Another one bites the dust.....

http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/06/05/china-schou.php

Someone beat you to the punch, already posted here…

Cheers,

Austin

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=229767;page=1;mh=-1;;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC

Aloha fellow revolutionaries! So, who is the “establishment”? All those brand names, Al Merrick, Rusty, Lost. These “businessmen” more or less own the industry. Yeah, how about that profit margin? How can the guy Biolas squeek about overseas made boards and then say that his new line will sell for more than the shop made ones from California? Great that he can get more for them, but he’s also getting them made for cheaper. Who’s making the money? Yeah right, “so he can continue to pay his shop workers”. Like he’s really gonna share the wealth? The polisher says he hasn’t got a raise in 3 years? Biolas is a millionaire? I’m so sick of the “American Way”. The whole country is operating on media hype. The “surf industry” must spend enormous amounts of $$$ on their gigantic advertising schemes and the idiot consumers are just eating that shit up. Profit margin. Ridiculous. Aloha…RH

Rick ----------Good to here you responding to industry trends. An epoxy “surftech” from Thai or other SE Asia locales is not a “custom shape”. When they started down this road: The story was that these boards would be introduced as entry level boards. What I am seeing here in the Islands is that people buy these boards and then do not progress on to anything else. IE; a custom board to fit their physical size and ability. You make a great board Rick and forums like this will make people aware of that fact. LF McDing

Lovely article, I got really stoked while reading it! The problems described therein are exactly the same as those facing board builders in Europe at the moment Many are responding as have the large US labels and scrambling for overseas sources, others are trying to maintain by focusing on niche markets, but most are ducking their heads in the sand and pretending that the threat is just a fad, soon to be shelved in the backroom with the last pairs of day-glo Flojos.

I put my two cents worth into the fight, and then added the word ‘garage’ before shaper on my business cards and built a new stand in my shed.

There are some folks doing fantastic things trying to keep custom boards alive, I spoke with PierreK yesteday and saw what they were doing with sandwich construction, and had a chat with Nev at an industry event (I can assure you that shapers were not at the apex of the social order) who is up to some interesting stuff as well… but I have to wonder if they can hold their own against clothes-sales-driven companies that can afford the marketing.

Not to be too negative, but such articles do get me going.

Mahalo.