SurfStitch shifts to lifestyle marketplace after 10‑month restructure
SurfStitch has relaunched as a pure‑play marketplace focused on Australian coastal culture after a 10‑month restructuring led by Olvera Advisors. The platform now serves about 1.7 million customers and features roughly 75 predominantly Australian brands.
Under the new marketplace model, brands set their own discounts but agree not to use SurfStitch as a dumping ground for excess inventory, and outside specified promotional periods core ranges must be sold at full price or at levels comparable to the brands’ own websites. SurfStitch avoids placing all of its approximately 75 brands on sale simultaneously, aiming to prevent the site from becoming a digital flea market. To give shoppers a reason to return, the Guides hub offers a Surf Guide scoring 100 Australian beaches daily, a Hikes Guide detailing trails, and a Gig Guide covering music and festivals at coastal venues.
“We are moving SurfStitch into more of a trusted lifestyle platform that happens to sell product,” Damien Hodgkinson, principal at Olvera Advisors and lead on the restructuring and platform redesign said.
“We don’t want SurfStitch to be a digital flea market. It will have a strong editorial and visual point of view,” Damien Hodgkinson, principal at Olvera Advisors said.
In March 2025, Best Markets Group acquired SurfStitch from Alquemie Group with plans to reposition the business. When it could not reach an agreement with its landlord and a supplier to withdraw a winding-up petition, Olvera was appointed to undertake a formal restructuring through voluntary administration.
What we know
Now, 10 months into a restructuring led by Olvera Advisors, the online retailer is attempting something considerably harder than cutting costs or rebuilding a website: It is changing why customers believe in SurfStitch.
Olvera acquired a customer database of around 1.7 million people with SurfStitch, but many had been trained to expect discounts.
SurfStitch also avoids putting all of its approximately 75 predominantly Australian brands on sale at the same time.
In March 2025, Best Markets Group acquired SurfStitch from Alquemie Group with plans to reposition the business.
Its Guides hub now includes three services: A Surf Guide scoring 100 Australian beaches daily according to conditions including swell, wind and tide; a Hikes Guide detailing trails, distance, time and terrain; and a Gig Guide covering music and festivals at coastal venues.