't be spoiled by a fly by night group of 'pros' pushing everyone out of the way cause they gotta get their 'photo on'

oh for shame, and here's me thinking i wanna surf cause it fun only to find out it's only relevant cause there are people paid to do it

You probably couldn't go and sit in the luxury liner cause the charter business's wouldn't exist, if surfing wasn't popular and a money marking market they're be no business or money in doing surf tours... Catch 22..

Yes if you found it you could have it to yourself but how would you get there and would you ride your homemade board, single fin flat bottom, **** glass and rough as, would you make a wave? Use a legrope? Gordon Merchant is responsible for popularising that in Australia 2..

Surfing without the business would be completely different but lots of the good bits are because of the surf industry, can't have the good without the other crap. I have no interest n surfing in a woollen jumper like the old days give me 100% stretch neoprene anyday, is ripcurl evil 2 for developing and popularising the wetsuit and making money off it?
Has surfboard development been a drawback 2, most designs have come through designs for competition or just the need to do better, Simon Anderson and the thruster? Al merrick and KS?

Is it true if we eat apples will it keep you away ?