Lizzard is a global surfwear brand that produces original surf apparel, accessories and footwear that’s distributed to 27 countries.
In the late 1980’s, South African Cuan Cronje spent most of his days in the ocean, kitted out in sub standard wetsuits that leaked salt water and fitted badly, he decided to create his own suits that he knew would work and thus the brand Lizzard was conceived. Founded in 1991, Lizzard initially focused on the design and manufacture of wetsuits but soon branched out into other product areas and by 1995 was producing original boardshorts and tee shirts. Lizzard has since grown to incorporate a vast collection of unique surf, street, skate and snow gear as well as a ladies range branded Lizzy which embraces the free spirited, freedom loving and independent thinking philosophy of Lizzard with a female slant. Lizzard and Lizzy target 14 to 24 year olds but our products extend broader than this including a children's range.
Lizzard and Lizzy products are positioned strongly in independent retailers and feature prominently in core action sports media including magazines, mobile platforms and websites around the world. Early advertising featured illustrated characters that portrayed the brand’s lifestyle ethos in a creative, imaginative and sometimes humorous fashion; this helped Lizzard position itself in a very competitive surfwear market. Currently Lizzard’s advertising includes a combination of high profile riders, fresh product and action pics while Lizzy features fun loving girls in exotic locations entwined with creative artwork and fun design.
In terms of events, Lizzard's premier surf contest is the WQS rated Lizzard Surf Pro which has been held in Durban South Africa, every year since 2003. In addition to this, Lizzard is also involved with skate, wake, music and junior surf events in many of the territories it distributes to, including things like the Lizzy Surf Series in Australia and a wakeboard contest in Hong Kong. Lizzard and Lizzy have a team of core athletes and riders that surf, skate, bmx and wakeboard; five of these are full time surfers on the world qualifying series (WQS) surfing tour. Lizzard also sponsors a number of rock and punk bands and supports numerous music festivals.
The Lizzard website showcases the latest range to customers and retailers around the world, making it easy to find our product and locate the nearest store or distributor’s details. People can also flip through a style guide to see the full range which is located at the bottom of each page on the site. Other rad features include video of our surfers getting barreled and behind the scenes at the Lizzy bikini shoot.
As a great man once said (which one we are still trying to figure out) don’t live life in mediocrity. We say “The best way to predict the future of our brand is to invent it ourselves”.
