Now in our third year as merch partners for the legendary Noosa Festival of Surfing, our objective was simple: elevate. Not just the designs, but the scale, quality, and impact of every element we touched. From an expanded apparel range to smart brand collaborations and unforgettable moments throughout the festival, 2025 was all about showing what happens when premium strategy meets real creative energy.
Festival merch isn’t just a souvenir - it goes deeper than that. It captures the vibe, the culture, and the community that comes together during an event. Drawing on insights from past years, we set out to create a range that didn’t just meet expectations for a surf festival, but redefined them. Our 2025 range went deeper into the stories and symbols that define this festival: palm trees, retro boards, First Point, and the legendary Dog Surfing Comp - always a festival highlight.
The anchor of the range this year was our updated featured surfer tee - a stunning collaboration between local surfer Kirra Molnar and ocean photographer Tracy Naughton (Let Me Sea). This was a genuine and heartfelt collab designed to shine a light on the incredible female surf talent in our community, with every detail - from the image used through to the colour palette and font - decided by Kirra and Tracy. A true collaboration rooted in community, surf culture, and creative integrity.
To match the ambition of the range, we also scaled up production numbers significantly and launched a presale through a dedicated online store - a festival first. From day one, demand and traffic was strong, and our tight forecasting and sales approach left little remaining product - but we still had a post event stock clearance strategy in place including premium pop up sale events and a perfectly executed mini-store at the high-traffic Noosa Visitor Centre. These carefully selected sales channels ensured any leftover merch continued moving long after the surfing finished.
The success of the range was amplified by carefully curated activations that reinforced our brand values and extended the merch experience in meaningful ways. We kicked things off with a next-level launch party featuring live screenprinting on premium AS Colour blanks, where guests customised exclusive designs only available on the night. In celebration of their collab, Tracy and Kirra printed the first tees, while DJs and a mechanical surfboard turned the laneway into a buzzing mix of music, community, and limited-edition apparel in the making.
Later in the festival, we staged a Noosa Vibe House takeover of the beach bar - two huge nights of sunset bangers and epic crowd energy, the perfect tie-in to the Beach Bar tee design which sold out on release. We also launched a limited edition capsule collab with Gage Roads Brew Co, merging both brands and two coasts in a tightly executed collection that dropped on day one and sold fast on the sand.
Each of these activations was designed to tie back and support the apparel line. Event merch is notoriously difficult to get right - costs can spiral, sales windows are tight, and a whole host of tricky variables can leave you with leftover stock that no one wants after the event ends. We bring decades of experience in premium apparel and brand strategy to the table and with a project like this we become more than just merch providers - we’re connectors, collaborators, and end-to-end execution specialists. The surf fest saw these elements all come together in perfect harmony to create something truly special.
