Quiksilver

Quiksilver lost all 122 of its directly operated US retail stores in February 2025 when operating licensee Liberated Brands LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and entered liquidation. Authentic Brands Group, which has owned the Quiksilver intellectual property since acquiring parent company Boardriders for approximately $1.25 billion in September 2023, terminated the Liberated licensing agreement in December 2024 amid cash-flow distress, triggering the February filing. Liberated wound down with $100 million to $500 million in assets against $566 million to $3.2 billion in unsecured claims, and Gordon Brothers conducted the liquidation across all stores and wholesale inventory.

Authentic Brands Group transitioned Quiksilver to a wholesale-first model under new licensee partners. O5 Apparel took on North American wholesale and e-commerce for Quiksilver men’s alongside Billabong; Velocity Global Brands took on Quiksilver women’s design, manufacturing, and distribution across the United States and Canada, with first product expected in spring 2025. Both new licensees hired significant numbers of former Liberated employees. The arrangement mirrors Authentic’s broader portfolio playbook: the brand owner controls trademarks and brand strategy while operating licensees carry inventory risk and execute distribution into wholesale channels.

Quiksilver was founded in 1969 in Torquay, Australia by Alan Green and John Law as a boardshort manufacturer, becoming a defining global surf, skate, and snowboard apparel brand through the 1980s and 1990s before financial difficulties drove the 2015 Chapter 11 of predecessor company Quiksilver Inc. The brand reaches consumers in 2025 through multi-brand surf shops, sporting goods retailers, department store wholesale, and licensee-operated e-commerce, with no directly run flagship retail in the United States. International markets continue under their pre-2023 licensing partners. For mall operators, Quiksilver is no longer a direct tenant counterparty in North America: the brand is encountered through multi-brand sporting goods, department store concessions, and wholesale assortment in lifestyle retailers, with any future direct retail expansion routed through Authentic Brands Group rather than a brand-level commercial team.