On a muggy Tuesday in Santa Barbara, the mood inside Sanuk’s HQ wasn’t “end of an era” — it was something closer to “everyone hold tight, things are about to get weird.” For months, rumors swirled: Was Sanuk, purveyor of comfort-driven kicks and don’t-take-yourself-too-seriously branding, about to go under? When Deckers Brands — Sanuk’s parent company, and the same group behind UGG — announced they’d sold Sanuk to a Canadian player in spring 2024, headlines everywhere started asking: Is Sanuk going out of business?
The short answer: no. But a longer look at what happened, and what comes next, uncovers a tale worth knowing — especially if you care how classic brands try to stage a comeback after tough times.
Sanuk’s Rough Patch: The Numbers Speak Volumes
If you need a case study in what a brand struggle looks like on paper, Sanuk’s last several years are a masterclass. Their annual sales tumbled — roughly -33% in fiscal 2024, then another -28.4% in Q1 2025, according to public Deckers filings. It’s the retail version of riding a bicycle with flat tires: you can push, but you’re slowing down by the week.
Unlike brands that just quietly fizzle out, Sanuk still had personality: buckets of quirky, lightly irreverent, “smile…pass it on” messaging. But Wall Street doesn’t invest in good vibes. For Deckers, Sanuk’s dip was a headache that didn’t match its sharper-growing heavy hitters. The market message was simple — if you can’t right this ship, you’ve got to let someone else take the wheel.
Who Bought Sanuk — And Why?
So who scooped up the brand? Meet Lolë Brands, a Montreal-based company with roots in activewear and wellness apparel. To most U.S. consumers, the Lolë brand name reads like a typo in your phone’s predictive text. But behind the scenes, they’re a serious operator, with ambitions far bigger than their legacy yoga gear.
Here’s the logic: Lolë has wanted a bigger U.S. presence for years. By buying Sanuk, they got a household-name entry ticket — but also a fixer-upper that needs curb appeal. CEO Todd Steele, no stranger to turnarounds, put it like this: “Sanuk isn’t a castoff. We want to invest, expand, and make it a leader again.”
The sale itself was cash-based, though neither side gave the receipts. Based on typical niche-footwear multiples and Sanuk’s trailing sales, you can bet it was somewhere between $15 and $35 million. Not a king’s ransom, but enough for Deckers to walk away, and for Lolë to bet on a bounceback.
The Intentions Behind the Buy
It’s easy to cast a “rescue” story as a last-ditch play, but that misses the mark. Lolë wasn’t buying scrap; they were buying brand equity, the customer list, and a chance to revive something quirky. A Sanuk sandal still has fans — it’s just that the new competition (the Allbirds, the Crocs, the hundreds of Amazon knockoffs) was crowding out the beach.
With Sanuk, Lolë gets:
- Footwear DNA it doesn’t currently have,
- A foothold in U.S. brick-and-mortar and online retail,
- A platform to pilot new ideas without risking its core apparel business.
The intention? Invest in design, boost marketing, experiment, and see if Sanuk’s chill, offbeat vibe can play outside the old SoCal bubble. CEO Todd Steele told FN, “Sanuk will get more attention here than it did as a small piece of a much bigger portfolio.”
Shaking Up Sanuk’s Operations: Out With the Old, In With the LA Cool
Operationally, this is the retail equivalent of changing your address, your landlord, and your roommate all at once. The new plan puts Sanuk’s headquarters and creative base in Los Angeles — a sizable move from Deckers’ Santa Barbara roots. What LA offers: proximity to trendsetters, designers, and the SoCal culture that birthed the brand in the first place.
There’s credibility, too: long-tenured exec Katie Pruitt — fifteen years with Sanuk and still game for the challenge — was named the new Vice President and General Manager. When you appoint the captain who’s actually sailed through storms before, it’s a sign you want continuity as much as new energy.
Think of it as “remodel, not teardown.” The design team stays. The playful product lineup isn’t getting scrapped; it’s slated for new flavors.
The Vision: What Lolë Wants Sanuk to Be Next
Every apparel turnaround has a two-part formula. First, you need new money and focus. Second, you set out to rekindle customer (and retailer) excitement — not just with familiar flip-flops, but with fresh categories, collaborations, and maybe even that viral social moment everyone’s chasing these days.
For Lolë, the sweet spot starts with fit — “comfort, with attitude.” If Crocs can win over Gen Z, why not Sanuk? Lolë wants to take that DNA and push into sandals, crossover casual, athleisure-adjacent, maybe even sustainable materials. That means more styles, seasonal colors, and retail experiments — but not abandoning the core fans who want the surf-shop nostalgia.
Market expansion is big on the goals list, too. This means more shelves in U.S. department stores, sharper digital marketing, and fresh energy in international markets where Sanuk could still build an audience (Asia-Pacific and Europe, watch this space).
Is Sanuk Going Out of Business?
Let’s put the rumors to rest. Sanuk isn’t closing. There’s no bankruptcy, no store liquidation, no fire sale. Deckers sold Sanuk to shift focus to bigger brands, sure, but also to give this smaller challenger a chance with new ownership. As industry newsletter FN put it, “This is a move geared toward growth, not winding down.”
If anything, the new regime is banking on a turnaround — and making public bets to prove it. They’re hiring, investing in marketing, and looking for retailer partnerships.
So why the whispers about “going out of business”? Chalk it up to the standard retail rumor cycle: layoffs and sales declines usually mean trouble, and brand silence sometimes gets mistaken for a death sentence.
But facts matter. No Chapter 11. No liquidation filings. Just a hotly watched transfer and a big plan to ditch stagnation.
A Look Ahead: Can Sanuk Bounce Back?
Crowded markets don’t pull punches. Even beloved brands need a little reinvention, and Sanuk has some muscle memory to draw on.
This revitalization move has shades of what Crocs did in the late 2010s—leaned unapologetically into their quirks, broadened their collabs, and blitzed digital marketing until suddenly, the brand was “cool” again. Could Sanuk do something similar? It won’t be easy, but the ingredients are there: offbeat voice, signature comfort tech, and now a parent company eager to invest.
Expect new product drops, more storytelling (“These aren’t just sandals; they’re a state of mind”), and attempts to harness cultural moments—influencer collabs, music festival pop-ups, or Netflix-feature cameos.
Operationally, Sanuk’s move to LA is a marker: the brand wants to insert itself back into the pulse of young, city-adjacent shoppers, not just the OG surf crowd.
Key Takeaways for Business Readers
Why should hustlers, owners, and aspiring founders tune in to Sanuk’s next act? A few lessons pop right out:
- Even “cool” brands get stale if they don’t innovate (see: sales down ~30% in a single year).
- Legacy isn’t enough. Survival is about relevance today, not nostalgia.
- Selling your underperforming business unit isn’t failure — sometimes, handing the reins to a specialist is the best protection for a brand’s DNA.
- A brand’s voice matters. Sanuk didn’t die with corporate acquisition; its next chapter could be more authentic if it gets the nimble backing Lolë promises.
This isn’t just a footwear story. It’s a case study in how brands can, under new leadership, find the courage to pivot, refocus, and maybe even recapture lost magic.
For those who live and breathe business model puzzles, there’s plenty to unpack in playbooks like this. If you’re interested in how companies handle inflection points, the brass-tacks takeaways are always worth a look at sites like The Business Back.
The Bottom Line: New Chapter, Not an Ending
Sanuk isn’t dead. Far from it. Instead, they’re getting a rare second wind—a new owner, new headquarters, and a visible appetite for risk after years of playing it safe.
The next 6-12 months will show whether “comfort with personality” can compete with today’s omnipresent sameness, and whether a category reimagining can turn nostalgia into fresh growth.
For now, keep your eye on Sanuk’s Instagram instead of reading the rumor mill. The only “closure” happening is on the sale paperwork. The brand’s best shot at revival is running right now, in real time.
Watch what happens when a niche favorite gets a chance to retell its story. If you’ve ever bootstrapped, flopped, and tried again, Sanuk’s journey will sound about right. In business, timing matters—but so does nerve. And sometimes, second acts pack the most punch.
Also Read:
