Rip Curl

Rip Curl is an Australian surf company founded in 1969 by Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer in Torquay, Victoria, a few minutes' drive from the Bells Beach break that the brand treats as its birthplace. Famous first for wetsuits, it also makes boardshorts, surf apparel and a large women's swimwear and bikini line, which is the part of the business that brings it into this encyclopedia. Since October 2019 it has belonged to KMD Brands, the New Zealand group formerly called Kathmandu Holdings, which paid A$350 million for it.

The name: a surfboard and a verb

The name comes from a surfboard. Warbrick had bought a vee-bottom board in 1968, and the founders wanted a name that carried the two things surfers wanted to do on one: rip, and get into the curl of the wave. The company started out making surfboards in 1969. Within a year it had changed course.

From surfboards to wetsuits in 1970

In 1970 Rip Curl turned to wetsuits, adapting diving suits to the very different demands of surfing. The cold water of the Victorian coast made that a practical business, not a fashion one. A diver's suit is built to stay still underwater; a surfer's has to paddle, twist and survive being thrown about, which means thinner, more flexible neoprene and seams that do not chafe across the shoulders.

The same Torquay workshop had a side role in surf history. In 1970 Alan Green, then working at Rip Curl, developed the first Quiksilver boardshorts at the Rip Curl factory, the start of what became a rival company. Two of the best-known Australian surf brands trace their start to the same small coastal town.

The wetsuit has stayed the brand's technical center. Its FlashBomb suit won three consecutive SIMA awards, from 2011 to 2013, and the company has also sold electronics such as its SearchGPS surf watch.

Rip Curl women's swimwear and the My Bikini campaign

Rip Curl's women's swim line grew alongside the surf apparel, and in recent decades it has become one of the company's most visible categories. Its marketing campaign under the slogan "My Bikini" won the SIMA award for Women's Campaign of the Year five times, in each year from 2013 to 2016 and again in 2019. That is an unusual record in a trade whose awards usually go to men's surf gear.

The range is organized the way surf customers shop. Bikini tops and bikini bottoms are sold as separate collections, so a top and a bottom can be bought in different sizes, with one-pieces and sets alongside. In practice that means a triangle bra style top can be paired with anything from a full bottom to a cheeky one. A surf bikini has to stay in place in a wipeout, so the details that matter are tie strength, the depth of the band and whether the bikini bottom is lined. Current collections featured on the brand's site include the Search Series and the Paraiso collection.

The Search

Rip Curl has long used "the Search" as a name, from the SearchGPS watch to the women's Search Series now on its site. The idea behind it is travel in pursuit of waves, and on the women's side the collection is presented with wetsuits and surfing rather than with the beach-club look of fashion swim brands.

Bells Beach and the professional tour

The Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, in Jan Juc near Torquay, is the company's flagship contest and a fixture of the World Surf League tour. The brand's own description says it was founded "at Bells Beach in 1969" with the aim of being "the Ultimate Surfing Company," which says a good deal about how closely it ties itself to that one stretch of coast.

Ownership: from founders to KMD Brands

Rip Curl stayed in private hands for half a century. An attempt to sell it through Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2012 and 2013 was abandoned. The sale finally came in October 2019, when Kathmandu Holdings, the New Zealand outdoor retailer, bought 100 percent of the company for A$350 million. In March 2022 the group renamed itself KMD Brands. Its three main brands are Kathmandu, Rip Curl and Oboz, a hiking footwear company from Bozeman, Montana. Brooke Farris became Rip Curl's chief executive in August 2021.

Among surf brands with women's swim lines, Rip Curl sits beside Billabong as one of the big Australian names. Its headquarters remain in Torquay, a short drive from Bells Beach, home of the contest that carries the company's name.

Last updated October 7, 2026