Ryan Callinan was one of many cuts by the legacy brand. Photo: WSL
Billabong has recently failed to renew contracts with surfers who had a combined 60 years of service with the brand. The cutting of some of its longest serving athletes, along with some of its emerging stars, might be one of the biggest sponsorship purges of recent times, and one that seems to have hardly been remarked upon.
Billabong is part of the Boardriders group owned by Authentic Brands Group (ABG). ABG acquired Boardriders from Oaktree Capital in 2023, in a deal that included Quiksilver, Roxy, DC, Element, Von Zipper, RVCA, Kustom and XCEL. ABG license out the brands, and a recent shake-up of those agreements has led to instability within the industry. As an indirect part of that shakedown Ryan Callinan, Frederico Morais, Isabella Nichols, Dakoda Walters and Harley Walters were the highest-profile surfers to strip the Bong logo from their boards at the end of 2024. Throw in Italo Ferreira’s 2023 exit from Billabong, and it’s been a rough two years for the brand.
“I wasn’t exactly blindsided, because we’d been in touch with the brand, but I had the hope that with my contract situation, I might escape the first round of cuts,” Ryan Callinan told The Inertia. “But as you can see, that didn’t happen. It is what it is. It’s been an incredible run.” The Novocastrian finished as the World No. 12 last year and is regarded as one of the most explosive surfers on the planet. The 32-year-old was approaching 20 years with the brand. In the modern world, those three significant factors weren’t enough to have R-Cal sign a new deal. That has left Ethan Ewing and Seth Moniz as the only Billabong team riders on the 32-surfer Championship Tour roster.
R-Cal’s best mate on the other side of the globe, Frederico Morais, suffered a similar fate. The Portuguese powerhouse was Bong’s highest profile and highest-paid European surfer but didn’t sign a new deal after 18 years as a team rider. Unlike Ryan, Freddie had dropped off the CT in 2023 and suffered his worst career competitive return last year. In a classic case of adding insult to injury, the news came just after he had badly broken his ankle freesurfing at home.
Another veteran, Isabella Nichols, also won’t be representing Billabong Women. Nichols had been with the brand for 11 years and secured her fourth consecutive year on the CT in 2025 after finishing second on the Challenger Series. That means no female surfer will represent the brand on the CT this year for the first time since the women’s brand spun off from original.
There is a commercial argument for all three surfers failing to secure new contracts. While they are proven professionals and still operating at the top end of the competitive scene, their age is against them. Callinan and Kikas are on the “wrong side” of 30, and Nichols is 27, which given the rise of the teen phenoms, is well into veteran status. The loyalty they’ve shown over their collective half-a-century of sponsorship perhaps wasn’t a factor when it came to the bottom line.
But the cuts weren’t just on the veterans. Perhaps more surprising was the loss of brothers Harley and Dakoda Walters. Dakoda, aged 23, had been sponsored by Billabong since he was 10 and had a breakthrough year on the Challenger Series last year. His profile should tick every sponsor box. His surfing is as progressive as it is competitive, and he has unique, unpredictable style. Good looking, articulate, with his head screwed on, he also has a good handle on content creation.
His younger brother Harley, while struggling recently with injuries, is of a similar, explosive talent, and his series of YouTube clips riding old boards, shows a kid with a unique perspective and humor. Despite the CVs and potential, both left the brand, with the accessory company Ocean & Earth stepping up to sign the brothers.
Now, publicly, all the surfers have handled the news with surprising equanimity. Each posted a generic, “thank you – forever grateful.., cherish the memories… thanks for the support.. one chapter finishes, another etc..” sign off.
It’s a professional approach, though slightly disappointing. I much prefer Kelia Moniz’s explosive mic drop when she ended her 20-year relationship with Roxy last year by saying, “I’m not about to be strong-armed by some corporation that knows nothing about the sport and doesn’t give a shit about it.”
The stranglehold of ABG over many the surfing’s legacy brands, and its licensing-based business model, will continue to dominate the industry for a while. You’d imagine they will be looking at their other brands, including Quiksilver, Roxy and Volcom, and the team riders’ contracts to see how they affect the bottom line. Sponsorship bonfires aren’t new, but this latest Billabong cull might just be the start.
