Robert McKnight Jr., co-founder of Quiksilver Inc., is leaving his post as the company’s executive chairman at the end of the month as the Huntington Beach-based action sports apparel and footwear manufacturer struggles with reduced quarterly revenues.
Still, he’s confident that the team he helped put in place will uphold the company’s legacy as a surfing industry pioneer. Chief Executive Andy Mooney will take over as chairman of its board directors, and Pierre Agnes has been named the company’s new president.
“The stock went down and here we are, but the only way I know how to fix these things is to right this ship and get it back on track, and certainly Andy is the guy that can do that,” McKnight said in a phone interview. “I have the faith, and I’m glad I can cheer him on from the sidelines … This is coming at the heels of our planning process we did last week. All of our directors were in town, all of our global staff, and we really worked hard on plans for next year. The plans are very doable, very believable.”
Agnes, who was global head of apparel and accessories, will also continue to manage Quiksilver’s European operations.
“I’m really happy about that,” McKnight said, “because he will more or less run the whole product engine of the company, marketing and supply chain, and Andy can focus on all the rest and kind of global leadership and the finances. We have a really good team. It’s been a very tough couple of years, but now I think we are seeing the way to navigate through it and get out in front of it and get back to profitability again very soon.”
Stumbling Blocks
McKnight said he blames the current financial situation—Quiksilver has lost about 70% of its market value since January—on several missteps.
“The biggest thing we did wrong is we bought Rossignol in 2005,” he said. “That created a lot of debt, and we had to sell it … And recently, this last year, we had the place back on track, but the economy got us. And we stumbled a little bit because we did a complete reorganization in a down market and under … a new computer software implementation, so it was just a lineup of horrors that beat us up last year.”
Quiksilver Legacy
Things were simpler back in 1976 when McKnight cofounded the company with Jeff Hakman. They got permission to license the brand in the U.S. from Alan Green, an Australian credited with inventing boardshorts.
“When we first started, there was really no industry, a lot of small little surf shops that had their heart and soul in what they were doing, with surfboards, wetsuits and T-shirts,” McKnight said. “We came in and offered them something in the apparel realm that was very legitimate, that they can actually sell. And that was one of the premises of Quiksilver—these boardshorts were uniquely made for surfing and would only be sold at surf shops.”
The company, aside from selling boardshorts, had a lot of other “firsts,” he said. It was first in the surf industry to go public, to globalize, to “pay a surfer a large sum of money to be in the water,” and the first to create a women’s surf brand.
“At the time, we were scorned and there were a lot of rumors, but we just did our thing from our instincts, what we thought was right, and built the company to become the largest action sports company in the world,” Mc Knight said. “Today, there are probably some 500 companies in Orange County that focus on surf, skate and snow, all the magazines and the media. It was really fun that we were at ground zero for the industry, and hopefully people will look back at my career and know that I helped shape that, mentor and helped guide it.”
McKnight served as Quiksilver’s president from 1979 to 1991 and as chairman and chief executive officer until Mooney took over as chief executive in January 2013.
And it seems he’s not really done, even though the official word of his retirement went out last week.
“I’m not part of the day-to-day operations at Quiksilver anymore, but I still have ownership in the company, I’m still a director, and I still plan on being around, and hopefully people will call me and ask me questions and see if I can be useful to them,” Mc Knight said.
Words of Wisdom
His advice to the management team?
“We just have to be Quiksilver, which everybody in the surf industry knows what I’m talking about—be the best in product; market with clever marketing at all the right places with our team riders; do the right events; ship on time; and take care of our cathedral wholesalers, which is basically the surf shops; make sure our own stores look great so people, when they walk in there they connect in a real emotional way to the brand,” he said. “And just ride out this little bit of a downturn in the market. Hopefully it’s not forever.”
