What happens when the offshore Chinese/Taiwanese problem, moves onshore?

So recently I stumbled across a factory in Florida that just opened. Building boards in Florida closer to Chinese prices. Cold calling a bunch of manufacturers across the country undercutting thier current manufacturers/glassers by huge amounts. Full service pop-outs of my designs for dirt cheap.

Secondary creating a ton of thier own in house lines and flooding local surf shops with boards on Consignment a’la’Firewire.

Im sure some guys will jump all over this, the ones only in it for the buck. But its just started and several of my friends on the East Coast are already feeling the pinch especially in the Central Florida area. The guys who have thier whole lives in this and are the craftsmen. “We cant buy your boards for the shop anymore, because we have these 30 boards now”

Vastly undercut prices, flooding of the market with a lower end product… 

Melbourne is the new Taiwan.

So who are they?

Do like I do.

Go out of your way to tell the puchasers of these board both in and out of the water that they are what’s wrong with todays society. Buy cheap and replace again over buying a quality board that lasts longer. And is made by a craftsman. Not some kid in a sweat shop.

This topic gets my blood boiling.

Sorry to hear this.

 

why not name names like cleanlines asked? i’d be curious and would not want to support the label/shops.

i wonder how long something like this could sustain? it seems like boards like this would attract first-time buyers who never stick w/ surfing and never buy again. in the long run, shops would suffer as well as the production guys being undercut. are they just making a run while the gettin’s good? are they running minimum wage labor w/ enough skill/training to get the job done? it sounds like a bummer for the existing regional builders in the trenches.

new shirt for you barry

 

is this an example?:

 

http://paragonsurfboards.com/faq/

http://nextlevelfactory.com/

An interesting discussion:

http://www.2ndlight.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=3&threadid=156772

  surfboads  from China   I think Jacks in HB and Ron Jons in Fl.        do to name a few but I could be wrong…        Both last 1 season  Ya get standing bumbs   real easy…  

Thanks for the links Lawless. 

Theres some really interesting statements in that thread.

Especially the not here to make freinds, just make money sentiment,

and the I will copy any board to a t comment.

So basically no ethics and a bunch of self-righteousness.

I can appreciate the business aspect, as a lot of shapers and factory owners are inherently shitty business people but I think theres a line that is getting crossed there as far as respect for the craft and your fellow community members, boardbuilders not city-folk.

 

We live in the ‘Golden Age of Popouts.’   Domestic builders have been building them for years as far as I can tell.  All the milled model names and rows of damn near identical boards in two inch increments. I know a guy who orders from one of the Chineese builders, didn’t bother to as which, says he orders his board and it’s delivered to his house the next day. Exaggeration? I dont know. Mike

This shit has been going on for years now in Australia…Ive found that anyone who gets into building “cheap” , to compete with imports , isn’t around for long because their margins are just too slim…one slip up or one slight downturn and they’re out the back door and owing money . The only way anyone from anywhere in the world can build an el-cheapo surfboard is to cut every corner possible , use cheap shitty materials or use cheap inexperienced labour. The result can only be a cheap substandard product …I see more danger in new blog driven labels that use the machine and couldn’t shape or glass a board to save their own arse , their biggest cost is always marketing , to fool people into believing their boolshit…(lol)…quality and durability will always win in the long run.

 

 

 

 

 well as you know i have shown them a path for high end custom surfboards without the need for any material from the surf industries suppliers

but the intelligentsia  youth patrol  kaput it ?    the bullshit attached to the surf industry has never changed

**when the young realize that the commercial wagon is broke then things may change

 but i put serious doubt on that?**

 

**   when they went to sillane glass and free laps i said they were trying to cheat

then they went to 1x1 4oz and sand as much off as possible creating egg shells i called them idiots and f#####k me there still doing it 30yrs latter and i call them frauds

for the last 12 yrs i have religiously concentrated on building a custom board that surfs good and last for a while

do the grommets care —duh uh nah     i tell you the youth of to day are in for some big shocks**

 **and to make matters worse a lot of the glass being supplied to the industry is f$$$ king woe full   MADE IN CHINA

std boards should be using a min  2x 1 s glass if they must use glass at all that is**

 

**  rant over i am away

mybe with the  fairies**

 

cheers huie

In a concentrated market like Central Florida, a thing like that might work. But, the market has been flooded with cheap imports for so long I doubt there’s really much room for anyone. Look at all the ones who have come and gone, already. Importing Chinese and Taiwanese product by the container load, eventually trying to dump them on ebay, and they wind up at Costco or some other big box store, priced at a loss.

Any chance of getting one of those shirts? maybe 2?

…(lol)…you can lead a horse to water , but you can’t make him drink…The only companies I see doing OK , are the ones that have never compromised on their quality . They don’t sell cheap and the punters don’t care - they just want the quality…these new aged mega factories are already doomed when they decide to enter the race for the bottom - the only way is down.

Everything seems to be “at the end of the day”…

Man if I had the money to build  factory like Nextlevel I would put in a business that made sense, not in to building surfboards.  

Copying intellectual property is a good way to make lots of enemies. Of course they will be banking on the fact that most board builders are very small and can’t afford to defend their design rights.
You also have to keep in mind that GSI was doing pretty much what next level is attempting to do. GSI had to completely reorganize dump a lot of product and lost a lot of money. Not sure how they are doing now. It is also telling that a great many surfshops are closing their doors.

odd, it doesn’t seem to be impacting my builds. :slight_smile:  We seem to have already culled a significant amount of “margin” in CFL on the last offshore influx, and the true experienced “masters” still continue to put out desired products.  LIke I said years ago, there is functional art, worth paying for, and there is the rest.  Although I did have to borrow a board from Reola to surf through a few heats a couple of weeks ago in a local contest.  First time I rode a 5’10" since high school, some 30 years ago, and it rode well.

The  majority of surfers today, the 12 - 34 yr old demographic, all want to ride whatever their favorite pro rides. Line up the daily drivers next to each other from a handful of simillarly sized pros, the only thing really different among the respective 6’1 x 18 5/8 x 2 5/16 squash thrusters are the stickers - otherwise pretty much identical boards.

And pretty damn easy to clone at pricepoint levels, as the vast demographic cannot tell the subtle yet important differences between said factory clone and a pro board, itself most likely off a machine as well, because all they consider is what pro model at what length and volume.  

This new factory will no doubt damage some of the smaller labels struggling to compete as it is

it will, however, eventually lose it’s ‘pro clone’ market share to the 3D printing factories that will inevitably be ramping up even lower cost per unit clones in the not so distant future.

The simple yet sad fact remains that the era of the truly custom board is over.  When many if not most of the prominent shapers in the world espouse how great shaping machines are, doesn’t it then just become an issue of quality and cost?

And how many shapers on this forum would want to spend their lives grinding out 6’1 ‘pro’ clones by hand?

So let the masses have their pricepoint boards.  For that dwindling tribe who follow a different path, stand on a different ride, there will always be a custom shaper somewhere near.

It falls back on the uneducated consumer and the Uneducated or, more-so irresponsible shop owners.

From their point of view its free inventory that is always nice, but it comes at a price to the local community and culture.

The caveat is it will push the true local craftsman back to selling out the backdoor, which the shops hate.

Its a vicious circle.

It may not be made in China but it carries the vibe.

 

 I understand what you are sayng but this is where building a board can become a real Art.  The true artist craftsmen board builder is now liberated to persue the creative path.  These surfers that emerge from the pack mentality of adolescence 
will seek out the a Custom board. New materials will aid in making that Board something that will last more then a year.