Julian Wilson Signs With Nike
Julian Wilson
Australian prodigy Julian Wilson pulled away from the warm, nurturing embrace of Quiksilver for a brief stay on the homepage of Nike 6.0.
The homepage featured a Q & A with Wilson, and an image of him surfing with a 6.0 logo on his board. However, a mere 45 minutes after the ASP reported on the story, Nike 6.0 removed Wilson from its website altogether. What does this mean?
Although it seemed like someone jumped the gun on adding Julian to the Nike 6.0 homepage, subsequent announcements and press releases confirmed that Wilson is walking away from Quik in a new pair of Nikes.
The deal — hands down one of the biggest surfing’s ever seen — is a 5-year agreement worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000,000 a year, and will see Wilson garbed in Nike 6.0 apparel, footwear and wetsuits.
Julian was later quoted regarding his move from Quiksilver to Nike 6.0, “I’m really excited about the move,” said Julian Wilson from his home on Australia’s Sunshine Coast. “With where I’m at in my career right now, it seemed like the right time to make a transition and an excellent opportunity! Nike has been pushing the direction of the sport of late and I’m really eager to be part of that movement.”
Nike has been sniffing around the surf industry for sometime with rumours of taking over major surf industry stalwarts. In 2009 Nike 6.0 added Kolohe Andino and Carissa Moore to their stable, and most recently upped the respective deals of 2009 World Junior Champ Kai Barger and 2011 Women’s ASP World Tour rookie Laura Enever. They’ve also committed a wealth of resources to the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro, the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing and the Hurley Lowers Pro. Hurley is of course owned by the Nike machine, but Wilson’s deal, simply put, it’s a whole new level. Undoubtedly it will raise the bar for top tier surf contracts in the future.
