BILLABONG was founded on Australia's Gold Coast in 1973 by surfer and surfboard shaper Gordon Merchant and his partner. Those early days were rather inauspicious, with the pair designing boardshorts at home, cutting them out on the kitchen table and then carting the finished product around to the local surf shop to sell. By the 1980s, the company also followed its core customers into other boardsports markets, including skate and snow.