Three of the biggest names in surf and skatewear are filing for bankruptcy.
Billabong, Quicksilver, and Volcom partially blame fast fashion for the closures.
If you ask the regulars at Ocean Beach:
“I surf and skate, yeah. I skate every day,” said Travis, a local skater and surfer.
They are familiar with the names.
“Do you have any Billabong, Quicksilver, or Volcom?” I asked.
“All 3, yes,” said Travis.
Billabong, Quicksilver and Volcom stores will be closing their doors, after the company behind them, liberated brands, filed for bankruptcy.
“Well, I knew ahead of time that they were re-licensing for, this is probably the 3rd time, so the chapter 11 kind of came as a surprise,” said Byran Guter, Owner of Emerald City Surf Shop in Coronado.
Guter wasn’t expecting the filing-- but says so far, it has some perks.
“So a Liberated company put all their springs on sale at 60% off.
So they offered us 60% off as well on our spring orders. So it's gonna help our margins. But it might affect how much product we get,” said Guter.
The licenses for Billabong, Quicksilver, and Volcom are being transferred to another company so they can keep making products.
But in the meantime, it means more support for the local shops.
“For the time being I do think it'll help. It's not a huge competition for us, but it definitely, you know, they were there,” said Guter.
As for the Ocean Beach regulars, they never bothered to stray from local shops in the first place.
“I've I've never shopped at a Billabong store. I've never shopped at a Quicksilver store,” said Travis.
“Because that stuff's always expensive anyways,” said Adam Alcantara, a local skater.
“More business for local stores like, taking away from like the big brands, and you know they have too much money already so it's good for the the little guys,” said Will Fortin, a local surfer.
