San Clemente’s Swell.com a dot com clothes seller is being acquired by Irvine-based Billabong USA, a designer and distributor of clothes inspired by water sports, skateboarding and snowboarding. The points of the deal are yet to be revealed. “The internet plays a significant role in the recreational habits of the youth market so it is important for our group to ensure that we provide them with a premium brand experience when shopping online,” said Paul Naude, president of Billabong USA.
Water sports, skateboards and other gear plus surf- and skate-inspired clothes for gals and guys is sold by Swell, which begun in the year 1999. Several Orange County apparel companies like Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc., Huntington Beach-based Quicksilver Inc. and Billabong sell their clothes through the site.

Two men, Jeffrey A. Berg and Nicholas Nathanson, a finance and new media executive and a former e-commerce analyst respectively started Swell.com a report in trade publication Apparel News revealed. Incidentally, Billabong is a unit of Australia’s Billabong International Ltd. and makes up to half of its parent company’s $1 billion in annual sales. This new purchase is the latest in a regular buying streak for Billabong.

Billabong acquired two companies last year including Oregon accessory maker DaKine and San Diego skateboard maker Sector 9. The company ventured into the retail sector in the year 2004 when they acquired two companies, Southern California’s Beach Access and Hawaii’s Honolua Surf Co. and combined them into a chain of stores now called BeachWorks that sells many brands including Billabong.

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