Billabong North America announced today, July 11, that it was buying the lifestyle brand RVCA for an undisclosed amount. RVCA, a brand known to cross many boundaries including street art with its popular Artists Network Program and quarterly publication featuring creative types such as Aaron Rose, creator of Beautiful Losers, plus skaters and even MMA fans, was rumored to be in negotiations with Billabong for the past few months.

Then just last week came the news that Billabong put in a bid to buy the Canadian retail chain West 49 (which has also just been bid on by Zumiez, and so the battle begins).

According to Billabong North American President Paul Naude, “RVCA has done an incredible job to date in terms of building its brand, differentiating its product and supporting various subcultures through its Artist Network Program, its athletes and its advocates,” said Mr Naude. “We want to see it build on these strengths and we’ll offer the necessary support to allow it to achieve its potential.”

RVCA brand founder Pat Tenore said he was looking forward to working with Billabong. “The original concept of RVCA was, and still is, to be a lifestyle brand that integrated different subcultures within one platform a platform for like-minded people to produce great art and other creative endeavors, while getting recognition for their contribution and involvement,” said Mr Tenore. “RVCA will be able to take this concept even further and provide a more extensive support base for the artists, athletes and advocates we work with. “One of the key things about Billabong is its respect for the creative independence of each of its brands and that level of flexibility will allow RVCA to maintain its identity while benefiting from the support of the wider Billabong group.”

Billabong also owns Becker Surf & Sports, Swell.com, Sector 9, DaKine, Nixon, Von Zipper, Element, and Tigerlily, among others.