The Complete History of Headworx
Headworx began on the Austrailian Gold Coast way back in the mid seventies. Two friends, Keith Halford and Michael "Mick" Little joined forces to create a tourism based t shirt business, with Mick imnporting the tees from Indonesia, and Keith providing the artwork. Keith had previously been airbrushing board graphics for local shaper Murray Boutron, so was a dab hand at creating the exciting and stylish visuals the brand needed, and Bang Band Beach Co. was born.
It soon became clear that the tourists weren't going to be buying enough t shirts to pay the bills, and the company needed to move on. The Big Three of Billabong, Quiksilver and Rip Curl had been supplying surfers across the planet with apparel and accessories for over a decade but, in the eyes of the two pals, had left niches yet to be filled in the rapidly expanding market. With a skateboard, punk rock, attitude to their designs, Halford and Little commenced a marketing strategy to lure the more individualistically minded surfer, and the Australian public couldn’t have been happier.
Almost instantly successful, the company expanded rapidly, becoming hugely popular in the sub-culture of their local area. But the days of Bang Bang Beach Co. were already numbered. Within the company’s first year, Halford and Little were informed of a copyright infringement that deemed a swift change in business names. At the time, one of their most popular prints was of a disembodied head with protruding tongue, a wonderfully appealing image to the period’s youth. So the ‘head’ was immortalised and, partnered with recognition of the factory, or works, producing the product, created the new business name. And so HeadWorx was spawned.
The competitive surf scene of the early ‘90s was vastly different to that of today. In the new millennium, companies are pouring money into everything from the highest ASP World Tour events to local grommet competitions for kids who can barely even spell GCSE. But back in the formative years of HeadWorx, there was little or no money, with amateur contests prevailing, the breeding grounds for the stars of the future. HeadWorx recognised this from an early stage, focussing on gaining recognition at a grass roots level. To that end, the company, spearheaded by the industry knowledge gained by Bourton over the years, invested in the Kirra Boardriders Club, establishing the Kirra Teams Challenge, an inter-club contest that drew entrants from Australia-wide. Such a success was the contest that it continues to be run to this day.
This personal touch spread the name of HeadWorx across the country and solidified the label’s popularity within the exact audience they were targeting: the surfers themselves.
By the mid ‘90s HeadWorx was still proving successful within Australia but had also extended its reach to the other side of the world. Under the licensing of David Gower, HeadWorx took the UK by storm, for several consecutive years being chief sponsor of the ASP Pro event, held annually in Newquay. As with many of the things HeadWorx undertook, the event wasn’t the run-of-the-mill surf contest, featuring live music, skateboard and BMX demos and all manner of spectacles taking place away from the ocean.
Despite a flood of sales and rising popularity, the company’s foundations had been laid on shaky ground. On the outside, the company looked to be thriving. Ad campaigns were not only popular but proving hugely successful, shops clamoured for the latest ranges of designs, re-orders continually placed to keep up with demands and the HeadWorx empire continued to expand. But this thriving external image belied the true nature of the business.
For over a decade, the company had fought the odds to secure a firm slot in a market soon to become over-saturated within innumerable obscure brands, going from strength to strength and tackling The Big Three head on at their own game. But in the end, even that wouldn’t be enough.
Despite the demise of a business that at its peak was a multi-million pound corporation, HeadWorx lived on. Thanks to the licensing granted for overseas investors, although HeadWorx would meet its end in its Australian homeland, it would remain a smouldering ember in Europe awaiting a time to rise again, phoenix-like from its own ashes. That time of resurrection is now.
