Dakine Takes Over Former Rip Curl Space at Hansen Surfboards for Pop-Up Shop

The exterior of the Hansen's x Dakine pop-up shop. Photo courtesy of Dakine/JR286

By Kari Hamanaka | Published Apr 4, 2024

Dakine has unveiled a new pop-up shop at Hansen Surfboards, taking over space previously occupied by Rip Curl.

Dakine, which has signed on for a six-month residency at the Encinitas, Calif. retailer, officially opened its doors Wednesday, with a launch event taking place Thursday.

Dakine Vice President of Sales Shane Wallace said the pop-up’s merchandise assortment will focus on the brand’s surf, lifestyle, and pack and travel-dedicated collections.

“It’ll be the first and only store on the mainland to have the full collection of all of our spring lifestyle product,” Wallace said. “It’s not going to feature any of our performance products. It’s purely dedicated to the lifestyle portion of the business, so it’s a really cool, fresh look for Dakine.”

Dakine equipment and accessories are made by JR286 under a licensing deal.

Dakine caps and packs inside the store. Photo courtesy of Dakine/JR286.

Inventory in the pop-up shop launches with Spring 2024 and will turn every 60 to 90 days. Fall product will begin arriving around June, likely followed by a second Fall product drop. From there, depending on the store’s performance, there could be consideration of extending Dakine’s occupancy, Wallace said.

Leaning on Heritage

Dakine is looking to ride a wave of renewed interest in what Wallace said are heritage brands. That’s one of the reasons some of the pieces being sold in the store will feature Dakine’s original, stacked logo.

“When we evaluated the brand a few years ago when I joined, one of the strengths of the brand is the heritage, and I think it’s probably the brand’s greatest strength,” Wallace said. “We see today that heritage brands have reemerged and really withstood the test of time, whether that be a Katin or Patagonia or some other iconic brand, and we looked back at the heritage of the (Dakine) brand being from Hawaii and the stacked logo being the original logo created for the brand. Playing close to our heritage we think is an advantage.”

Nabbing the Hansen pop-up space, which is about 1,200 square feet, was an exercise in patience.

Wallace, who joined Dakine two years ago, said one of his first priorities was to solidify relationships with key retailers, so he reached out to Hansen Surfboards co-owner and CEO Josh Hansen to ask if Dakine could be considered if the space ever turned over.

Two years later, the pop-up shop is happening.

The Dakine retro stacked logo. Photo courtesy of Dakine/JR286.

“We are excited about our new partnership with Dakine,” Hansen said. “The Dakine pop-up will run for six months and will let us showcase a much larger and curated offering of the brand…. Although this will no longer be a Rip Curl company store, they will have signage on the building and occupy a large part of the north side of the building with their wetsuit offering. We felt it was time to refresh the space and thought these brands would complement each other.”

Rip Curl’s shop-in-shop at Hansen’s originally opened in 2013.

For Dakine, it’s pushing to get itself in front of more consumers. Next month, it will have a pop-up at Catalyst in San Clemente, and the team is open to more opportunities.

“Discussions are going on with some other retailers on how to expand our footprint within their stores nationally and globally,” Wallace said. “So, really excited about expanding our footprint because I think the opportunity and the time is now for Dakine specifically with our strength and rebirth of the lifestyle collection and our focus on expanding the pack and travel business.”

While JR286, where Wallace works, has the license for Dakine equipment and accessories, Dakine owner Marquee Brands struck a licensing agreement in October with The Levy Group to handle Dakine performance apparel, technical ski and snow clothing, active and outdoor apparel, base layers, and swimwear.

Click through for a tour of the Hansen’s x Dakine pop-up shop: