Hurley Takes Its Kolohe Savings, Chucks It Toward The Sunset CT

You may recall, just before the pandemic, when Hurley was sold by Nike to the mega corporation Bluestar Alliance. Following that sale, and during the pandemic, Hurley’s star-studded roster was dismantled, and the remaining team riders took substantial pay cuts. John John turned in his resignation and started his own brand, while Carissa Moore, Filipe Toledo, and Kolohe Andino were the only major surfers left on a team that once comprised one-fourth of the CT.

But then, slowly but surely, Hurley started re-signing of its original team members (Eli Hanneman being the most noteworthy). Recently, Hurley even add a new up-and-comer from San Clemente, Taj Lidblad, to their youth-focused roster.

We’d like to think that it was the core surf folks rallying around the cause, leaving countless comments on Hurley’s Instagram page, and calling out their “corpo” antics that led the once-family-owned surf brand to start re-investing int the sport. But in all actuality, it was probably a decision based on a spreadsheet calculation. Yes: there is some financial benefit to paying surfers for a sticker on their board.

This strategy presumably paid off when Carissa Moore became a 5x World Champion and surfing’s first Olympic gold medalist earlier this year. That’s the kind of exposure a surf company thrives off of, as they can use Carissa’s likeness to promote their products until 2025, when her deal expires.

However, not all Hurley athletes are signed on for eternity. Kolohe Andino, for instance, signed a 10-year contract all the way back in 2011, meaning it expires on Dec 31 of this year. Stab has recently learned that Brother will not be re-signing with Hurley, as he has received a superior offer from another apparel brand. You can read all about that here.

That means Hurley has some extra budget to work with in early 2021. And as it was announced just a few days ago, they’ve decided to double-down on their surf-based investments, applying their leftover Kolohe funds (plus a little extra) to become the title sponsor of the upcoming Sunset Beach CT event.

After nearly a four-year hiatus from CT event sponsorship, Hurley supporting the return of the women’s surfing to Sunset Beach (in Carissa’s backyard) only feels right.

Hurley will hold brand activations with Moore and local surfers during the event window, and they’ll donate the proceeds from products sold at the event to the Moore Aloha Foundation: an organization that empowers the next generation of female surfers to be confident and compassionate individuals both in and out of the water.

All we ask is that Hurley gives Taro Watanabe a wildcard and for Filipe to do an air on the west bowl.