Billabong brings the board lifestyle look to fashion store

Billabong, the Australian fashion brand for the board sports lifestyle, has opened its first Hong Kong store at the Hysan Place mall in Causeway Bay.

The brand has been moving away from its roots as a purely sport-centric brand and into the world of fashion. Billabong is reinventing itself as a lifestyle brand and that has allowed it to explore new markets, first Taiwan and now Hong Kong, which are not supported by a large boarding community.

At Thursday's opening, curious shoppers perused racks of this season's new lines while models showed off the label's hottest looks.

On one side of the room was the men's line, Broadcasted Revolt, embodying a timeless outdoorsiness tempered with youthful bursts of colour. On the other, the Designer Closet Collection, Billabong's newest line for women, think lots of Native American motifs with African animal print and a tiger face or two thrown in for good measure.

They both represent a dramatic departure from the Billabong of yesteryear: a laid-back purveyor of board shorts and hoodies.

Olivia Luk, the brand manager for Billabong Asia, explained: "Billabong has two sides as an overall brand: the board sports side obviously is always strong, but right now we really want to be an inclusive brand for the youth [who don't do board sports], so we recognise lifestyle is the way to go. We want to show that the attitude of board sports can happen anytime, anywhere."