He became a mogul but always remained a down-to-earth guy and a core surfer at heart.
Alan Green (second from right), alongside Lindsay Mudge (right), Brian Singer and Doug Warwick (left), who founded Rip Curl. Photo: Dick Hoole
Greeny with Rod Brooks and Bobby Owens at Bells in 1977. Photo: Dick Hoole
18 January 25
Tributes are everywhere this week for Alan Green - the following is from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission):
Quiksilver founder Alan Green dies aged 77
A pioneer of Australia's legendary surfwear industry has died.
Alan "Greeny" Green, 77, is understood to have passed away on Tuesday at his home in Torquay, south-west of Melbourne, following a brief battle with cancer.
The surfing industry is awash with tributes to "Greeny", who founded Quiksilver in Torquay in 1969 after working with another pioneering surf brand Rip Curl.
He is often credited with being a visionary responsible for the design of modern day board shorts — introducing the world to the velcro fly, metal press studs and the "yoke waist" (higher at the back than the front).
Surfing Hall of Fame inductee Rod Brooks labelled him a "true legend", in a statement released late on Wednesday.
"It was a life well lived and one that will be remembered, along with the legend of the Quiksilver brand and the thousands of jobs he created both here and around the world over his incredible journey," Mr Brooks said.
Kelly Slater, arguably the world's greatest-ever competitive surfer and a longtime friend of Green's, shared a tribute on Wednesday evening.
"Love you, Greeny. You were one of a kind and a great friend and mentor for so many. I'll miss you forever," Slater wrote.
A billion-dollar company that started from the back of a car
Alan Green grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Pascoe Vale, where he was known to hitch rides to Torquay to go surfing.
He eventually made his way to the then-small Surf Coast town, finding a job that included making wetsuits with Rip Curl in its founding years.
Teaming up with his mate John Law in 1969, they turned their focus to making boardshorts surfers would actually want to wear, stitching them at a kitchen table and driving around the country to sell them from the back of a car.
While the design for boardshorts was unique at the time, Alan once revealed the decision to use velcro and press studs came — at least partly — because he had bought a supply of them to use making wetsuits.
Alan's wife Barbara is credited with naming the brand, taking the word from a novel she was reading and thinking its meaning — elusive, liquid, mercurial — was similar to what Alan and John were hoping to do with the brand.
By 1976, Quiksilver's surfwear production had moved from the kitchen to a factory, and the brand was on its way to becoming a billion-dollar company.
Alan is survived by his wife and three children.
- AUTHOR: HARRISON TIPPET
- SOURCE: ABC
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