In 1970 two Australian surfers, Alan Green and John Law designed their first pair of board shorts, which were made specifically for surfing with all of the unnecessary seams and material stripped out- they named their company Quiksilver.
The board shorts were a word of mouth success amongst the surfing community- they really performed where surfing trunks previously hadn’t. Two American surfers, Bob McKnight and Jeff Hackman heard about Green & Law’s board shorts and their enthusiasm for the innovative design persuaded Green and Law to give them the distribution rights for the boardshorts in America. McKnight and Hackman returned to California with the contract to sell Green and Law’s Quiksilver boardshorts and the rest is history.
Today Quiksilver is one of the largest manufacturers of surf wear and other boardsport related equipment with its HQ at Huntington beach, California. The Quiksilver logo is inspired by Hokusai’s woodcut ‘Behind the Great Wave at Kanagawa’. The product range now encompasses a complete clothing collection, accessories, eyewear, trousers, watches and wetsuits and has expanded to include Girl's lines including Roxy, Roxy Teenie Wahine, Raisins, Radio Fiji, and Leilani swimwear. In 1999.
Quiksilver brought legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk into the Quiksilver family by sponsoring him and purchasing his company, Hawk Clothing.
Quiksilver team and events.
Quiksilver has a history of sponsoring riders, in 1988 the company endorsed one of the industry’s largest ever contracts with world surfing champion Tom Carrol and in 1990 brought US amateur surfer Kelly Slater into its team. In 2006, Quiksilver sponsored 500 amateur and pro surfers, snowboarders, skiers and skateboarders.
Events over the years, including the Quiksilver Roxy pro at Sunset Beach, North Shore Hawaii and the Quiksilver Mavericks Big Wave Event, have established the company as a leader in the action sports market.
2007 Events include:
WQS.
April 15 Quiksilver Pro Africa trials, Durban, South Africa.
April 16-22 Quiksilver Pro Africa.
ASP WCT.
Feb 27-Mar 11, Quiksilver Pro, Gold Coast, Australia.
Sep 21-30, Quiksilver Pro France, South West Coast, France.
Quiksilver Clothing.
The company owes its success to the fact that its roots are deeply seated in surfing- the original designers of the inaugural Quiksilver board shorts lived to surf, and the company has maintained this ethos into the current day- making a business and a global brand out of a passion.