About BadBillys.com

BadBillys.com is a history and culture site dedicated to Bad Billy's — the skate and streetwear sub-label that Billabong launched in 1987. The brand captured the raw energy of the late-80s skate boom before the mainstream caught on, and left behind a legacy that collectors and skate historians still chase today.

This site covers the brand's origins, its aesthetic, its place in the broader surf-to-skate crossover movement, and the culture it helped define. If you grew up skating in the late 80s or early 90s — or you're researching that era now — you're in the right place.

What you'll find here:

• Brand history: where Bad Billy's came from and what it stood for
• The 80s/90s skate scene context: Powell Peralta, Vision, Santa Cruz, and where Billabong fit in
• Apparel and design history: the graphics, the cuts, the logos
• Collector guides: what to look for, what's rare, what's reproducible
• The Australian angle: how surf culture shaped the skate crossover differently Down Under

The site is run by a single editor. Content is researched and written to be accurate; if you spot an error or have archival material to contribute, use the contact link.