Photo: WSL
As the fervor surrounding Kelly Slater’s retirement (or not retirement) still runs high, the 11-time world champ made another announcement, this time on the business side of his empire. In joint press releases accompanied by an Instagram post, Slater announced that he is uniting his business holdings, Outerknown, Firewire, and Slater Designs, “under one roof.”
Slater is the co-founder of Outerknown and a majority shareholder in Firewire and Slater Designs.
The still unnamed, newly-formed company will be led by Dylan Slater (no relation to Kelly), who had already been the CEO of Firewire for the past year and spent nearly two decades at RipCurl.
So, what does this all mean? Vaguely worded quotes in the press release provide some hints, but no concrete details. The idea conveyed is to leverage the strengths of each brand to create improved, more sustainable products across a wider range of categories at more accessible price points.
“When we originally launched Outerknown, we invested in pioneering sustainable sourcing and manufacturing practices,” said Slater in the press release. “Being first comes at a premium, so our price points for surf-related products were higher than the market was accustomed to. We’ve always said that with hard work and learnings over time, we would be able to pass down more accessible pricing to the surf community. I am very proud that we can now deliver a new tier of products specifically designed and made for what surfers need – products that are made responsibly, built to last, and help create memorable times.”
We have yet to see what “new tier of products” Slater is referring to, but apparently they’ll be more reasonably priced than the products that Outerknown currently offers. (For reference, plain Outerknown t-shirts currently go for $58 and sweaters retail at $158.) While it’s quite logical that Outerknown, which is known for its high standards in sustainability and fair trade labor, could synergize those business practices across other brands, it’s not clear how the merger could bring down price points. Does the restructure lead to economies of scale? Less fixed costs via shared resources? Tax benefits?
Since launching Outerknown, Slater has long been candid about the high price of doing business sustainably and the resulting negative feedback on said price points. Slater broached the topic during a recent appearance on Barton Lynch’s podcast The Stoked Bloke Show.
“I was trying to build something that felt special, was built really well, and could last a long time,” Slater said regarding his launch of Outerknown. “A huge part of my following felt like I just ripped them off. That hurt to my soul. I actually didn’t even know the price of the clothes when we launched. I was so proud to announce it, then my whole feed was like ‘F-you Slater.’”
Thus, if you follow the breadcrumbs, it makes sense that Slater is making moves to bring down the price of Outerknown gear (and hopefully his Firewire offerings as well), although he also says in that podcast that he doesn’t want to bring the price down too much so that the products are too cheap or ubiquitous.
As this new company takes shape, gets a name, and launches new items, we’ll get a better idea of what the merger’s cascading effects will be. Outerknown did not immediately respond to a request for further clarification. When we know more, you’ll know more.
