There are many mythical stories about the founding and history of Budgy Smuggler & almost all of them are true. The early details are bit hazy but it goes a little something like this...A group of mates in a backyard in Sydney write ‘Budgy Smuggler’ on the back of a pair of speedo-style Swimwear as a bit of a laugh. They accidentally misspelling ‘budgie’.Budgy Smuggler was born.

Led by Lockie Harris & Tom Malone, the philosophy in the early day was essentially to get in smugglers and “get loose”.This was a highly unsustainable strategy but we kept it going for a decade or so.An early favourite marketing technique was to run the City2Surf in smugglers and hope that it made the news. We never did make the news but we made plenty of new friends along the way.

In 2005 the boys eventually develop their own pattern of swimwear and launch one of the early online businesses in Australia: www.BudgySmuggler.com.auEveryone is insistent: "it will never work!"

At the time many retailers were moving manufacturing overseas. We made the call to keep making our Swimwear here in Australia, led by our Master Maker Arnold who has made for a number of other iconic Australian brands including Speedo and Zimmerman. When you put on a pair of smugglers we want you to feel like you’re wearing a piece of Australia.

It may sound unbelievable, but a meeting with Barack Obama and the UN led to a change in ownership. Lockie, the original Chief Smuggler, decided to sell, passing the baton to Adam 'Linny' Linforth in 2008. Linny, a surf boat rower, started running the business from a bedroom in Manly, selling smugglers from his backpack while competing across Australia. Within a year, he had the keys to the smuggling bus . . . and no idea what to do next.

Budgy Smuggler switched to a fabric better suited for surf boat rowing, allowing competitors to adjust their swimwear comfortably for sliding on seats. This fabric quickly caught on in non-water sports like Footy, AFL, Cricket, and music festivals. At one point, more pro athletes were buying pairs than everyday customers. The website even crashed when Steve Smith and Dave Warner wore smugglers at a Sydney Cricket Ground Test, establishing Budgy Smuggler as a brand known for sports far beyond the water.

This one was a bit ridiculous in hindsight.We literally shut the streets of Sydney through a world record attempt swimwear parade to raise funds for AIME (the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience).People entering were sponsored to enter and we raised close to half a million dollars for Indigenous education.

Manly Sea Eagles and Indigenous All Star George Rose gains notoriety for revealing on TV the different design of smugglers he wears each week. Increasingly athletes like Buddy Franklin, Matt Giteau and Adam Ashley-Cooper appear wearing the brand on and off the field.

After more than a decade, Manly local BJ Hartmann became Budgy Smuggler’s first full-time team member, soon joined by Angus Keenan and Nathan Linforth. With their help, we moved the bed out of Linny’s bedroom, making way for our first office and marking our shift from a hobby business to a business... that still feels like a hobby. (Also, BJ has some sweet pipes in that photo, though he asked us not to mention it.)

Linny joined Budgy Smuggler full-time after raising over $50 million to support Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander high school graduation rates through his work with the mentoring program AIME. Soon after, Budgy Smuggler’s first sponsored athlete, Tim "Reedy" Reed—whom Linny met five years prior—won the 70.3 Ironman and the Australian Ironman championship in Budgy Smugglers. Reedy also played a key role in refining the brand’s most comfortable fabrics.

Budgy Smuggler is going global! Linny moved to the UK to liberate the thighs of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales—and enjoy some British sunshine. The growth strategy was straightforward: connect with players over a beer. Jack Nowell, of the England and British & Irish Lions, became a smuggling icon, while Australian rugby stars like Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Damien Fitzpatrick, and Adam Ashley Cooper played key roles in spreading the smuggling spirit across the Northern Hemisphere.

We host the inaugural search for Australia’s Most Ordinary Rig which encapsulates a lot of the ethos of smuggling.Ordinary Rig was our way of countering that narrative that you needed to be ripped to be loved. What was most important was being someone that was good to be with and not just good to look at. For both our boys and girls range we’ve tried to focus on Budgy Smuggler being about sharing good times with your mates rather than what you look like.

We opened our first flagship store on Darley Rd, Manly, following a series of successful pop-ups, and welcomed Milly Mac, who still leads our retail experience today. By 2018, we’d made our debut at Pop Up events in France and were gaining a foothold in the Northern Hemisphere. We launched our first London Pop Up at Old Street Station, with Jimmy Exelby and Jack Burton joining the core team to expand Budgy in the UK.

Our smuggling family increasingly share life’s special moments while smuggling.A lot of Budgy Smuggler tattoos start popping up. We estimate the total number to be around 50 and counting.

There are many mythical stories about the founding and history of Budgy Smuggler & almost all of them are true. The early details are bit hazy but it goes a little something like this...A group of mates in a backyard in Sydney write ‘Budgy Smuggler’ on the back of a pair of speedo-style Swimwear as a bit of a laugh. They accidentally misspelling ‘budgie’.Budgy Smuggler was born.

There are many mythical stories about the founding and history of Budgy Smuggler & almost all of them are true. The early details are bit hazy but it goes a little something like this...A group of mates in a backyard in Sydney write ‘Budgy Smuggler’ on the back of a pair of speedo-style Swimwear as a bit of a laugh. They accidentally misspelling ‘budgie’.Budgy Smuggler was born.

There are many mythical stories about the founding and history of Budgy Smuggler & almost all of them are true. The early details are bit hazy but it goes a little something like this...A group of mates in a backyard in Sydney write ‘Budgy Smuggler’ on the back of a pair of speedo-style Swimwear as a bit of a laugh. They accidentally misspelling ‘budgie’.Budgy Smuggler was born.

There are many mythical stories about the founding and history of Budgy Smuggler & almost all of them are true. The early details are bit hazy but it goes a little something like this...A group of mates in a backyard in Sydney write ‘Budgy Smuggler’ on the back of a pair of speedo-style Swimwear as a bit of a laugh. They accidentally misspelling ‘budgie’.Budgy Smuggler was born.

There are many mythical stories about the founding and history of Budgy Smuggler & almost all of them are true. The early details are bit hazy but it goes a little something like this...A group of mates in a backyard in Sydney write ‘Budgy Smuggler’ on the back of a pair of speedo-style Swimwear as a bit of a laugh. They accidentally misspelling ‘budgie’.Budgy Smuggler was born.

There are many mythical stories about the founding and history of Budgy Smuggler & almost all of them are true. The early details are bit hazy but it goes a little something like this...A group of mates in a backyard in Sydney write ‘Budgy Smuggler’ on the back of a pair of speedo-style Swimwear as a bit of a laugh. They accidentally misspelling ‘budgie’.Budgy Smuggler was born.

There are many mythical stories about the founding and history of Budgy Smuggler & almost all of them are true. The early details are bit hazy but it goes a little something like this...A group of mates in a backyard in Sydney write ‘Budgy Smuggler’ on the back of a pair of speedo-style Swimwear as a bit of a laugh. They accidentally misspelling ‘budgie’.Budgy Smuggler was born.

There are many mythical stories about the founding and history of Budgy Smuggler & almost all of them are true. The early details are bit hazy but it goes a little something like this...A group of mates in a backyard in Sydney write ‘Budgy Smuggler’ on the back of a pair of speedo-style Swimwear as a bit of a laugh. They accidentally misspelling ‘budgie’.Budgy Smuggler was born.

There are many mythical stories about the founding and history of Budgy Smuggler & almost all of them are true. The early details are bit hazy but it goes a little something like this...A group of mates in a backyard in Sydney write ‘Budgy Smuggler’ on the back of a pair of speedo-style Swimwear as a bit of a laugh. They accidentally misspelling ‘budgie’.Budgy Smuggler was born.

Great question. We’re currently working hard at developing out our Apparel Range... we’re also looking at future stores in Queensland and the NSW Coast. Stay tuned!We remain a family owned business and still manufacture every pair of Budgy Smugglers here in Sydney, Australia. Our HQ is now based up the road in Brookvale and the dream is to do well enough to install a rooftop pool for the team by 2028. When it comes to product testing… you can count on us!

Happy Smuggling,
Linny and the Budgy Smuggler Team!!