To be sure, like other businesses in a soft retail market, action sports companies face challenges.

Although New Albany, Ohio-based Abercrombie & Fitch Co. reported that first-quarter earnings rose 3 percent to $62.1 million as revenue increased almost 8 percent to $800.2 million, same-store sales at its surf-inspired division, Hollister, fell 8 percent.

PacSun, the Anaheim, Calif.-based retailer that is trying to find its footing after shuttering its urbanwear and shoe businesses, said its first-quarter net loss widened to $37.1 million from $5.1 million as revenue dropped to $266.9 million from $268.1 million. PacSun has set a goal of refocusing on its core business, including a revamped juniors section offering more fashion. Volcom and other surf companies are also eyeing overseas markets for expansion.

Fox Head said it will launch a women's swimwear line exclusively with PacSun next year and offer it to other retailers in the following year.

Quiksilver is looking to retain an older, more sophisticated customer who grew up with — and possibly out of — Roxy. It is aggressively pushing this fall's debut of its young contemporary line that will be sold under the parent brand at fashion retailers such as Nordstrom and E Street Denim. Rather than promoting sun and surf, the board sport behemoth is showing its artsy side by sponsoring free concerts in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood. The first show was for The Submarines, a trio of feel-good indie rockers who filled a loft this month with scruffy dudes sporting bold eyeglasses and girls in vintage-inspired dresses accessorized with Vans slip-ons.

"We've been impressed with how creative they are as a company and what great people we've met there," said Blake Hazard, The Submarines' lead singer who donned a prairie-style frock that coordinated with the daisies decorating her keyboard.

That image helps in an uncertain economy.

"Retailers are taking a conservative outlook, but they are looking to brands, solid brands, strong brands, stable brands in this kind of an environment," Martin Samuels, president of Quiksilver Americas, said during a recent conference call. "People know we're going to perform."