2024 WRAP UP

G'day Smugglers,  

What an honour it is to write this note each year. 

2024 was a huge year for us! We released 175+ new swim designs, shipped to more than 50 countries, opened 1 new store in Newcastle, Australia plus 1 pop up in London, attended 32 events around the world and collaborated with some incredible athletes and brands. 

Here are a few highlights...

It was the Summer of Shapes! Valtteri Bottas got around the Budgys and warehouse renos were tiring work...

We got Harry Garside down for a shoot, our favourite Frenchie visited the Aus office and we had to say no to a few questionable Custom DIY designs...

The marketing crew went to Vegas... and Vegas won. Big John x Budgy = boshhhh. An iconic shoot for our NRL Retro range at Leichhardt Oval and our lead designer Gussy had a baby girl.

What do you get when you put Australia's Most Ordinary Rig and Rugby League's Hottest Player in the same room? Sex...

The crew shot our Euro Summer campaign in Mallorca, we searched for the World's Greatest Goosey, Magic Round happened and we installed a Smuggler vending machine at the Caxton!

We supported the Tillies... YTG, we started a Friday morning Winter swim club, State of Origin happened (and we realised our maroon 'we get it' caps were a bad idea...)

That diving photo was released, we launched our first collection with Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and Bradman Best and Adam Elliot showed us around Newcastle!

We released a collab with Pit Viper and the shoot was with a stuntman! Our designer and head of product development Emma had a baby boy and we launched our first ever Smuggling Studio where hundreds of designs were submitted to become the new Smuggling design (pictured was the winning design by Sophie Smith).

Budgy Smuggler Newcastle launches with the help of NRLW Knights stars! We're loving life in Newy. The community has been epic and we're looking at a new store or two in SW QLD 2025. Stay tuned!

Our mate Nedd ran 100,000km, we released our second collab with XXXX and we turned the Summer pink to support McGrath Foundation with our 'Boobs' range - 100% of profits going to the amazing work they are doing to support people and families dealing with breast cancer. We also dropped an epic range of Retro Fleece Hoodies for our Northern Hemisphere friends.

The KOKO boys rocked our new Wallabies range, we giddy'ed up for Melbourne Cup, our Partnerships guy Jimmy had a baby boy, two of our ambassadors (Rhiannan and Xantheia) competed in the Red Bull Cliff Diving champs, we kicked off a community Sip & Dip in Bondi, did a shoot at the SCG with the Groundskeepers for a 2025 calendar, and we collab'ed with some amazing athletes: Madi Levi, Xantheia Pennisi and Brittany O'Brien... YTG!

We got to meet and be serenaded by Daryl Braithwaite (click here to sign up for early access to our range in 2025), we released a collection with NRLW superstar Isabelle Kelly, our team had a Santa photo, we opened a Pop Up in London, we launched a collection with Coca-Cola and we survived(ish) the Christmas chaos!

From our family to yours, wishing everyone the merriest of Christmas. Thank you for joining us on this wild Smuggling adventure - we love you and we're looking forward to even bigger and better things in 2025 🚀 

Lotsa love,  

Linny and the Budgy Crew