You beat me to it. Virtually every outdoor sports brand makes a big chunk of its revenue and an even bigger chunk of its margin selling "lifestyle merch" -- T-s

You beat me to it. Virtually every outdoor sports brand makes a big chunk of its revenue and an even bigger chunk of its margin selling "lifestyle merch" -- T-shirts, sunglasses, etc. I fail to see how this is offensive or inappropriate. Similarly, it is intuitive that professional investors are going to want to try to buy companies like Hurley and Billabong amidst a societal trend of more people wanting to seem more surfer-like and buying T-shirts that convey the message "I'm into surf culture". The anticapitalist tone of the linked article is especially ironic given that the popularity of surfing in the non-Hawai'ian world was driven entirely by the post-WWII economic expansion in the US mainland and AUS that gave teenage baby boomers spending money in the early 60's. Surfing has always been co-opted by capitalism; there are old dudes in the lineup at Dana Point who were bitching about the fakeness of the Beach Boys and Gidget when they were young men 50+ years ago. None of this is new.