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A Company in Freefall
The losses were staggering. In addition to the $82.9 million overall decline, KMD took a $40.3 million write-down on Oboz, its hiking boot subsidiary. Now, with profits wiped out, the company is closing 21 of its 328 Kathmandu and Rip Curl retail stores.
Executives can claim the boycott wasn’t the only factor, but the timing is impossible to ignore. Rip Curl’s pivot toward progressive identity politics alienated the very customers who built the brand in the first place.
The Betrayal of Bethany Hamilton
Making matters worse, Rip Curl’s “inclusive” campaign came at the expense of an actual female role model: professional surfer Bethany Hamilton.
Hamilton’s story is known around the world. At just 13 years old, she lost her arm in a shark attack. Instead of giving up, she overcame every obstacle and returned to competition, later becoming a wife, mother, and outspoken Christian.
Her biography highlights her resilience and faith, stating she is “clearly passionate and determined in not letting that moment as a child hold her back.” Hamilton has also spoken out against the push for biological men in women’s sports, warning of the unfairness it creates.
Rather than celebrating Hamilton’s courage, Rip Curl sidelined her in favor of a man identifying as a woman. That insult to both Hamilton and female athletes everywhere was more than many customers were willing to tolerate.
Consumers Have Had Enough
The results speak for themselves. As the Daily Mail noted, KMD’s financial spiral is the steepest in a decade. Loyal surfers, hikers, and outdoor enthusiasts are walking away — and they aren’t coming back anytime soon.
What happened with Bud Light is happening again. “Consumers do not want men pretending to be women using products they are buying,” as critics have warned for years.
Get Woke, Go Broke
This isn’t complicated. Families don’t want radical gender propaganda pushed in their faces every time they pick up a six-pack or buy a wetsuit.
The world is tired of what one commentator described as “this weird, disgusting fetish men are now engaging in, forcing the rest of us — children included — to go along with it.”
Rip Curl’s collapse is a reminder that corporations who cave to left-wing activists do so at their own peril. The Dylan Mulvaney effect is undeniable, and KMD Brands just learned that lesson the hard way.
