KMD Brands will relocate its warehouse operations for its Rip Curl brand from Torquay to its group facility in Truganina, Greater Melbourne.
The move will be finalised in May. Torquay is located just over 70 kilometres south-west of Melbourne CBD.
A spokesperson for the group confirmed the news in a statement, adding that its Ozmosis warehouse operations will follow this, but likely later this year or early 2026.
“All of our permanent warehouse crew have been offered permanent jobs at Truganina, or the option to take redundancy,” the spokesperson confirmed. “They’ve also been offered to trial their role at Truganina, with the ability to take redundancy if they do not wish to continue after the trial.
“This decision was not made lightly and KMD Brands acknowledges the commitment and dedication of our long-standing warehouse crew. Rip Curl’s home remains in Torquay with no impact to head office or store crew.”
KMD Brands is the managing company that also looks after Kathmandu and Oboz Footwear. According to its FY24 report, the group employs more than 4,500 staff across 15 countries.
Its Rip Curl business is believed to take up the larger portion of staff according to its last modern slavery statement for 2023, then noting that Rip Curl employed 1,290 full-time, 388 part-time and 620 casual employees.
Meanwhile, as of 2023, Kathmandu had 549 full-time, 801 part-time and 530 casual employees.