Why are Quick, Bong and making boards?

Industry Talk
21

Others have answered why the Big surf lifestyle companies . . . its true. Legit is surfers and shapers. The big boys have surfers, now they want shapers.

But they are still doing stupid stuff, maybe their marketing crews don’t really share. Look at the QUicksilver and Kammie’s situation? Lots of surfers are hating on Quick because of what they are doing.

Lots of surfers like Reef.

But shapers can do well without big companies. Look at Al Merrick. But Rich Harbour is another, little better examples. Tons of guys I know are Harbour owners for life. Fo’ Lieee (like they say in the streets while throwing contorted W’s or S’s or F’s or L’s with their hands).

22

Hey…Have you seen the new Volcom Stone model air rider…never been done before…wide nose…narrow tail…four fins…Yuk Yuk Yuk…complete with HIM sticker on the nose.

Harbour is a great example of a guy who has a great logo with something behind it. With proper funding, it could probably do well with the clothing too.

23

Funny you should mention Smith and Hawken - very interesting company that in many ways anticipated a lot of what’s going on in many markets, including Patagonia’s clothing lines and the many online and catalog stores. Hawken’s book ‘Growing a Business’ is worthwhile reading.

Though the company was sold to the Scott’s Miracle Gro people who have cheezed it out completely. http://johnnysseeds.com/ is probably their spiritual successor.

Now, to give an example of what Solo is talking about:

http://store.gardenhardware.com/spj1150hr.html - the Spear and Jackson gardening spade - costs about $70 US, and mine is well over 20 years on, much use and abuse. If and when the handle goes, it’ll be worth fixing. Which will probably happen to one of my descendants someday .

Compare this to the US equivalent ( http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1275019&cp=&kw=spade&parentPage=search&searchId=10542288245 ) which is made of cheap, light metal and will bend or break with any heavy use. And it’s $30. Planned obsolescence, very similar to the average production surfboard.

Or, from Johnny’s http://johnnysseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?category=292&subcategory=637&item=9432 - more heavy metal. If I had my Spear and Jackson stolen, I’d get one of these.

The better tool is also a pleasure to use, more efficient, besides outlasting the cheap junk. There is probably a good deal of hand crafting and hand assembly involved, far more than the stamped-out cheapo.

Also, and very important, the companies involved. Johnny’s Selected Seeds is run by the founder, it’s stayed small and the management is pretty much family. Their service is great, they understand the meaning of the word.

Now, while there are so many shapers and would-be shapers who may want to get fat and rich cranking out mediocre products by the millions, it ain’t gonna happen. That era is over and the players in that arena are there already. The capital investment needed to play on that scale is only going to come from one of the bigger sports industry players, maybe with a name shaper as figurehead.

Surfboards on a smaller scale are an artisanal product. Trying to sell them to the masses against the mass-produced product is a losing proposition. So, make 'em, market 'em and sell 'em as a higher priced and better made artisanal product that will outlast and outperform the stamped out variety. Like the guys making boats out of wood, high end tools, sporting goods and the like. The superior product will capture a niche market and that’s the best and worst of it.

It does mean that a lot of the garage guys with limited skills who can’t put out a really first class product will fall by the wayside…

they will not be missed.

doc…

24

i also work in a factory in brazil that makes billibong boards, and have never seen them checking anything out but chicks at the beach…

25

it is cool being a young-ish upstart in the shaping world today. i wasn’t there for the first generation popouts, but remember a lot of cheaply made boards in the 80’s and 90’s in the ‘comp’ or ‘pro’ genre. also, the amount of information out there, available to a person who wants to make surfboards is almost overwhelming. then there is this community, where questions and answers exist, with real, accurate advice. amazing.

i am cutting my teeth shaping/finishing boards in brazil, and the guy who i rent space from runs his own label and factory, shapes for a couple big brazilian companies, as well as licensed by other companies, would love it if quik walked in and ordered 100 boards. it is all about paying the bills. that’s business.

service is what it is going to boil down to. the public wants affordable product. cheaper the better, yes, but if have to buy 2 $300 boards a year, or one $700 board for 2 years(or longer) what makes sense? surfers are cheap, but not stupid. we as a community need to embrace new technology, innovate, and also be business savy.

gerry lopez said that ‘there will always be people who want it like it used to be, nothing stays the same forever.’ the only way we are going to survive is to provide a better product, with better service. it is that simple, and that hard.

as far as big lables go, i think that while the mainstream will always want quik, billy, hilfiger, 7eleven, chevy, budwieser, mcdonalds, and blink182, surfing was, and maybe to a smaller degree now, a personal experience, and innovators are cool. the current trend in surfing is fashion/fad/newthinyness. cool for now, but tomorrow it will be golf, or bmx, or kite surfing, ot someother thing. underdogs, and hardcore local companies will always be there. you can always tell who to stay away from, when they walk down the street in quik trunks billy shirt, and volcom hat(with logos that all look the same.)

26

Classic…

27

this quicksilver billy bong wearin fool will take you to skool. people are people, let them be.

28

yeah bro, thanks for making my point perfectly clear. would you be taking me to english class too?

anyway, surf how you like, buy/wear what you like. i don’t care. but if i have to choose between quik, and some other well made, local condition understanding brand, my money’s going local.