California Apparel News

Billabong International Ltd. signed RVCA founder Pat Tenore to a contract that will guarantee his employment through 2018, it was announced on Feb. 6. The Australian-headquartered surf giant also announced that it will commence a strategic review of its Swell.com, the Irvine, Calif.–based e-commerce surf boutique that is among its family of retailers and brands.

In its announcement of Tenore’s contract extension, a Billabong statement called Costa Mesa, Calif.–headquartered RVCA its fastest-growing brand.

“He is a unique force, visionary and brand builder within the industry,” said Billabong Chief Executive Officer Neil Fiske of Tenore. “The RVCA brand has tremendous potential globally, and this arrangement aligns Pat’s incentives with those of our shareholders to maintain RVCA on a path of strong double-digit earnings growth over the next five years.”

Swell.com is a multi-brand e-commerce boutique, and Fiske said that Billabong will be focusing on mono-brand retail across its sprawling company. Billabong appointed international investment-banking firm Guggenheim Strategies to map a number of options for Swell and SurfStitch.com, its Australian-headquartered multi-brand sister retailer. The options will include selling the retailers.

Billabong also confirmed that the sale had closed for Canadian retailer West 49. The final sale was 3 million Canadian dollars, or $2.7 million. A Billabong statement said that the sum was below “the previously announced range” for the sale for West 49. The lower price was blamed on “seasonal end-of-year trading and other factors contributing to lower working capital on closing,” a Billabong statement said.