Dakine has its sights set on carving out a bigger piece of the outdoors space.
The company, which was purchased by the brand management firm Marquee Brands in 2018, was founded on Maui’s North Shore in 1979 and is best known for the leash it created for surfboards that soon became a must-have for the surf community. Since that time, Dakine has expanded into backpacks, apparel and accessories for snow sports, surfing, biking, camping and windsurfing.
Now Marquee is seeking to expand Dakine’s reach beyond the action sports arena into more of an active outdoors brand, pitting it against such industry stalwarts as The North Face, Patagonia, Columbia Sportswear and Marmot.
Dakine’s new motto, according to its executive team, is: “Off the mountain and out of the water and the lifestyle in between.”
“The last couple of years have been a real pivotal time for the business,” said Pete Maule, executive vice president and general manager of sports and active at Marquee. He also oversees Body Glove.
Maule said since the pandemic, there have been a lot of acquisitions by brand managers, but Marquee has embarked on a “very methodical” strategy “to take advantage of the economy in the retail landscape.”
Natasha Fishman, chief marketing officer for Marquee, added that Heath Golden, chief executive officer of the firm, is “a great leader in terms of leaning into the IP [intellectual property] platform” and Dakine has benefited from that.
As a result, the brand has lined up some new licensees in key categories and countries and is working to expand its distribution among big-box sports and outdoors retailers while retaining the specialty stores that have been the backbone of its business for the majority of its lifespan.
Following Marquee’s acquisition of the company, JR286 was tapped to be Dakine’s main licensee. Fishman said JR286 is the “pillar of the equipment business” and primarily produces backpacks, travel bags, gloves and hats, which she described as “the very core of the brand. They’re very sophisticated on design and global distribution and have expertise on how to build great product and get it to market.”
Beyond that, the Levy Group was licensed to produce technical and lifestyle apparel for men, women and children in North America, and MyStep Global was named the footwear licensee for lifestyle and performance product on this continent.
Outside North America, Dakine appointed Bennett & Baxter its footwear licensee for the European Union and the U.K. And the company has signed two new distributors: All Sport in the EU and Sportax in the U.K. Maule stressed that these new partners “bring a whole level of sophistication that this brand has never had from a procurement standpoint, supply chain warehousing and, more importantly, top-level relationships with broad-based retail distribution in our space.”
Dakine “worked really hard over the last several years to kick a lot of tires to find the right partners for the brand that is not just label slapping,” Maule added. “These are companies who understand the business. In the licensing business, you’re only as good as your partners and these companies make great products and are part of our team.”
Fishman added that “it’s not a race to see how many categories we can license,” but instead to home in on servicing an active outdoors consumer.
One of the big opportunities for Dakine is increasing its apparel penetration. Right now, apparel accounts for around 30 percent of total sales and the goal is to increase that number to 50 percent over the next two years as the company expands its reach to “a larger addressable audience” seeking products for a wide range of outdoor activities, Fishman said.
Dakine got its start servicing the surfing community.
Courtesy of Dakine
The Levy Group is the right partner, Dakine believes, because of its “great design aesthetic” as well as its understanding of technology and lifestyle products and its ability to connect to a variety of retailers.
The distribution strategy centers around retaining Dakine’s hold within the specialty store community while adding larger players such as Dick’s Sporting Goods and REI.
Maule said the product sold at specialty stores is “halo product” — more technical, often using Gore-Tex or PrimaLoft — while that at the larger stores is more lifestyle.
Other areas of opportunity, the team believes, will be in the camping and water sports categories for activities such as kayaking. And ensuring that its products are available at the right times is also key.
“We hadn’t been in the back-to-school space,” Maule said, saying that Dakine is also eyeing the lucrative space for kids backpacks dominated by JanSport, Herschel and others.
Backpacks remain a cornerstone of the Dakine business.
Courtesy of Dakine
Expanding its reach among women is also on the to-do list. Currently, 70 percent of Dakine’s sales are to men and 30 to women and Maule is hoping to tweak that figure to at least 65-35. Fishman said Marquee prides itself on collecting extensive data on its brand and will use the information gathered there to determine the best path forward.
In order to get the word out, Dakine has signed Red Gerard, an Olympic and X Games Gold Medal-winning snowboarder, as a spokesperson who will be wearing Dakine head to toe. “We know how important professional athletes are for content development, for credibility and authenticity,” Maule said.
Dakine also plans to use social media as well as other internally produced content and collaborations to “put the brand in front of more people, allow this brand to expand and do it in an organic way,” Fishman said.
