Needessentials, the wetsuit company that sponsors Torren Martyn and produced his excellent Lost Track series, has spent the last year in an international legal scuffle with their U.S. distributor, Need Essentials USA, leading to said distributor to rebrand as Colby+.
Needessentials USA recently sent out an email to its customers stating, “The team in the U.S…Rob, James, Jack, Evan Charlie and Hayes… are no longer distributing needessentials in the U.S. Unfortunately, we are in a lawsuit and can’t say much more about it.” The email goes on to say that a new brand, Colby+, will be launched in July.
In 2013, Ryan Scanlon left Quiksilver California to return home to Australia, where he founded needessentials. Then, in 2016, Scanlon brought his former Quiksilver co-worker Rob Colby on board to handle U.S. distribution under the company Need Essentials USA.
According to briefs from the California and Victoria courts, in July 2022, needessentials terminated its agreement with needessentials USA, which led the U.S. company to sue them in California court for breach of contract. In response, needessentials sued back, this time in Australian court, also claiming breach of contract and seeking to halt the California case from going forward, stating that the deal fell under Australian jurisdiction.
What resulted was a legal dispute over who in fact had jurisdiction over the two companies, and the end result is that Rob Colby and company appear to have dropped the needessentials moniker and pivoted to the Colby+ brand.
Though they have not yet officially launched, the Colby+ site is active and currently selling off stock of wetsuits and apparel on clearance.
