Volcom is a lifestyle brand that designs, markets, and distributes

boardsports Boardsports are active outdoor sports that are played with some sort of board as the primary equipment. These sports take place on a variety of terrain, from paved flat-ground and snow-covered hills to water and air. Most boardsports are considere ...

-oriented products. Volcom is headquartered in

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for " Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John ...

, U.S. The brand is known for its trademark ''stone'' logo, its slogan ''True to This'', and the ''Let the Kids Ride Free'' campaign. Todd Hymel is the CEO of Volcom.

History

1991–1995: Origins

Volcom was founded in 1991 by Richard "Wooly" Woolcott and Tucker "T-Dawg" Hall, who based the ethos of the company on their own experiences with boardsports. In March 1991, the two friends went on a snowboarding trip to Tahoe, U.S., and afterward, they decided to start a clothing company for women. Chet Thomas was the first professional skateboarder to be sponsored by the brand. In 1995, Volcom was the first action sports company to create a record label,

Volcom Entertainment Volcom Entertainment, officially founded in 1995, in Big Bear, California, and currently based in Costa Mesa, CA is the brainchild of Volcom founder Richard Woolcott and theLINE's singer/guitarist Ryan Immegart. Ryan being Volcom's first sponsor ...

1995–2011: IPO, Kering and ABG acquisitions

In April 2005, the company adopted its current name, "Volcom, Inc." Volcom became a publicly traded entity on June 29, 2005, when

Wachovia Securities Wachovia Securities was the trade name of Wachovia's retail brokerage and institutional capital markets and investment banking subsidiaries. Following Wachovia's merger with Wells Fargo and Company on December 31, 2008, the retail brokerage beca ...

, D.A. Davidson and

Piper Jaffray Piper Sandler Companies is an American independent investment bank and financial services company, focused on mergers and acquisitions, financial restructuring, public offerings, public finance, institutional brokerage, investment management a ...

underwrote an initial public offering on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

. They priced 4.69 million shares at US$19 a share, raising a total of US$89 million. In early 2008, Volcom made its first acquisition, taking ownership of Electric Visual Evolution LLC for US$25.3 million. In early 2016, Eric Crane acquired the brand from Volcom for an undisclosed amount. On May 2, 2011, PPR (turned

Kering Kering () is a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods. It owns the brands Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent. The timber-trading company Pinault S.A. was founded in 1963, by ...

in 2013) launched a friendly takeover offer to buy Volcom Inc. for US$24.50 a share, valuing the company at US$608 million. Volcom's board unanimously backed the PPR offer, and shareholders were advised to tender their shares to the French company. Since the takeover,

has sought to expand and diversify the Volcom brand. The support from Kering allowed Volcom to launch its first ever closed-toe footwear line in July 2013. On April 3, 2019, Authentic Brands Group had announced it acquired Volcom from

Retail

Volcom's first retail store was opened on November 23, 2002, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. Since then, seven more Volcom stores have opened in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, and six more in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. Outside America, Volcom has numerous international retail stores including locations in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain;

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Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

, and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, France; two locations in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...

, Indonesia;

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;

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and

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, South Africa;

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, Thailand;

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and Falmouth, England;

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, Australia;

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;

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

; Lima, Perú;

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

;

Isla de Margarita Margarita Island (, ) is the largest island in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, in the Caribbean Sea. The capital city of Nueva Esparta, La Asunción, is located on the island. History ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

;

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

;

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;

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, Switzerland,

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

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, and

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significan ...

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;

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the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

Teams

Surfing

*Laura Coviella *Noa Deane *Dusty Payne *Balaram Stack *Mitch Coleborn *Gony Zubizarreta *Parker Coffin *Andrew Doheny *Ozzy Wright *Nate Tyler *Yago Dora *Ryan Burch *Gavin Beschen *Kobi Clements *Joan Duru *Maud Le Car *

Coco Ho Coco Malia Camille Hapaikekoa Ho (born April 28, 1991) is a professional Hawaiian surfer born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She began surfing at 7 years old, following in the footsteps of her family. Early years At age 7, Coco Ho began following in the ...

Jack Robinson

Skateboarding

Louie Lopez Louie Lopez (born November 26, 1994) is a regular-footed American skateboarder from Los Angeles, CA. He is of Mexican and Guatemalan descent. Skateboarding career Lopez first became sponsored by Flip Skateboards at the age of seven. In 2006, L ...

* Pedro Barros * Alec Majerus *

Rune Glifberg Rune Glifberg (born 7 October 1974), nicknamed "The Danish Destroyer", is a Danish professional skateboarder. He is one of three skaters to have competed at every X Games. He has a total of 12 X Games medals. At 46, he became the oldest skateboa ...

* Dustin Dollin * Caswell Berry * Daan Van Der Linden * Colin Provost * Grant Taylor * Dane Burman * Jackson Pilz * Axel Cruysberghs * Omar Hassan * Victor Cortez * CJ Collins * Chima Ferguson *Chris Pfanner *Simon Bannerot * Milton Martinez *

Rachelle Vinberg Rachelle Vinberg (born August 27, 1998) is an American skateboarder and actress. She is best known for starring as Camille, a fictionalized version of herself, in the film '' Skate Kitchen'' and the TV series '' Betty'' inspired by the real group ...

* David Gravette *Stella Reynolds

Snowboarding

* Pat Moore *

Bryan Iguchi Bryan Iguchi (born 1973) is a professional snowboarder. He is of half-Japanese ancestry. Born in Los Angeles, California, he has been snowboarding for more than 30 years and his nickname is "Guch". He learned to snowboard at Mountain High and ...

* Curtis Ciszek * Dylan Alito *

Elena Hight Elena Hight (born August 17, 1989, in Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-larg ...

Hailey Langland Hailey Langland (born August 2, 2000) is an American snowboarder who won a bronze medal in slopestyle at Winter X Games XX. Langland made her first Olympic appearance at age 17 representing the United States in big air and slopestyle at the 2018 ...

* Jamie Lynn * Markus Keller * Mike Ravelson * Scott Blum * Arthur Longo *

Terje Haakonsen Terje may refer to: *Terje (name), a form of the Scandinavian name Torgeir *Tria ( hu, Terje), a village in the commune of Derna, Bihor Derna ( hu, Felsőderna) is a commune in northeastern Bihor County, Crișana, Romania, 50 km from the cou ...

* Torgeir Bergrem * Marcus Kleveland * Reid Smith *

Scotty James Scott James (born 6 July 1994) is an Australian snowboarder and four-time Olympian. He was the flag bearer for Australia at the 2018 Winter Olympics, where he won a bronze medal in the halfpipe. Scotty grew up in Warrandyte, Victoria and is a ...

* Marcus Klevland

Volcomunity

Volcomunity is an online space for Volcom ambassadors—singers, models, and designers to

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...

about their lives. Natalie Suarez, Jennifer Herrema, Billie Edwards, Elle Green, Mike Correia, Stephanie Cherry, Amy Smith, Zoe Grisedale-Sherry and Hannah Logic are Volcom ambassadors. In 2012, Volcom collaborated with Volcom ambassadors POSSO for the second time. POSSO is described by the brand as "2 best friends from Northern California with a love for art, design, fashion, and music." The collection included dresses and a bikini outfit.

Events

2013 Volcom Pipe Pro Event

The 2013 Volcom Pipe Pro surf competition that took place between January 27 and February 7, 2013, has been designated as a ''Deep Blue Surfing Event'' as it completed the ASP (

Association of Surfing Professionals The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The World Surf League was originally known as the International Professional ...

) Green Guidelines Recommendations. The event strove to reduce the environmental impacts of a professional surfing contest and to provide social benefits for the local community.

2014 Volcom Pipe Pro Event

The 2014 Volcom Pipe Pro surf competition took place between January 26 and February 7, 2014, at the

Banzai Pipeline The Banzai Pipeline, or simply Pipeline or Pipe, is a surf reef break located in Hawaii, off Ehukai Beach Park in Pupukea on O'ahu's North Shore. A reef break is an area in the ocean where waves start to break once they reach the shallows of a ...

with waves at 8–12 feet, and was televised on Saturday, June 7, 2014, on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. The competition is an ASP, WQS (World Qualifying Series) 5-Star Event with a $130,000 prize purse, and once again has been designated as a ''Deep Blue Surfing Event'', working with ''Sustainable Surf'', a waste diversion company.

Philanthropy

Volcom created the "V.Co-logical Series" collection, whereby one percent of sales are donated to environmentally focused non-profit organizations. The company is a member of the "1% for the Planet" initiative. In 2011, Volcom collaborated with Krochet Kids International, an organization that seeks to reduce poverty. Volcom sold handmade clothes from Uganda and some of the revenue was donated to Krochet Kids International.

Awards

In 2003, Woolcott was named the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association Individual Achiever of the Year. In 2004, Woolcott was inducted into the National Scholastic Surfing Association Hall of Fame. In 2010, Volcom won the TransWorld Business Industry and Retail Award: “Brand of the Year”. Also in 2010, Woolcott was nominated for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at Chapman University by the Leatherby Entrepreneurship Center.

References

External links

* {{Authentic Brands Group Clothing brands of the United States Companies based in Costa Mesa, California Clothing companies established in 1991 Skateboarding companies Snowboarding companies Surfwear brands 1990s fashion 2000s fashion 2010s fashion Swimwear brands 1991 establishments in California 2005 initial public offerings 2011 mergers and acquisitions 2019 mergers and acquisitions Authentic Brands Group