Liquidations called in for iconic wetsuit brand Aleeda

A Queensland wetsuit business founded more than 50 years ago by a tourism pioneer has shut up shop abruptly, with liquidators called in and employees still owed money.

Aleeda Wetsuits was founded more than 50 years ago. File picture.

An iconic Queensland wetsuit business founded more than 50 years ago by tourism pioneer Keith Williams has shut up shop abruptly, with liquidators called in and employees still owed money.

Aleeda Wetsuits, which Sea World and Hamilton Island founder Mr Williams started as Surf Suits Australia in 1969 when he was running the Surfers Paradise Ski Gardens water skiing attraction, recently closed its Nerang headquarters.

The company made wetsuits for sports including surfing, once sponsoring surf stars including Australia’s first world champion, Peter ‘PT’ Townend.

Owner Glen Duggan, whose LinkedIn profile now lists him as an executive with private health insurer BUPA based in Victoria, said the brand had “had some challenges” and was being sold with the help of a liquidator.

He said while the Nerang premises had closed, orders were still being fulfilled but admitted the company had “struggled”.

Mr Duggan said a number of Aleeda employees were owed “a small amount of money” which was subject to a payment plan, while a claim with the Australian Taxation Office was expected to cover outstanding superannuation.

He said he expected the Aleeda brand would continue under new owners, with talks underway with a Melbourne company to take over.

“The IP is being sold on so that everything can be essentially paid out,” he said.

“The short summary position is that we’re still trading. Employees have been let go and moved to a work from home model.

“We’re sending out orders at the moment. There’s some orders that we’ve struggled with, to be honest, but we’re working through that with individual customers.

Mr Duggan said Aleeda had struggled with “a number of factors” including the economy and competition from rival manufacturers, with most of the company’s wetsuits made in Australia.

“With the recent changes of government, it’s got harder,” he said.

He said he had recently moved back into the workforce and left others to run the business “and that probably wasn’t the smartest move in hindsight”.

Mr Duggan said he had hoped the sale of Aleeda would have been finalised by now but “things haven’t worked out the way we hoped in terms of timings”.

“We’re hoping for that to be resolved next week,” he said.

“We’ve let people know that we’re working through a different way that the business will operate by passing it onto others so that everything could be paid out. There is a bunch of (employee) entitlements that are all part of that transmission.

“The brand will continue, there’s just been some change to the way that happens. The new people will take that forward.”

Originally published as Liquidations called in for iconic wetsuit brand Aleeda