https://www.badbillys.com/tags/sub-labels/Recent content in Sub-Labels on BadBillys.comHugo -- gohugo.ioenBadBillys.comSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.badbillys.com/post/sub-label-strategy-surf-brands-skate/Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.badbillys.com/post/sub-label-strategy-surf-brands-skate/ <p>When Billabong launched Bad Billy's in 1987, the decision was not accidental and it was not purely creative. It reflected a specific structural logic that several surf companies were working through simultaneously: if you want to reach the skate market without destroying what you have built in the surf market, you need a second name.</p> <p>That logic — separating brand identities rather than stretching a single one — had real business reasoning behind it. Understanding why surf companies made that choice requires looking at what those companies actually were by the late 1980s, and what the skate market required of any brand that wanted to be taken seriously inside it.</p>