Issue 19 - What the hell happened to ROXY?
Booooooo Authentic Brands Group, booooooo!!
The current state of ROXY, Billabong, Rip Curl, Volcom and all the rest of those surf and skate brands really makes me sad.
Growing up in the early 2000s, more than anything else, I wanted to be a ROXY girl. I wanted to wear a shell necklace and a rash guard, hair tangled by the ocean, running around with my girl gang. A tomboy, laid-back, beachy, better than the boys!!! Most surf and skate brands made some women’s clothing and swimwear, but none of them did it like ROXY.
ROXY was launched by Quiksilver in 1990 to bring surf and skate fashion to a female audience. It’s this apart-ness that made it feel so authentic—when they first launched what was then called ROXY Quiksilver, co-founders Bob McKnight and Jeff Hakman admitted that their designs weren’t great. So in 1993, they acquired bikini company Raisins and hired a new team dedicated to building ROXY. The brand eventually stood on it’s own and Quiksilver was dropped from the name.
It’s since gone to shit obviously, that’s why we’re here. Here’s a sad timeline:
2016: After struggling financially, Quiksilver rebrands itself as Boardriders Inc.
2018 through 2019: Boardriders Inc. expands by acquiring Billabong, which in turn brought in additional brands including RVCA, Element, VonZipper, and more.
2023: Boardriders Inc. is acquired by Authentic Brands Group (ABG)—”the world’s leading owner of intellectual property.” They’re a conglomerate that owns Reebok, Forever 21, Aéropostale, Juicy Couture, Nine West, and a scary amount more. They even manage the fucking rights and likenesses of dead and alive celebs including Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, and David Beckham.
Anyway here’s how dumb ROXY looks today.
This is what they describe as “retro swim” on their website:
Ridiculous that all they offer is generic slop when they could have easily recreated incredible suits from the 90s and 2000s that people would actually want to wear. Like every single one of these:
These surf and skate brands owned by ABG share the same production pipelines and are likely designed by the same licensed partners, which explains why they’ve all gotten so mid together. If you look at ROXY’s Instagram, it’s sort of reminiscent of the earlier days. Looks like the social team understands that they need to lean into nostalgia but the rest doesn’t follow.
The fate of ROXY is tied to pro surfing and skating, both of which have become massive industries. Last year, they dropped the original ROXY girl Lisa Andersen after a 30 year partnership. An article about it in Surfer Magazine says; “…a more powerful and pervasive issue for surfing is the trend towards licensed products and Internet sales. This leaves surf sponsorships, industry expertise, and surf shop retail as afterthoughts. The concern is that these three types of people are not only the vast majority of surfing’s employment base. They are the bedrock of the surf business altogether.” This is what it looks like when a brand loses touch with its community and purpose.
Lisa Andersen actually helped the ROXY team create the first female boardshort, which became their flagship item. She was the first person to test the design and played a big part in it’s development. Right now, their “team” page on their website is empty, despite the fact that I’m pretty sure that Stephanie Gilmore, Caroline Marks and Kelia Moniz are currently on it. All I see is a popup for 15% off. Does anyone over there even give a shit?
Their ads used to be so alive, the photos were candid and unpolished and the subjects were in their element; eating cereal, surfing, camping with friends, speeding around in cars. Here’s a few of my favorites.
Thank dog there’s a ton of great old ROXY online and I’ve managed to find some for super cheap—here’s some pieces from the 90s and 2000s that I have.
Items 1 & 2: Leather skirt + pierced bag
Item 3: Linen pants
Item 4: Zip up sweater
Here are a few really good pieces of old ROXY that you can buy if you want to join me in my grassroots revival of the brand.
Wildcard items:
This is SO good !!
My tiny softball team at 7yo named ourselves the radical roxies, after of course, Roxy the brand.
Current state of affairs makes me so sad, but you’ve just given me an eBay project!!! Weeeeeeeeee (the sound I make as I fall down another rabbit hole)