How it started
Early history
Billabong was founded in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, in 1973 by Gordon and Rena Merchant. At first, they designed and created board shorts at their home, and then sold them to local surf shops. Surfers soon realised the durability of the shorts that was the result of Rena's triple-stitching technique. Billabong started to sponsor contests, which increased the public's awareness of its products, and the company expanded. By the 1980s, Billabong board shorts were present throughout Australia.
Based upon the success in Australia, the company decided to export Billabong's products, and by the late 1980s, Billabong board shorts were available in other countries, including New Zealand, Japan, and South Africa. In the 1990s, the surf industry as a whole grew significantly, and Billabong was a part of this growth process. The company was first traded on the Australian Securities Exchange 2000, which provided the company with the funds to further expand and acquire other companies.
The company's earliest export activity began even before this, with Billabong shipping products to Japan and the United States (particularly Hawaii) starting in 1979, and licensing its name and designs to distributors in New Zealand, Japan, and the United States by the early 1980s.
In 1992, Billabong took direct control of its European operations, relocating Billabong Europe's headquarters to Hossegor, France.
In 1994, Billabong patented the world's first zipperless wetsuit design.
From Wikipedia’s article on Billabong, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2