Surfing: the US industry grants 2015 awards

By

Olivier Guyot

Published
Feb 18, 2016

Last year, the SIMA Awards did not grant any trophy to brands from the Billabong or Quiksilver groups. The trend was confirmed this year too, at the event celebrating the US surfing industry's leading brands for 2015.

The event acknowledged Roark Revival as the breakout brand of 2015. The US label was in contention this year with Amuse Society, Depactus, Otis and Sun Bum, and also landed the prize for best marketing campaign for a men's apparel brand. Roark Revival succeeded Vissla, which instead was the 2015 winner of the men's apparel brand of the year prize, while Amuse Society won the prize for women's apparel.

But the big winner in surfing was clearly Rip Curl. The brand won no less than five awards, including that of boardshorts of the year with its Mirage MF Driven model, the wetsuit of the year prize with its Flashbomb Zip Free full suit and the women's swimwear brand award. Rip Curl also won the women's apparel marketing campaign of the year prize, and that for accessory of the year with its Search GPS Watch.

The event also rewarded Patagonia with the environmental product of the year prize, for its R2 Yulex/Nexkin Front Zip wetsuit, and Reef with the prize for best footwear for its Reef Rover model, integrating Swellular technology.

In terms of equipment, Haydenshapes won with its Hypto Krypto board and Creatures Leisure with its surfing-specific earplugs.