Rip Curl Usa

Mike Martin’s office is better than yours.

From the new Rip Curl showroom just above Jack’s Surfboards in Huntington Beach, California, Rip Curl USA’s national sales manager can just glance to his right to check out the north- and south-pier lineups.

Outside, chairs and tables adorn a huge patio that has even a broader vista. The 1,300-square-foot showroom opened in June and is decked out with custom fixtures and lighting, the newest marketing support materials, and more than a little expectation.

Martin has it all figured out: how many appointments and orders before the rent is covered for the year; how many more before the fixtures and build-outs are paid for. As a longtime H.B. local, Martin pushed hard for the showroom, which will give the brand an important outpost in the taste-making Orange County market. He’s confident that the showroom will show retailers how committed the brand is to growth and will help continue the more than twenty-percent sales growth the U.S. business has enjoyed since he joined the company last year.

Mike Martin and Adam Sharp plan to make Rip Curl a bigger player in the U.S. surfwear market.

Half-assed it ain’t, and in a tough market where budgets more often than not are being trimmed, the showroom would be a reckless expense if it weren’t backed by a continuing company-wide transformation.

The Rip Curl operation in the U.S. today bears little resemblance to the company just a few years ago. There’s a new CEO, a new marketing director, design team, ad campaign, and apparel emphasis. Just about the only thing that hasn’t changed is the brand’s commitment to surfing.

“In the last six to twelve months, we’ve been making some key appointments and getting the foundation set for what lies ahead,” says Rip Curl USA’s new Marketing Director Adam Sharp, who just until recently headed up the brand’s marketing efforts in Australia. Sharp, a solid Syndeysider who wears a constant half grin, says he’s excited by the changes happening in the U.S. -- and the opportunities they represent.

“We brought on Mike Martin to be our national sales manager,” he says. “He’s been around forever and a day and is regarded as one of the top sales managers in the U.S. He’s got incredible relationships with retailers on both coasts and in Hawai�i as well. The board appointed Jimmy Olsson to the position of CEO, and he has incredible merchandise experience.

“All of this is a continuation of our setting the foundation of how we’re going to move forward and