Has anyone noticed how many Ads there are from China on the Homepage of Swaylocks? How do you feel about that. Boards for $150.00. I know China has been here for awhile but they will keep getting better and if your not so avid surfer has a choice they will probably choose the $150.00 board over the $700.00 board. What can we do as an industry to keep jobs here in the USA? If you take the soul out of surfboard construction I believe it trickles down to the soul of surfing itself and true surfers will not be able to make it in the surf industry and this will truly be a tragedy.
True surfers aren’t in the surf industry, they are not trying to suck bucks out of soccer moms purses in exchange for over-priced clothes and shoes (shoes!, when was the last time you wore shoes in the line up?). They are in the water or in their own shaping rooms making their own boards.
There is no soul in industry. Americans have enough wealth as is, lets let somebody else lead the charge to the end of the world. I can see the day when China starts opening factories in Alabama and Mississippi. Is that why we should not buy Mr Wongs boards? To keep the surf “industry” in California? At any rate, I wonder how many other businesses CEOs such as yourself have put out of business, but hey, thats just business. Business business business. That word doesn’t mean anything anymore, it’s politics and the political system which gave you the ability to make a buck is giving it to China
The tragedy you allude to isn’t from China, its from your truck and two story Dutch Colonial, your eating habits and spending habits. I know it sucks that this is happening to you but it did not come as a surprise to anybody and its stupid racism that made us all believe they would never be able to catch up to us in the first place. I think they have already beaten us at our own game.
You ask what we can do to keep jobs in the USA (God Bless America), well, maybe you could fight dirty and hire out some Blackwater mercenary team to “Protect your assets overseas” with a few explosives. The USA (God Bless 'em) hasn’t fought clean in business ever so why start now?
First of all Mr. Hippie, you are making a pretty prejudice remark. You don’t know me or how my company is run. First of all we don’t sell shoes. Second we donate 12% of our gross income to charities that the Ocean benefits from the same Oceans that you enjoy. Have you ever been to China? I don’t believe that you have. Because if you have been there you would not be making these comments. Well I have so let me fill you in on what you get from China. Child slave labor and no Environmental concerns what so ever. So if that makes you feel good, that you can save a few bucks on your new Chinese slave labor made board then go ahead maybe you will have some money left over to buy another bag of dope for you and your hippie friends. You say racism is why we are letting China pass us by. Well that was another remark that is way off. It’s called “GREED”. I can triple my bottom line overnight by moving my operations to China. Hell I can even be like my ancestors and own a plant that very much resembles the plantations of the 1700’s and 1800’s, wouldn’t that be great Mr. Hippie. But I choose to help keep the middle class hard working, skilled and great full Americans feeding there Families. So if it makes you feel good that Mr. Wong, the slave driver, will pollute the earth and use slave labor, well then go ahead. One thing I know is I will sleep good tonight with a clear conscience, will you?
ive already given up ,all my old shop accounts told me. straight up they can fill there walls for half the price with china boards. and I cant realy make it of local custom bro deals. been tuckin my shirt in and aplying for jobs. sucks. Xon Zane xyzsurfboards.com
got in trouble for talkin bad about them the other day on this site.
It’s a big time of change, where things are made, how things are made, and the expectations of the people who make, and people who buy.
All this change needs a very open mind to changing ourselves and the way we do things, and a open mind to how others do things.
We also have to accept that certain changes are going to affect people everywhere, some will benefit, some will not.
The amount of money we earn and the lifestyles we lead here in the first world gives us no right to deny a job to a third world person who needs it to eat.
It’s our demand for inexpensive items that allows us to continue with the good life.
Sometimes we save up to buy quality. Sometimes not.
Sorry Mr. Huseman, I don’t mean to offend (sure I was a bit harsh and tended to direct my comments all to you) but I did mean to say what I did. There is nothing you can do to stop the Red Threat that is China’s economy. I don’t think you really thought out what you wanted to say in reply, you just attacked and called names. You aren’t seeing, I believe, the line of growth creeping along in the rest of the world. You don’t see that it is running parallel to the North American’s, i.e. the good 'ol US of A’s. The industrial revolution (which started in Russia, yes I know) paved the way for mass production. Mass production paved the way for mass comfort. Mass comfort paved the way for more leisure time. More leisure time combined with mass production gave us immense amounts of choices as to how we spend and from whom we buy. That just summed up the past 175 or so years of American prosperity.
In China, the war between flawed political systems, each claiming divine inseption, caused the communist state to fail as compared to the capitalist, over where we live. The freedom of people to make large companies and even larger profits was denied to the Chinese until just recently.
Mr. Huseman, I try hard, every day, to not make poor choices that lead to the suffering of anything, but I do not succeed and it amazes me that anybody could be cool with that. Almost everything I do, even typing away here uses some sort of commodity that is expensive and for the most part, non renewable. I don’t get why you tell me to buy Mr Wongs product, I make my own boards and get my “blanks” from home depot or lowes. I really don’t think that we even need your product or many many other things that are advertised to us as the best thing since sliced bread (or I guess sliced foam in your case) but that is not the point.
Th point is, capitalism, which unnavoidably creates haves and have nots, is working on a global scale now and you, Mr. Huseman, along with many others, are going to have to cede your “have” position over to somebody else. Right or wrong, the world owes nothing to no one and its naive to think US citizens deserve to be on top for any reason. I’m not buying Mr Wongs product, but you know that many others will. It’s not greed driving the global economy, it is this unequivocal belief that the best is yet to come and that we can all achieve it. Even the Chinese. Thats the way the cookie crumbles, try not to cough on the crumbs.
I just want to respond one last time, I hope. China will not, does not and cannot effect my business. It effects alot of poeple that I care about. Blanks only account for 10% of our business. . The point I was trying to make in the original post was a trickle down effect, starting with surfboard manufacturing. Look at retail surf shops. They cannot survive with out actually having surfbaords in their shop. Now ask ANY store mangager and they will tell you that they dont make money on surfboards. Surfboards is where it starts. And you haev to haev them to survive as a "surfshop"If you take away that local craftsmenship it will trickle down and effect the whole market, including China. Look at the skateboard industry. The same thing happened in the early 90’s and it got so bad that most comanies went under, including the ones located in China. The China Invasion that I spoke about does not effect me or my business, at this time. It could however effect alot of shapers and board manufatcures making it difficult for a lot good poeple to make a living. So in reponse I did think about what I said and dont regret anything I said, as far as the name calling goes the “hippie” thing was more of satire. What I want to get across is, what can we do as a community of industry to improve on the products that we offer? I am all for, “may the best man win”. I have always believed in that. So be it if its China, Australia or even Thailand( which are bigger players than most know). What I am trying do is wake some poeple up, mabey change the way we have been,which is complacent. I do have pride in America and American made products, as should anyone who lives here. We have way to many jobs moving overseas in ALL industry not just surf related industry for Americans to keep the lifestyle that we have grown accustom to. It will definently not hurt to hang on to some of those jobs for a sport, lifestyle and Industry that has been so good to us for so long.
I always appreciate hearing dialog from other point of views and this is exactly what I was looking for. So I mean ill will towards you or anyone elses view, I just wanted to stir the pot and get some poeple talking about what I feel is an important subject.
Maybe we could get rid of the money. It seems that the problem does not lie within the constraints of better technology (on either side) or quantity, its just geographic location. I suppose the best thing the surf industry could do is to set up some sort of barter system within US borders. I know this is ridiculous, and probably will never work, but it seems the only way to avoid the free market is to step out of it entirely. As implausible as it may seem it makes sense. A persons or businesses worth is a bunch of numbers with a funny sign in front of it. Well, what if America decides to create a second area of capital?
We could call it bits, like computers, and we could assign a bit value to each thing, even people. Instead of a salary, we get a “bit rate.” Instead of spending money on food and other essentials, we could spend our bits and save cash money for use in overseas ventures, where they still use gold backed currency (which is also arbitrary). We would still have dollars but we could have the option of earning something else or a combination of the two and stores and companies could sell goods at a dollar value and a bit rate, with the bit rate being of a much lower worth than the dollar value.
I am not trying to be facetious, I don’t want to argue about silly things anymore, I’m just trying to throw out some possible solutions.
Any economics professors care to debunk my theory?
It won’t be easy to implement a plan like this, or even a completely different plan, but that is just because people have gotten too complacent with the present state of affairs. We are living in an economic deam, and I do agree with you that we must wake from it as it is already a subtle nightmare, but the tryptophan from yesterdays turkey (metaphor alert) keeps us snoozing.
As silly as that may seem to other people, not me, there is alot of that already going on with midsize manufactures. For instance we trade blanks to alot of the shapers that shape our complete boards( that we do for Licensed lables, Wall hangers and the boards you somtimes see in the liquor stores with your favorite beer lable or energy drink on). As well as to our finish shapers. This seems to work out for evryone and some are very happy with it. It cost us less to get boards shaped and the shaper makes more per board when he uses the blanks that we traded with Him. We also somtimes do this with Glassing. I know that your discusion about bartering is not what we originally discussed but what you say does already make sense and is already in use to a limited degree.
Names Rod I use to make most of the fins for the Gold Coast here in oz Cyrstal Clear Core Loaded Fins in all and any template you wanted than one day a rep showed at our complex some 30 factorys say 70% boardmakers ,contract glassers & me the only finmaker north of Sydney,this guy was selling fins not as clear
less than perfect for $16.00au per set which was the cost for my materials than you had rent power toilet paper so I thunk long and hard and we sold up to some of the larger boardmakers on the coast. You might think ‘‘so sad to bad’’ but beware they are coming
a little at first than in a WAVE and when they have us BUY the balls
get ready for there special PRICE , by the way my fins were $25.00au per set core wood fabric checker plate sheet whatever.
Now I’m watching from the sidelines and keeping all aware.
Hi, in New Zealand we are in the same boat .Heaps of boards coming over from china etc.It’s not going to stop you just have to find ways to compete.Custom boards in my country are the only thing that will save us, I tryed to get shapers to ban together but it was a bit harder than what I thought.You can check out a website shapersalliance.co.nz good luck Paul
I was a 20 year corporate guy before getting into the surf industry – some pretty good business experience – not that I found it particularly enjoyable or noble, but learn a lot just the same. One of the central problems is that the US Surfboard manufactures WILL NOT ORGANIZE. I have brought this issue up time and time again, here and other places and US shapers, fearsly independent want noting to do with it. That spells death for most, particularly mid sized guys – its not news that a lot of these guys will be shutting down soon.
SIMA is NOT YOUR representative – 95% of the money comes from apparel – they do not give a rat’s ass about surfboards. Apparel products are nearly all made overseas and these are big money players.
A US Surfboard Manufactures Association to represent board men is a partial solution.
Like others in the Pacific rim, manufacturer starts out cheep and will eventually rise, as will quality. US board makers need to stay alive until price supports fall and China board prices rise-- that could be a few years down the road.
China boards are frequently made with materials from the US – the cheep labor cannot explain the low prices and they appear to me to be artificially low. China boards are lower in cost then the materials in the US to make them. WE SHOULD BE LOBBYING CONGRESS TO PUT RESTRICTIONS/TARIFFS on these products as China IS DUMPING PRODUCT IN US MARKETS.
Sorry Mike but its time for Swaylocks to take a stand, it is unethical (and illegal) by US standards to sell below average variable cost of a product. BAN CHINA FROM SWALOCKS TODAY! Let them back in when they sell at or above US cost.
Pull together with US and Domestic surf industry suppliers and chemical companies who would see a loss of business due to the China invasion – partner with them.
STOP PISSING IN YOUR OWN CORNFLAKES! Joe backdoor is not your competition, Crusty Carl the shaper down the street is not the competition, stop all the bitching and complaining about the guys in your neighborhood – China and corporatization is going to put you out of business and have you running a cash register in Wal-mart long before these guys will.
ORGANIZE!
BAN CHINA FROM SWALOCKS!
INDUSTRY COORDINATED EFFORT TO LOBBY CONGRESS FOR FAIR TRADE!
Shine, my man. YOU ARE RIGHT ON TARGET !! I appreciate your insight. Many should be thanking you. Your last bullet point is most telling. I’ll never look at cornflakes the same way again!
China boards are lower in cost then the materials in the US to make them.
Sounds like some material suppliers are screwing their US customers… or the chinamen are getting some killer deals on their 50000 blanks orders. The chinese way of doing things is to have a really low margin on whatever they produce but make it up in quantity instead. That’s why you’ll find the five largest container terminal in the world in china, they need huge harbours to ship quantity (and the 6th(well, something like that) largest harbour is in the US … for import. You’re #1 consumers, no doubt) No way they are selling their products at loss. No way you can compete on price, because you can’t compete on labour cost. But it’s all about the free market, right? Good old capitalism. We don’t wanna screw up the free market with protectionism, do we?
I am part Chinese, and my wife is part Chinese, also we are getting tunnel fins made in China.
Better ban me from Swaylock’s don’t you think?
Get right on to it Bill, the future of America is at stake !
:()
Home is where you hang your hat Bloke. You’re an Aussy now. Nothing racial in my post – its all about fair-trade. By US law, I cannot sell boards at China prices and not violate anit-trust. What do you think the customer will get when China and US importers put all the local producers out of business? You got it, eliminate the competition and prices will rise. They are giving away boards for a reason. You and your mates DownUnder need to organize too.
Surely it isn’t illegal to sell boards at ‘China prices’ ?
I don’t get the logic behind the idea that Chinese manufacturers will eiminate ‘local’ manufacturers wich will then lead to prices going up due to lack of competition. . . after all the Chines manufacturers will still be competing with each other.
"Arial"]Home is where you hang your hat Bloke. You're an Aussy now.
Last time I checked he was a Kiwi. Some Aussie kants consider New Zed to be the 8th state but don’t tell that to a Kiwi. Hemi and Rangi from the Mongrel mob would not approve.