Nixon
Brand History
Nixon was founded in 1997 in Encinitas, California, on the initiative of Andy Laats and Chad DiNenna, with an initial investment of nearly a million dollars from a group of venture capitalists. The first catalogue, presented the same year, offered seven models distributed in 200 stores.
The brand grew while staying anchored to the world of action sports — surfing, skating and snowboarding — thanks to the founders' backgrounds in that world and initiatives such as the Surf Challenge, held since 2000, and the JibFest dedicated to snowboarding. In 2000 it opened a French branch; by 2005 the catalogue already counted 90 models, with 60 employees and annual sales growth of over 55%.
In 2006 Nixon was acquired by Billabong International for about 55 million dollars; in 2012 it became independent again through a joint venture with the fund Trilantic Capital Partners, with an estimated valuation of about 464 million dollars. In April 2025 the brand abandoned the single-brand store model in favor of online sales and retail partners, while continuing to be distributed in over 90 countries.
