Square tops

Ripcurl is owned by Kathmandu? Oh dear, there goes their cred.

It used to be said that the surfwear brands lived on their credibility among "real" surfers, who were the early adopters and gave the brand street cred. I wonder if that's still the case and whether bringing such brands into corporate ownership is their death knell, or whether they will keep on selling.  Kathmandu is notorious for selling the outdoors dream but being bought by people who would never dream of going for a hike that takes them any farther than the distance from their car to the shop, so maybe the once-iconic brands will remain successful under new ownership.

It's a bit sad in a way if image, rather than reality, can succeed to that extent.