Rip Curl Closes All Retail Stores And Stands Down Majority Of Its Staff

New Zealand outdoor brand and new owner of Rip Curl, Kathmandu, have ordered all Rip Curl stores around the world closed due to the anvilic drop in global retail sales. 

Rip Curl has also laid off the majority of its staff for at least four weeks, effective immediately. Those in executive positions will continue to work from home with a 20% paycut. Online retail will continue to function as normally as possible given the gaps in the supply chain. 

This is basically the same strategy we’ve seen across the board in retail, both inside and outside of the surfing world. Eliminate brick and mortar because no one’s going, cut the staff down to minimize expenses, and hope that digital retail will cover your costs until this is all over. 

As Rip Curl now falls under the publicly-traded company Kathmadnu, any stockholders will have their dividends withheld for the foreseeable future. Kathmandu currently sells for less than one New Zealand dollar. 

It’s incredible to think that after 50 years, Brian Singer and Doug Warbick sold Rip Curl just before the biggest global crisis of the last century—one that has brought almost all sectors of the economy to a grinding halt and effectively halved the dollar value of any brand.

That is either incredible luck or unparalleled business savvy. Maybe a bit of both.