ASBMAG #90

Australasian Surf Business Magazine

#90

Women in Business ASBMAG.COM AUS $6.95 (INCLUDING GST)

FEATURE ARTICLES: Just Bloody Remarkable - Interview with Briand + Doug of Rip Curl, With the Flow: Danielle Clayton Salt Gypsy, Faster Rhythm: Speed to market programs ramp up.

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CONTENTS

ISSUE #90 DECEMBER

inside this issue

contents 10

Industry News Feature Article

20

JUST BLOODY REMARKABLE: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN SINGER + DOUG WARBRICK OF RIP CURL

28

Media Meter

30

Fresh

32

Buyers’ Guide

36

Buyers’ Guide

38

Buyers’ Guide

40

Feature Article

44

Feature Article

48

ActionWatch OZ Insights

50

Faces in the Lineup

SNOW

FOOTWEAR

GREEN

FASTER RHYTHM

DANIELLE CLAYTON - SALT GYPSY

JUST BLOODY REMARKABLE PUBLISHER ASB is published five times a year

by Australian Surf Business Pty Ltd ABN 38 109 415 983

AUSTRALIAN SURF BUSINESS PTY LTD PO Box 747 Torquay VIC 3228 Australia Phone/fax 03 5568 3488. Mobile 0417 747 855.

Email info@australiansurf.biz

CREATIVE

If you have any comments to make about ASB, or any aspect of the surfing industry, drop us a line: editorial@australiansurf.biz

urchin.com.au studio@urchin.com.au

ACCOUNTING & FINANCE Montgomery Carey & Associates www.mcaaccounting.com.au ADVERTISING Keith Curtain 0417 747 855 keith@asbmag.com.au FASHION CO-ORDINATOR Fiona Hampson fiona@asbmag.com.au SUB EDITOR Jock Serong

EDITORIAL PLATFORM Australasian Surf Business (ASB) magazine objectively reports on all aspects of the Australasian surf market. ASB is committed to editorial excellence and provides the only one-stop forum for the entire Australasian surf industry. Views expressed in ASB do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editors or publishers. No responsibility is accepted by ASB for the accuracy of advertisements or information within the publication.

ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT Australasian Surf Business Magazine is printed using ECO-CLEAN print processes. We use vegetable based inks and recyclable metal plates during the printing process. ASB is printed on FSC® accredited stock.

Our printer is accredited for ISO9001, ISO14001, AS/NZS 4801 and is an FSC® certified printer ensuring that we uphold the highest international standards for the prevention of pollution and promotion of a clean environment. No animals were harmed during the production of ASB.

SOCIAL MEDIA @asbmag https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-curtain https://twitter.com/asbmagazine https://www.facebook.com/asbmag2004/

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ON THE COVER: Danielle Clayton of Salt Gypsy is the second of our Women in Business cover series.

Interviews with the founders of our industry are rare air. We’ve interrogated CEOs, brand managers and everyone in between, but getting eyeball-to-eyeball with Rip Curl founders Brian Singer and Doug Warbrick is the rarest air of all.

The exclusive interview you’ll read in these pages took place at Rip Curl’s ‘spiritual home’ in Torquay, following the announcement the company would sell to dual-listed Kathmandu Holdings. While every major news outlet clambered for the interview, good to their word, Claw and Brian granted ASBMAG this exclusive.

“It’s a bloody good magazine,” said Brian Singer, and that’s about the strongest testimonial we can think of.

Rip Curl’s history has already been told in Tim Baker’s book ‘The Rip Curl Story’, so it felt right to focus on what made Rip Curl great, whether the formula could be repeated today, and what’s the ‘magic’ about the Surf Coast that fostered two of the industry’s biggest brands. We spoke about the ’80s, when the company nearly went bankrupt, and the steps they took to bring the business around. And we discussed the key people who’ve exited the company and had successful careers elsewhere in the industry.

Brian and Claw were in high spirits.

Although the deal had a long way to go, they felt they’d ‘got lucky’ once again.

It’s history now, but the deal won unanimous shareholder approval: on October 31, Rip Curl officially became part of Kathmandu Holdings, netting the founders a cool $20m on closing.

They answered questions in unison, often picking up the conversation where the other left off, brothers rather than lifelong business partners. Brian would lead; Claw would wait and answer in a calculated and articulate manner. When asked to name one surfer in the history of the brand they’d pick when the chips are down, Claw chose three: Damian Hardman, Mick Fanning and Gabriel Medina. Brian chose MP “because he liked to party”.

In truth, we felt the weight of this exclusive.

Rip Curl trusted us with it. The exchange is a personal one: for exclusive insights on the detail of the and the future for Rip Curl we spoke with the chief architect of the deal, Rip Curl CEO Michael Daly for our Professional Edition subscribers.

It’s been another year of accelerated change in our industry, highlighted by Rip Curl’s sale to Kathmandu. I’d like to stop, pause and rewind to thank every brand that has supported us throughout the year.

October returned strong results on our ActionWatch panel, up 4.8% YOY. We go to press right at the busiest trading time of the year, Black Friday is behind us and the focus now is on a prosperous Xmas and New Year.

We’ll catch you again in February, but please keep up with all the action at asbmag.com Kick back, grab a quiet corner of the store and enjoy.

Keith Curtain Publisher.

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For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

INDUSTRY NEWS

brand news RIP CURL SOLD TO OUTDOOR SPECIALISTS KATHMANDU Rip Curl Founders Brian Singer and Doug “Claw” Warbrick have sold their iconic Australian surf brand to Australia and New Zealand-based outdoor specialists Kathmandu. The acquisition of Rip Curl by Kathmandu creates a $1 billion Australasian-based surfing and outdoor adventure lifestyle company, offering a technical product mix to their combined customer base across wholesale and directto-consumer retail channels.

“There are strong parallels between Rip Curl and Kathmandu. Both companies thrive on creating high quality, functional products for outdoor enthusiasts, surfers and beach goers around the world. Both brands are also from the same part of the world – Australia and New Zealand. Bringing them together will build on our respective strengths across product, marketing and distribution channels,” said Rip Curl Group CEO Michael Daly.

“It will be a new world for all of us after fifty years of private ownership, and our entire crew would like to thank the Rip Curl Founders for everything they have done for surfing over the years,” he continued.

“Professionally, my team and I are excited by the opportunities that this will create, and we look forward to joining Kathmandu and retaining our vision of being regarded as the ultimate surfing company in all that we do.”

Kathmandu’s CEO Xavier Simonet said “Rip Curl transforms Kathmandu into a highly complementary, seasonally balanced, global outdoor and action sports business. The combination will support the acceleration of our brands’ global expansion into new channels and markets.

Sharing a focus on quality, innovation and sustainability, Kathmandu and Rip Curl make for a great cultural fit.”

The founders are confident Kathmandu is a good home for their much-loved brand and Rip Curl crew. There is not much the pair, alongside European Founder Francois Payot, have not achieved on the beaches of the world, inspiring world surfing champions like Tom Curren, Damien Hardman, Mick Fanning, Gabriel Medina and Tyler Wright along the way.

The founders said “After fifty years it’s an emotional event for us. Surfing and the surf industry have been an integral part of our lives for more than fifty years. We realise Rip Curl, our baby, has grown into an adult, recognised all over the planet and we are proud that we have created one of the world’s great brands. We’re confident the crew at Rip Curl will continue to look after the brand and products into the future.”

See our full feature this issue.

LEUS TO REEF AUSTRALIA DISTRIBUTION LEUS has officially announced a partnership with Reef Australia, a leading distribution company in Australia and New Zealand. The Reef sales team have already commenced selling the new summer collection with the first shipment of product dropping mid-October “Reef Australia truly understand where retail is headed and are perfectly in line with our plans of market diversity,” said the LEUS team.

With a combined Aus/NZ population of over 28 million people—many of whom are active and live near a coastline—the potential for growth in LEUS’ golf, yoga, outdoor, and surf categories is enormous.

“We’re stoked to be representing LEUS in Australia and New Zealand: the product looks fantastic and the approach to market is awesome,” said brand manager Tim Barr.

“I’ve seen the Spring 2020 product and the new 3SIXTY eco-tech fabric is really exciting, as are the product collabs.”

NIKE, INC. ANNOUNCES SALE OF HURLEY TO BLUESTAR ALLIANCE NIKE, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) announced it has reached a definitive agreement to sell the Hurley brand to Bluestar Alliance LLC. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed and it is expected to be complete in December.

“We appreciate how Bob and the Hurley team have built Hurley into the world’s most innovative surf brand,” said Michael Spillane, President of Categories and Product, NIKE, Inc. “As we drive increasingly targeted investment and focused growth through Nike’s Consumer Direct Offense, this change in ownership will allow sharper focus and intentional investment in Hurley’s growth potential.”

Joey Gabbay, CEO of Bluestar Alliance, said “This is a transformative acquisition for Bluestar as Hurley’s international footprint will enhance Bluestar’s reach around the world. We look forward to building upon the existing Hurley network and expanding to additional countries with the deep relationships that already exist within the Bluestar portfolio of brands. We see Hurley continuing to evolve into a 360-degree lifestyle brand, with action sports playing a key role.”

Bluestar Alliance, founded in 2006 by Joseph Gabbay and Ralph Gindi, owns, manages, and markets a portfolio of consumer brands including Bebe, Tahari, Kensie, Limited Too, Brookstone, Nanette Lepore, Catherine Malandrino, Joan Vass, English Laundry and others that span across many tiers of distribution. Bluestar Alliance specialises in licensing, branding and marketing consumer brand companies through extensive relationships with leading retailers, brand licensing manufacturers and a network of media and strategic partners.

Bluestar Alliance’s current international and domestic partners offer the opportunity to take a niche brand to a visible worldwide lifestyle brand. Since its inception, the company has acquired select brands with retail sales expected to exceed $3.0 billion in 2019.

BOARDRIDERS ATTACKED BY DIGITAL NASTIES Boardriders was hit by a ransomware attack that forced the company to shut down computing systems all over the world, some of which were still down weeks after the attack was announced. Following the attack, the company’s e-commerce stores displayed messages offering customers 20% off promotions and stating that Boardriders is experiencing shipping delays.

Following the incident, Boardriders said in a statement to Shop Eat Surf that the attack impacted multiple systems, from several regions around the world.

“Our IT teams have been working to quickly restore our systems to support our operations, which are now largely transacting and shipping normally,” Boardriders said.

“We’re proud of how our teams have responded to this challenge, and incredibly grateful for their hard work. We also greatly appreciate our customers’ and vendors’ patience and support during this brief interruption.”

While Boardriders’ statement does not detail the type of cyberattack they experienced, sources familiar with the matter say they were affected by ransomware.

“They have been in a world of pain. Staff haven’t even been able to turn on their computers and have been banned from using them until the whole IT system is cleaned,” an industry source said.

“There have been major delays in getting stock to retailers and online customers.”

RVCA’S SITE WORKS FINE RVCA introduced a brand-new website, with an improved RVCA online experience from start to finish, including a new loyalty membership.

M/SF/T TO RELEASE A PREMIUM SOFTBOARD LINE The new line, tentatively titled M/SF/T SOFTWORKS, is a performance softboard category based around MisFit Shapes’ two best-selling fish/ hybrid glass board models -the Dope Machine and Beach Cloud twinny.

According to Chris Chong, the boards are constructed from shaped EPS blanks, glassed in 6oz w/ epoxy resin, then moulded in a soft outer shell. The intended market position is in a premium/ performance bracket they will sit between $490 - $550 RRP (price dependent on size) with a healthy retail margin.

marketing news HIS BOBNESS Earlier this year, FCS launched the Shaper Awards, a platform to honour and celebrate shapers for their significant contributions to the sport of surfing. FCS created two categories; the Icon Award (twenty years shaping) and the Legend Award (forty years shaping). The plan was to produce in-depth interviews on each shaper, and also have them shape a board for FCS team rider Mick Fanning to ride. FCS documented the board-building process and brought you footage of Mick riding each board. It was all going to plan until Mick blew his knee out.

With FCS team rider Mick Fanning on board, the company asked Bob McTavish to shape a board that best represents his shaping vision and philosophy in a single piece of foam. Bob shaped Mick one of his most significant classic 70s models, the McTavish Bluebird, and along the way we gained insight into one of our industry’s most revered personalities. Bob’s influence on surfboard design and performance dating back to the 1960s is undeniable.

Here’s a man who spearheaded the shortboard revolution and found new ways to ride waves. The fact that over forty years later, he’s still in the bay and surfing daily is a testament to his love of the craft.

Congratulations Bob, and on behalf of the global surfing community, thank you.

C

M

GENERAL PANTS CO LAUNCH ‘LED BY NONE’

Y

General Pants Co. have launched a new brand positioning ‘LED BY NONE’ to MY celebrate individuality in a world with no boundaries. The launch follows an CY extensive customer research piece produced in partnership with Fabric. Fabric Sydney CMY managing partner Gemma Rees said: “The K insights we gained from customer research were an eye-opener into Gen Z. CM

SANDED LAUNCH WORLD-FIRST P.E.T. SURFBOARD ECO-CLOTH The team at Sanded Australia have launched a viable eco alternative to traditional surfboard cloth with a PET cloth derived from plastic bottles. Sanded Australia are the first company to weave PET into a cloth, purpose made for surfboards, without compromising strength and performance. The PET cloth is woven in Australia with the help of fibreglass partners Colan Australia.

According to Sanded’s John Dowse, “We used a private lab which has worked with big surfboard labels in the past and knew the tests we wanted: compression, flex (displacement) and failure of composites.

“We will be using EPS/Epoxy for all our composite tests as the more technical builds in surfboards are in Epoxy/EPS. You get more consistent results as one blank might be poured differently to the next in PU.” Sanded used a standard imported ‘baked’ E-glass to get a starting point for testing.

“The test was to determine the compression and breakage failure of the composites and to show that not all materials are the same, even in fibreglass – the Australian made ‘Direct Size’ Colan Australia E-glass showed considerable increases in strength on breakage failure.”

The results indicate that PET cloth added with both imported baked E-glass and Colan’s glass added to the breakage strength.

“If we can get some of the major labels to replace just a layer on the deck of each of their boards imagine how many bottles we can take out of the environment,” concluded Dowse.

“They’re making up their own rules, their identities are more fluid, they are less constrained by labels, and they are confident in their self-expression.”

To launch LED BY NONE, the brand introduced GEN P, a collective of individuals who are united by their individuality and a shared ethos, living beyond the boundaries of conformity.

The campaign is a fresh take on the age-old debate – ‘What’s wrong with this generation? showing that the next generation have not only been labelled unfairly, they have been completely misunderstood.

General Pants Co. CEO, Sacha Laing said: “LED BY NONE has always lived innately within the brand DNA, but this is now an exciting platform for us to connect with our community.”

Laing said the campaign will disrupt the market with its raw, bold and unpredictable message. The brand’s customers and staff members also feature as the individuals highlighted in the campaign.

Fabric creative partner Keenan Motto said “General Pants has always been proud to be different. This campaign reignites this attitude, celebrating the differences between us, rather than placing labels on those different from us.”

The campaign will run until the end of the Christmas period, existing across instore, on front windows, OOH, social, digital and performance media. https://www.generalpants.com/au/blog/ we-are-gen-p

10/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

FIND REFUGE IN THE SEA

INDUSTRY NEWS

team news AUSTRALASIA/OCEANIA PRO JUNIOR CHAMP DAKODA WALTERS JOINS THE OCEAN AND EARTH TEAM

On top of this, Dakoda’s versatility sees him as one of the most exciting free-surfers coming out of Australia. His second film project with Stab Mag, “4 Boards - 2 Wave Pools” has already had over 30,000 views within ten days, following up from his hugely successful first release “4 Boards, 4 Weeks”.

Regarded as one of the best junior surfers in the world in both competition and free surfing, his explosive new age surfing is sure to rattle everyone next year once he completes his Higher School Certificate and is free to roam the world, competing and making clips.

Dakoda joins the International O&E team of Owen and Tyler Wright, Kanoa Igarashi, Ryan Callinan and Russel Bierke and CEO/ Founder Brian Cregan couldn’t be happier, “to include one of Australia’s hottest young free surfers and the Australasian/Oceania Pro Junior Champ to our team, strengthens our team even more.”

“O&E have been supporting junior surfing in Australia since the Original Pro Junior in 1980. Watching Dakoda surf at such a young age, he has the potential to be as good as anyone I have seen come through the ranks. He can do all the tricks, while holding a tight rail and can surf any type of board, in any condition. O&E is super excited to watch and support Dakoda’s surfing progress into the future and be part of the O&E family,” said International Manager, Phil Macdonald.

on the move JAMES ROBINSON CARVES OUT After almost eighteen years full-time and eight years of freelance for the Liquid Culture / Australian Apparel / White Room Intl group, James is moving on to focus on his artwork and his brand, Bound By Sea. “It’s been an honour and a privilege to build a brand like Carve, something I am truly proud of. It’s been a wild ride, but it’s not totally over. I will be freelancing as well as working on BBS.”

JESSE FAEN JOINS MF SOFTBOARDS TEAM MF Softboards announced that Jesse Faen has joined the team in the USA. Jesse brings a wealth of knowledge and relationships with three decades of experience in the surf industry. His early competitive surfing morphed into the role of editor for Waves magazine in Australia at the tender age of twenty, which after a successful two-year 12/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

From SURFING magazine, Jesse moved into the role of surfers’ representative on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP on WSL) tour in ’98, and this led in turn to a role as media director for the following six years for the ASP. Jesse continued to work with the WSL regularly, appearing as a commentator via online broadcasts and writing feature articles.

After travelling the globe extensively with the ASP (WSL), Jesse jumped at the opportunity to launch Insight in the US and ran operations for the following six years.

Since finishing up with Insight, he has maintained close ties with the surf industry, working for brands such as Quiksilver and Magic Seaweed, and surf resorts in El Salvador and most recently Malibu Popoyo in Nicaragua.

Jesse and his daughter Gypsy have been surfing MF Softboards for more than a year and have both been stoked with the performance. This shared experience with Gypsy inspires him to help the brand reach more people, especially parents of kids who are eager to begin their surfing lives!

MF Softboards said “Jesse is a true asset and it is a pleasure to have him on the team as brand and sales manager for the U.S.”

IN BRIEF Danny Nielsen is the new Senior Buyer at General Pants. Prior to that, Danny held senior posts at SurfStitch as Senior Buyer and Category Manager, and was a co-owner of Alfred’s Apartment, which was founded on the Gold Coast in 2012 with Danny’s brothers Matt and Kris, who together had a joint vision to create a unique retail experience targeted at today’s men. Prior to that Danny was a Buyer at Surf Stitch.

Ben Collins is the new content manager at the World Surf League (APAC), having earlier held a position as Australia news editor at LinkedIn, reporter for The Wall Street Journal and homepage editor and BBC News producer.

Former Hurley National Sales Manager Stuart Bates has exited the company to become the Commercial Director at Arch & Hook. He’s been General Manager Merchandise at SurfStitch.com and Senior Men’s Buyer at Boardsports Retail / Billabong.

Colin Wyatt has been promoted to Rhythm – Curated Program Head. Prior to that, Wyatt was Design Manager at Element Skateboards Australia.

David Wall has been promoted to Group Merchandise Planner at Rip Curl.

retail news INSIDE PATAGONIA’S NEW MELBOURNE CBD FLAGSHIP STORE Patagonia has opened a new store in the heart of Melbourne. A hub for sports and environmental communities in the area, Patagonia Melbourne aims to express the city’s vibrant and enduring legacy of activism.

From crafting tools for climbers in California in the 1960s, Patagonia has become a global leader in outdoor clothing, while setting an example of how businesses can operate responsibly and support their communities. ‘We’re in business to save our home planet’ is the company’s mission, and

this drive to preserve the planet’s ecosystems runs through the entire operation, from the products made and materials used to donations to grassroots environmental groups through its 1% for the Planet commitment.

year and Star Surf and Skate for the Single Store Retailer of the year with Sanbah Surf again taking out the coveted Core Board Store of the Year and Shop Fit Out of the Year for Sanbah Grindhouse for their innovative new store in Newcastle.

Located on Little Collins Street, between bustling Elizabeth and Swanston Streets, the store heroes the photography that has immortalised civil action – from 60s anti-nuclear protests to blockades against logging in East Gippsland in the mid-80s, and the recent School Strike 4 Climate.

Retail Winners

The façade and lofty ground-level interiors of Carson House have been carefully restored. This heritage building, completed in 1884, has been fitted out with recycled materials, including disused boating-yard timber, and furniture upholstered in Patagonia’s organic fabrics.

High-performance apparel and equipment made from 100% recycled materials hangs alongside traceable down jackets and organic cotton tees. Patagonia Provisions, the company’s regenerative organic food business, is displayed with a library of Patagonia Books, including founder Yvon Chouinard’s staff-handbook-turned-bestseller Let My People Go Surfing.

The versatile space is also designed to welcome lovers of the outdoors in for gatherings, film screenings, and talks. A summer program of events will be released on Facebook.

“Our new store in Melbourne is a significant milestone for Patagonia’s development in the Australian market. We’ve engaged with the people of Melbourne over many years through our strong wholesale network and web business, and environmental work. It’s fantastic to now open our newest flagship store and showcase our brand and products, as well as dedicate more time and energy to supporting the city’s local, grassroots activism.” – Dane O’Shanassy, Country Director, Patagonia Australia & New Zealand.

Patagonia Melbourne 289 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000.

SBIA NEW RETAIL BOARD MEMBER The SBIA has appointed former SurfStitch Managing Director Justin Hillberg and current Group Operations Director of Alceon Retail as the newest SBIA Retail Board Member. Justin started his career on the shop floor at Brothers Neilsen working in various roles until landing in his current position with Alceon Retail where he now works across their Retail businesses including SurfStitch, EziBuy, Ginger & Smart, Lego and Pumpkin Patch. Justin Hillberg is also a current Board Member and Director at SurfStitch, since July 2018.

Justin’s appointment to the SBIA Board follows retiring SBIA Board Member and Saltbush Surf owner Andy Ireland.

CORE BOARD STORE OF THE YEAR:

Unnatural performance from a natural source.

Winner: Sanbah Surf Shop: Newcastle Runner Up: Surf Culture: Bondi

(Above) Dave Rastovich in the southern ocean. RICH RICHARDS (Below) Raw natural rubber flowing from a hevea tree on one of our source plantations. TIM DAVIS © 2019 Patagonia, Inc

Ocean and Earth announced the signing of newly-crowned Australasia/Oceania Pro Junior Champ Dakoda Walters to the International team. Dakoda has had a brilliant year in 2019. Being freshly crowned the Australasia/Oceania Pro Junior Champ, Dakoda won the Hydralyte Sports NSW Pro Junior, The Gold Coast Pro Junior and The Hydralyte Sports Shoalhaven Pro Junior, while placing second in the Key Sun Zink Sydney Pro Junior, taking the Australasia/ Oceania Pro Junior title well before the last event.

stint, saw him editing SURFING magazine in the U.S.

EXCELLENCE IN RETAIL MARKETING: Winner: Wilson Retail Co. | Red Herring Runner Up: Rip Curl Newcastle & Sanbah Grindhouse SHOP FIT OUT OF THE YEAR: Winner: Sanbah Grindhouse Runner Up: Rip Curl - Sydney Domestic & Water Pistols Surfboards AUSTRALIAN RETAILER OF THE YEAR – SINGLE DOOR: Winner: Star Surf + Skate Runner Up: Water Pistols Surfboards Studio AUSTRALIAN RETAILER OF THE YEAR – MULTI DOOR: Winner: Strapper Surf Runner Up: Coopers Surf The Australian Surf Industry Awards have been held annually since 2011 to celebrate SBIA members. Entries to the 26 categories opened in May this year, with the award winners of the voted categories crowned after voting by manufacturers and retailers. Winners of the judged categories were awarded after assessment from expert marketing, retail, architecture and environmental panels.

For more information visit sbia.com.au

e-tail news ACCENT LAUNCH CREMM FOOTWEAR MARKETPLACE Just in time for Christmas, Accent Group have launched Australia’s first online footwear marketplace, Crèmm, and it’s officially live! They couldn’t be prouder of the team who’ve worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make it happen, and they’ve made special acknowledgement of Mark Teperson, the mastermind behind it all.

Cremm, has 12,000 products available across more than fifty Australian and international brands including sport shoes, sneakers, and women’s and men’s fashion shoes. https://www.cremm.com.au

SBIA RETAIL BIG WINNERS Members of the Surf Boardsports Industry Association (SBIA) gathered in Sydney to award 51 awards across 26 categories throughout the night with full results below.

This year also saw a number of updates to the awards including a secret shopper scoring component awarded to Aquatique (Nowra) with a perfect 100% Secret Shopper Score. The updated category of Excellence in Retail Marketing was awarded to Wilson Retail Co - Red Herring, closely followed by Rip Curl Newcastle and Sanbah Grindhouse.

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The top Australian retailer awards went to Strapper Surf for Multi Store Retailer of the For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

INDUSTRY NEWS

environment news TWENTY YEARS OF RIP CURL PLANET DAY This year marks twenty years of Rip Curl Planet Day, a company initiative at Rip Curl that sees an average of 170 staff members ditch their desks and head out into their local environment, working with local councils to rejuvenate the coast.

For twenty years, Rip Curl has been dedicating one full working day of every staff member around the world to Planet Day. Here in Australia, this equates to over 3,400 working days committed to the program, a minimum of 17,000 man-hours dedicated to working to maintain our local oceans and beaches.

This year staff members from Rip Curl and Ozmosis both spent the day working with local councils around the Surf Coast planting indigenous shrubbery, weeding and mulching.

“Over the past twenty years, as a group of committed surfers and local community members, we have collectively planted over 100,000 native flora along Victoria’s Surf Coast,” said Neil Ridgway, Rip Curl Chief Marketing Officer.

“It’s a really big investment by both the company and the people, and the best part about it is that we all love it – we love being away from our desks and making a difference in the local community.”

With the help of local council and coastal action groups, including SANE, Torquay Coast Action, Surf Coast Shire, Gorcc and Jan Juc Coastal Action, Rip Curl Planet Day was again a huge success in its twentieth year. Rip Curl looks forward to growing this initiative around the world for many years to come.

association news WPS ANNOUNCES HISTORIC TEN-YEAR AGREEMENT WITH WSL The global professional surfers’ representative body, World Professional Surfers (WPS) announced a historic ten-year agreement with the World Surf League (WSL), the longest-ever partnership between the two groups.

“The working relationship between the WPS and the WSL has strengthened significantly in recent years and we’re very pleased to announce this,” Christian Beserra, WPS COO, said. “It’s a great symbol of the longterm commitment, trust and confidence the surfers have in the WSL and the direction that ownership and management are taking the sport of surfing.”

Crowning the undisputed World Champions since 1976 – first as the International Professional Surfers (IPS), then as the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) – the World Surf League (WSL) runs a global tour for the

world’s best surfers at some of the planet’s premium surfing locations.

“The WSL has transformed the sport of surfing so much in the last few years, and the elevation of how we’re treated as athletes is really important,” Adrian Buchan, Championship Tour surfer and Surfer Representative, said. “The next decade is poised to be the most exciting in the sport’s history.”

Acquired in 2012, the then-ASP-now-WSL aggregated all the previously-disparate aspects of the sport under a singular organisation. It has invested heavily in the quality of venues, broadcast and promotion of professional surfing for its international audience, resulting in quantum shifts in performance and growing interest from fans and partners.

“From investing in amazing venues, to pay equality, to the elevation of surfing at the highest level, the WSL has really advanced surfing,” Tatiana Weston-Webb, Championship Tour surfer and Surfer Representative, said. “I only see it getting better from here.”

With surfing included as an Olympic sport in the 2020 games, the agreement between the WPS and the WSL comes at an important time.

“We pride ourselves on our close working relationships with our surfers and today’s announcement is symbolic of that,” Sophie Goldschmidt, WSL CEO, said.

“The ten-year agreement is fantastic in terms of confirming our alignment with our surfers. We look forward to continuing to work closely with our surfers in delivering even more access and value to fans and partners moving ahead.”

Greville Mitchell, WPS Founder, said “This can only be excellent news for both the surfers and the tour.”

VOLTE WETSUITS & SURFING WA ANNOUNCE NEW MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP Surfing Western Australia announced an exciting partnership with Volte Wetsuits.

Established in 2013, Volte Wetsuits has deep roots in WA, focusing on creating the finest wetsuits for surfers around the world.

The multi-year partnership will see Volte Wetsuits secure the naming rights to the WA Surf Masters Titles, WA Longboard Titles and supporting many of WA’s marquee surfing tournaments.

In addition to supporting events, Volte will supply wetsuits to Surfing WA’s Surf School at Trigg Beach, which services over 30,000 learn-to-surf participants annually.

Volte has signed Hawaiian Sebastian Zietz, the 2016 Margaret River Pro winner, as well as supporting an array of big wave riders, ex-tour pros, local performance surfers, long boarders, alternative surf craft riders and shaper/surfers.

Working closely with a diverse group of surfers, Volte put their wetsuits through rigorous testing in different climates and conditions.

“We recognise that WA is the perfect testing ground for our products and Volte Wetsuits are stoked to partner with Surfing WA and their strong commitment to the development of the surfing community in Western Australia,” said Patrick Leahy, Volte’s Head Product Designer.

“We’re always working on using more ecobased materials - real stuff, not gimmicks,” continued Leahy. “We use Aqua Alphalaminating adhesives, a water-based glue that reduces solvents by 600 grams a wetsuit. We also use limestone-based foam, and recycled fabrics wherever possible.”

The partnership with Volte and Surfing WA began this year and will extend through until the end of the 2021 competition season.

“We’re stoked to partner with a quality manufacturer like Volte who will bolster our extensive events program and support the largest surf school in WA,” said Surfing WA Events Manager Justin Majeks.

The Volte Wetsuits WA Surf Masters Titles and Volte WA Longboard Titles will both commence in February 2020.

For more information on these events or any surfing events held within Western Australia be sure to check out www. surfingwa.com.au

COOLUM (QLD) REVEALED AS NEW HOME FOR KSWAVECO The World Surf League (WSL) are planning to bring their Surf Ranch and Kelly Slater Wave System technology and experience to the Sunshine Coast (QLD). WSL and WSL Wave Co. Asia Pacific General Manager Andrew Stark revealed that together with a development partner, WSL have earmarked a large parcel of land close to the Sunshine Motorway at Coolum, ten minutes from the Sunshine Coast Airport.

The Surf Ranch on the Sunshine Coast will combine the Surf Ranch experience with Australian-inspired architecture and culture, including overnight accommodation and programs to explore the region and the waves up and down the Sunshine Coast.

“Australia is a core market for the WSL, and we view the Sunshine Coast as a natural home for a Surf Ranch, given its culture, history, and roots within surfing as well as its pristine beaches and commitment to environmental sustainability,” said Stark.

The Surf Ranch on the Sunshine Coast will anchor a broader tourism development district that can provide significant economic stimulus and job creation. The project would include the development of a luxury eco-lodge, event and training facilities, tourism accommodation, public open space, and an environmental experience centre.

“For us,” said Stark, “that means creating a green environment for the community, delivering high-value eco-tourism and attracting more visitors to the region.

“We’re committed to working with the local area, and we’ll be talking to the community to explain the Surf Ranch concept, as well as listening to local perspectives. We’ve already started the (consultation) process and I’ll be up there all next week.”

Stark told local media that the only fault with the existing surf ranch in California was the rapid temperature falls through winter. As a result, the facility is only able to be used for half of the year, prompting the search for a new location. Stark explained “We picked the Sunshine Coast because of the temperatures year-round and the DNA of the area.

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For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

“We love that environmental consciousness: that’s what we are, and it fits with the surf ranch philosophy.”

Stark says that the Sunshine Coast facility would be ‘available’ for the 2032 Games but would not be drawn (if successful) on whether it would be contested in a wave pool or in the ocean.

Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said today’s announcement was a great win for the tourism industry on the Sunshine Coast. “Having seen this experience first-hand, I can say this will be a major drawcard for thousands of people around the world,” she said.

Sunshine Coast Airport Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Brodie, said the Surf Ranch facility would complement the region’s existing tourism offer. “Sunshine Coast offers some unforgettable outdoor experiences, and with existing flights from Australia’s East Coast and Auckland offering connections from America, Asia, and Europe, Surf Ranch would enhance the region’s reputation for adventure.”

Visit Sunshine Coast Chief Executive Simon Latchford said the announcement that the WSL is planning to base its first Australian facilities on the region’s increasing reputation as a premium sporting destination. “The Sunshine Coast is already well-established as one of Australia’s most popular destinations for water-based events and holidays, but with the Kelly Slater name attached to the surf ranch, it could give our region even greater appeal internationally.

“Having a global name associated with such a high-tech surfing project could really elevate sports tourism to new levels on the Sunshine Coast, attracting international teams, training camps and surfing fans.

“While Visit Sunshine Coast is enthusiastic and excited by the project, we are very mindful it must fit the approval criteria laid down by Sunshine Coast Council and State Government.”

SURFING VICTORIA LAUNCH SURF BETTER NOW Surfing Victoria have launched a new online surf coaching website. www.surfbetternow. com Surf Better Now is designed to provide technical and mental solutions to accelerate the development of aspiring and recreational Victorian surfers to reach their full potential.

This website is designed to capture the knowledge and resources developed by the Surfing Victoria Coaching Team and deliver it in a clear and simple manner. Surfers who have been part of Surfing Victoria Performance Division include Nikki van Dijk, India Robinson, Xavier Huxtable, Joe Van Dijk, Isabella Nichols and more.

The website is structured in tiers, with Levels 1-3 being free, and all levels above that having a subscription fee. If you are in the top tier subscription (the Performance level) then you get exclusive access to webinars, discounted video analysis and some more features Surfing Victoria have planned over the coming twelve months.

Website subscriptions are now open for purchase with levels available based on the surfer’s skill level. The first three levels are free to the public, with subscription tiers starting at $29 for Surfing Victoria members and $49 for non-members.

DOUGALL WALKER RECIEVES SERVICE TO INDUSTRY AWARD Members of the Surf Boardsports Industry Association (SBIA) gathered in Sydney to honour Dougall Walker as he received the

‘Service to the Industry Award’. Dougall was recognised for his service across the board sports industry, as a competitive surfer, industry executive with Billabong and Volcom and as a mentor for upcoming generations. In all there were 51 awards presented throughout the night.

The Service to the Industry Award recognises individuals or organisations who have made a significant and substantial contribution to the Australian Surf Industry. Past recipients of this Award also include Simon Anderson (2018), John ‘Sparrow’ Pypurne (2017), Mark Richards (2016), Surfing Australia (2015) Don Burford, Midget Farrelly & Barry Bennett (2014) Alan Green, John Law, Gordon Merchant, Brian Singer and Doug Warbrick (2013) and Anthony Wilson (2012).

On the brand front, it was a huge night for Rip Curl, with a massive ten awards including Men’s Brand of the Year and Ladies Brand of the year, and a record breaking eighth year in a row for Wetsuit of the Year.

In a surprise result, the Breakout Brand of the Year was Sex Wax. The popular wax formula was first produced by Frederick Charles Herzog, III (Mr. Zog) and chemist Nate Skinner in 1972. Runner-up in this category was Salty Crew.

The Environmental Award, presented by Surfrider Foundation, went to Patagonia for their campaign ‘Big Oil Don’t Surf ’, while JS and REEF again won Surfboard of the year and Footwear brand, after receiving the award in 2018. Billabong continued their winning streak with the Ladies Marketing Campaign award for the fifth year in a row for their ‘A Bikini Kinda Life’ campaign and Volcom won the Men’s Marketing Campaign for their ‘Truly Checked Out’ campaign.

Oakley returned to the winners’ circle with Sunglass of the Year with their ever-popular Holbrook (XL) model, as did Creatures of Leisure taking out the Surfing Accessory of the Year with their Thermo-Moulded Lite Traction.

Full results SBIA.COM.AU

ACCIONA GEOTECH + SURFING AUSTRALIA PARTNER UP Sustainable Infrastructure company Acciona and Surfing Australia launched a new partnership at the Surfing Australia High Performance Centre (HPC). The Acciona ‘Feeling Swell’ Program will anchor the partnership with a purpose of creating communities that are physically active, environmentally proactive and inclusive.

Acciona becomes a major support partner of key Surfing Australia program, the nudie Australian Boardriders Battle, Australia’s biggest grassroots boardriders event series, involving over $100,000 prize money.

Acciona will be visible at the National Final in Newcastle on February 15-16, 2020 with the ‘Acciona Recycle Station’ powered by Envirobank with funds raised from the station to go to carbon offsets for the event series.

“Acciona is delighted to partner with Surfing Australia and believe it is a perfect fit for our brand in Australia, given the synergies between the two companies,” said Acciona Geotech Managing Director Bede Noonan.

“Together we will raise awareness of climate change and water pollution, inspire and encourage diversity, and support Surfing Australia to become an emission-free organisation. We are particularly excited to be the support partner to Surfing Australia’s new women’s program this

Summer, which will provide women of all ages with the opportunity to get in, on and around the ocean, with this program perfectly aligned with our 2020 program to increase the number of female workers in the construction industry. We are also extremely proud to have Isabella Nichols as our ambassador, given everything she represents in the sport and the fact that she is studying Engineering.”

Adding to the high stakes of the nudie Australian Boardriders Battle National Final in Newcastle will be the Acciona Women in Waves Breakfast which will be hosted

by Surfing Australia TV host Sam Squiers.

The brand will be a support partner to Surfing Australia’s new women’s program this Summer. Through two membership offerings and a teen program, women and girls will receive the collective benefits of physical movement, mental vitality and social connectivity from every session. Fourteen locations around the country will be bringing the program to life this coming summer with further expansion planned through 2020.

Surfing Australia CEO Chris Mater said, “Acciona’s core values align perfectly with Surfing Australia’s and we couldn’t be happier about the new partnership that is set to create a better tomorrow through surfing.”

Acciona Ambassador and 2020 World Surf League (WSL) Women’s World Tour rookie Isabella Nichols, who is also studying engineering at university, will be the face of the partnership and will be involved in a branded content series that aims to bring to life Acciona’s clean water initiatives.

“This new partnership with Acciona is going to be an exciting one,” said Nichols. “Not only are they supporting the environment through sustainable energy practices, but they are also supporting the sport of surfing and especially women in the sport, of every ability, age and background.”

Surfing Australia will run a national surf day (surfing and stand up paddleboarding) for Acciona’s staff at four locations around Australia (VIC, NSW, QLD and WA) on separate days. Acciona and Surfing Australia Studios will produce branded content throughout the partnership, featuring Isabella Nichols, and be highly visible across Surfing Australia’s media channels, including a campaign on mySURF.tv and a sponsored TV show.

2020 WSL CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR SPONSOR AND LINEUP CHANGES The World Surf League (WSL) released its 2020 Championship Tour calendar, adding the Quiksilver Pro G-Land for both the men and women. Corona have taken the title sponsorship for the Gold Coast events.

The 2020 season also allows WSL surfers to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in July and introduces the new Challenger Series.

“The world’s best surfing happens on the WSL Championship Tour,” Adrian Buchan, CT surfer and Surfers’ Representative, said.

“Never before has that been more apparent than in recent seasons and the 2020 calendar looks amazing. Off the back of our extended agreement between the surfers and the WSL, it’s a really exciting time to be on tour.

G-Land was where the Dream Tour was born and it’s so exciting to be heading back there.

I grew up watching the likes of Kelly (Slater) and Tom Carroll compete there, and I can’t wait to see how this generation of surfers approach the wave.”

“The goal in designing the WSL Championship Tour calendar is to ensure we’re elevating the world’s best surfing in the live arena,” Pat O’Connell, WSL SVP Tours and Competition, said. “There are some unique challenges around the Olympic 15/

INDUSTRY NEWS

opportunity in 2020, but we’re really pleased with the schedule in terms of variety in world-class waves.”

2020 Men’s Championship Tour Schedule: Corona Open Gold Coast: March 26 - April 5, 2020 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach: April 8 - 18, 2020 Margaret River Pro: April 22 - May 2, 2020 Quiksilver Pro G-Land: June 4 - 14, 2020 Oi Rio Pro: June 18 - 27, 2020 Corona Open J-Bay: July 7 - 19, 2020 Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o: August 26 September 6, 2020 Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold Freshwater Pro: September 15 - 20, 2020 Quiksilver Pro France: October 1 - 11, 2020 Meo Rip Curl Pro Portugal: October 14 - 25, 2020 Billabong Pipe Masters: December 8 - 20, 2020 2020 Women’s Championship Tour Schedule: Corona Open Gold Coast: March 26 - April 5, 2020 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach: April 8 - 18, 2020 Margaret River Pro: April 22 - May 2, 2020 Quiksilver Pro G-Land: June 4 - 14, 2020 Oi Rio Pro: June 18 - 27, 2020 Corona Open J-Bay: July 7 - 19, 2020 Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold Freshwater Pro: September 15 - 20, 2020 Roxy Pro France: October 1 - 11, 2020 Meo Rip Curl Pro Portugal: October 14 - 25, 2020 Hawaii Pro: November 25 - December 6, 2020 Surfing in 2020 will be further elevated by its inclusion into the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. The WSL schedule Championship Tour, Qualifying Series and Pro Junior Series - has accommodated both the Olympic Games and the qualifier event to ensure the world’s best surfers from the Championship Tour have the opportunity to represent their countries.

Another major component of the 2020 season will be the implementation of the WSL Challenger Series.

The 2020 Qualifying Series - the development and qualification tier for the CT - will feature two primary segments: the Challenger Series (events that award 10,000-points towards a surfer’s QS ranking) and the QS 5,000, 3,000, 1,500 and 1,000 events that will all contribute to a surfer’s year-end QS ranking as they work towards qualifying for the CT. The Challenger Series will increase the number of 10,000-point events from six to seven for men and from two to four for women, offering equal prize money for men and women. A full Challenger Series calendar will be released at the end of November.

NUDIE SURFGROMS PROGRAM LAUNCHES INTO NINTH SEASON Three-time World Champion Mick Fanning officially kicked off the ninth season of nudie SurfGroms on the Gold Coast. A group of lucky groms experienced a nudie SurfGroms lesson held at Currumbin Beach to signal the beginning of the new season.

Catering for 5-12-year-old kids, and with over 60 nudie SurfGroms program deliverers around Australia, nudie SurfGroms offers kids the opportunity to learn to surf while developing ocean awareness and beach safety skills. nudie Senior Brand Manager Emilie Durand said the nudie SurfGroms program adopts an approach to learning to get kids ‘Beach Ready’.

“We’re passionate about kids feeling comfortable and confident in the water, so they can enjoy Australia’s beaches safely.”

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Since nudie SurfGroms was launched in October 2011, more than 70,000 Australian children have experienced surfing for the first time, and registrations for the latest programs are now open, just in time for summer.

Surfing Australia’s CEO Chris Mater said, “We’re proud to be launching season nine of nudie SurfGroms with the aim of starting another 8,000 groms on their lifelong surfing journey. We are equally pumped to have nudie and Rip Curl on board again as naming rights and support partners respectively again for the 2019/20 season.”

Mick Fanning Softboards are also on board this year, with the three-time World Champ throwing his support behind nudie SurfGroms.

Each child signing up to the program will receive a great Rip Curl merchandise pack including a Rip Curl backpack, Rip Curl hat, program logbook, nudie SurfGroms rashvest and nudie juice, along with 2XP 50+ for Sport and Woolworths brochures. nudie SurfGroms programs are available through the Surfing Australia Surf Schools Network with more than 60 delivery partners around the country.

Parents can register their children through the website – www.surfgroms.com – which will provide contact details for their closest delivery centre. nudie SurfGroms is backed by major support sponsors Rip Curl along with Woolworths, Hyundai, Mick Fanning Softboards, 2XP® SPF 50+, Surfing Australia and Sport Australia.

BF GOODRICH AND SURFING AUSTRALIA HIT THE ROAD BF Goodrich and Surfing Australia will roll into a new partnership, becoming a supporting rights partner of the nudie Australian Boardriders Battle which will include the epic BFGoodrich Gripping Moments content activation on the live broadcast during the National Final on February 15th and 16th.

Michelin Marketing Manager, Swaroop Tulsidas, said “We’re excited to be showcasing the highlights of the competition through the BFGoodrich ‘Gripping Moments’; there’s no doubt the world’s best will be providing plenty of them.”

The partnership will also feature on mySURF.tv’s digital platform, Surfing Australia’s social media channels and in the ‘The Hold Down’ TV show series that airs on Channel 9 nationally over Summer.

FITZGIBBONS AND GILMORE ARE OLYMPIANS! After world-class WCT performances in 2019, Sally Fitzgibbons and Stephanie Gilmore have secured the WSL ranking requirement for qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. In May 2020, Surfing Australia will consider athletes that have satisfied the Tokyo 2020 Nomination Criteria and will submit to the Australian Olympic Committee for selection.

Both girls have secured an individual WCT event win in 2019 and have been consistent performers throughout the year, which now guarantees they finish inside the Top 8 on the WSL CT Rankings, therefore earning provisional places to compete in Tokyo.

Bede Durbidge, Surfing Australia’s Elite Program Manager and Team Australia Head Coach said: “This is such an exciting time for both Sal and Steph. Much focus has rightly been on their individual CT campaigns this year and in doing so they have kept their Olympic dreams alive.

I look forward to supporting both Sal and Steph over the next part of the journey and wish them well for the remaining couple of events on the CT in both Portugal and Hawaii.”

“Bringing the Quiksilver Pro G-Land back to the surf calendar has long been an ambition of Quiksilver and 2020 is the perfect time for our surfers to get back out to Grajagan Bay and really return to raw.”

BOND UNIVERSITY TO BECOME OFFICIAL HIGHER EDUCATION PARTNER OF THE WSL

“As a brand we want to challenge our athletes and inspire future generations, and this competition will do just that - it’s time for a little disruption,” said Garry Wall, General Manager of Quiksilver.

World Surf League Australia / Oceania announced that it will be forming a new partnership with Queensland’s Bond University from the beginning of 2020.

It will be the first time the World Surf League Australia partners with a higher education organisation. The deal is set to benefit both organisations with Bond students given the opportunity to gain industry placements and internships within the WSL across a range of disciplines working with our local and international teams.

“Partnering with Bond University is a great natural alignment for WSL,” said WSL Asia Pacific General Manager Andrew Stark.

“Bond University sits on the doorstep of arguably one of the world’s most desirable surfing locations and has a strong lineage of producing high achieving and driven students. Working together we can help foster the next generation of talent both in and out of the water.”

Bond University Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Tim Brailsford, said the partnership formed part of the university’s unique Beyond Bond program that embeds students in their chosen industry to produce job-ready graduates.

“This puts our students at the pinnacle of one of the world’s fastest-growing sports segments,” Brailsford said.

sponsorship news THE RETURN TO RAW AT G-LAND Quiksilver and the World Surf League announced the return of the most anticipated surf event in twenty-five years, the Quiksilver Pro G-Land, on the 2020 WSL Championship Tour from June 4th - 14th 2020. The Quiksilver Pro G-Land campaign tagline ‘Return to Raw’ signaled Quiksilver’s intentions: “We’re bringing the #QuikPro back to one of the world’s wildest waves, G-Land.

There’ll be no home ground advantages.

No extended support crews. No 5-star accommodation. Just a perfect wave and the world’s best surfers gunning for victory in the jungle. This is surfing’s Return To Raw.” That post has received over 20,000 views and 151 mostly favourable comments, with inaugural winner Kelly Slater saying, “The greatest ever tour event is back! Great move.

Might need to win that thing again…”

The announcement confirms whispers within the surfing industry for a number of years. It was Quiksilver who brought the inaugural Quiksilver Pro G-Land to the tour in 1995, inspiring the famous ‘Dream Tour’. Past winners include Shane Beschen and Luke Egan, making for an epic legends heat opportunity.

The return of Professional Surfing is a major coup for the Asian Surfing Co and surfers throughout Indonesia. Tipi Jabrik ASC President-Director observed “The ASC is forming a great relationship with the WSL. Working with the WSL to bring back G-land is monumental for this region.”

“Going back to G-Land has been on our radar for ten years. We had a global meeting there about a decade ago that planted the seed. Then the WSL reached out last year and said it was potentially back in the mix for 2020 and thought we would be a natural fit due to our history with the event,” Garry told ASB. “Indo is the most desirable location for surfers globally, going back to the 70s, so it’s been a global melting pot for the industry.

That’s part of the mystique and the stories we plan to tell as part of the event and hopefully write some new chapters as well.”

“The response has been amazing to bring a fresh location to the tour and return to raw,” concluded Wall.

W W W. A S B M AG .C O M

PROFESSIONAL EDITION Michael Daly has been with Rip Curl for 17 years, and CEO since 2013, he’s also the chief architect behind the Rip Curl sale to Kathmandu and the man charged with integrating a 50-year old privately held business into the dual listed Kathmandu Holding.

2019 VISSLA SYDNEY SURF PRO WINS NSW SPORTING EVENT OF THE YEAR The 2019 Vissla Sydney Surf Pro has won the Event of The Year at the NSW Champions of Sports Ceremony overnight.

The World Surf League (WSL) QS6000rated event was presented with the honour at a gala dinner at The Star on 18 November.

The accolade comes less than a week after the announcement that the 2020 Sydney Surf Pro will be the first WSL Challenger Series event next March.

The 2019 Vissla Sydney Surf Pro event crowned ten champions across multiple divisions including Pro Junior, WSL Qualifying Series, local trials and other divisions.

Local North Narrabeen talent Jordy Lawler and Hawaii’s Alessa Quizon were crowned the Vissla Sydney Pro WSL Men’s and Sydney Women’s Pro Champions for 2019.

The attendance of 11-times World Champion Kelly Slater helped bolster the event and heightened media attention and crowds at Manly Beach.

“We really appreciate the recognition afforded to the entire Surfing NSW team and thank all our partners, the Manly community and the NSW Government for enabling us to create one of the world’s best surfing events at the birthplace of our sport in Australia,” said Surfing NSW Chairman John O’Neill.

The $1B moment L to R: Rip Curl CEO Michael Daly, Kathmandu COO Reuben Casey, Rip Curl Co-Founder Brian Singer, Kathmandu Group CEO Xavier Simonet, Rip Curl Co-Founder Doug Warbrick

“A special thank you to our presenting partner Vissla, the World Surf League, Northern Beaches Council and the Member for Manly, James Griffin.”

Surfing NSW General Manager John Shimooka echoed the sentiments.

“I’m over the moon that Surfing NSW and WSL have won the Sports NSW Event of the Year award,” said Shimooka. “This gives a lot of recognition for our teams, who work long hard hours behind the scenes to showcase the world’s best surfers in the heartland of surfing in NSW.” Surfing NSW CEO Luke Madden’s now “looking forward to working with WSL on the upgraded Challenger Series event in Manly. It’s fantastic to have our NSW juniors and boardrider clubs see the best surfers in the world in their backyard with a Challenger Series event in Manly.”

The 2020 Sydney Surf Pro will be the biggest professional surfing event to run in New South Wales with over 200 of the world’s best men’s and women’s surfers competing at Manly from March 8-14, 2020.

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

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OVERSEAS NEWS

us news TODD PRESTAGE JOINS SHI AMERICAS MANAGEMENT TEAM Surf Hardware International (SHI) announced that Todd Prestage has been promoted to the role of Regional Manager Americas. Todd, who joined SHI two years ago in the role VP of Sales & Marketing, has spearheaded a talented and passionate team of individuals working from the newlylocated SHI USA office in Vista, Southern California.

“It’s been an exciting and challenging few years but I’ve loved every minute of it. We have a great team here in SoCal, and I believe we’ve done a great job strengthening our brands within the market and more importantly, in securing healthy business relationships with our retail and manufacturing partners.”

In his new role as Regional Manager, Todd will oversee the day-to-day operations of SHI’s Americas business and with the help of his team, continue to strengthen the company’s brand portfolio in these highly important markets.

“With this new role comes new challenges and responsibilities and I’m up for it. Every day I see more and more people enjoying the ocean and enhancing that experience is at the very heart of what we do.”

Prior to joining SHI, Todd worked with Hurley for over ten years, firstly, in Australia in sales management, then at Hurley USA as Sales Manager for their core accounts and Manager for the global wetsuit and footwear business.

Many people also know Todd from his fourteen years on the ASP/WSL World Championship Tour. Today, Todd’s earnt as much respect for his business acumen as he did for his competitive achievements.

SHI’s CEO Michael Heath believes Todd’s new appointment is not only well-deserved, but an important step in further advancing the Americas business with a passionate leader in place.

“In the past few years, Todd has shown a great understanding of the business and the overall Americas region. His ideas and strategies, the relationships he’s formed and his overall management style give me great confidence that he’ll continue to drive the business forward”.

Surf Hardware International is the umbrella company for FCS, Gorilla, Softech and Kanulock, and has offices located in Australia, USA, France, UK, New Zealand and Japan. SHI’s portfolio of brands aim to enhance the surfing experience through quality and innovative products.

NEV HYMAN INDUCTED INTO THE INTERNATIONAL SURFBOARD BUILDERS HALL OF FAME

Shapes and Firewire Surfboards. In the early ‘90s, Hyman was among the pioneers of computer shaping and was involved in the development of surfboard design software that eventually became the industry standard.

Nev also received the ASB Greater Good Award for his work with Nev House, providing low cost, environmentallyfriendly housing to remote communities. https://asbmag.com/nev-house-fromsustainable-surfboards-to-housing/

BOARDRIDERS LAUNCHES MULTI-YEAR GROWTH AGENDA Boardriders, Inc. announced that it is launching a multi-year growth agenda by investing in a range of strategic initiatives across seven major pillars, fuelled by its progress in integrating the Billabong acquisition onto the Boardriders platform.

The Company is also repositioning a number of key executives.

Kevin Meehan has decided to take the opportunity provided by this transition to pursue new opportunities and will hand the RVCA leadership baton to Brad Blankinship, who will return to RVCA as Global General Manager and lead the next exciting leg of RVCA’s growth.

Create the new role of Global Head of Sustainability to coordinate all corporate and cross-brand sustainability efforts.

Cathey Curtis will elevate to this new role, and in addition will take on the role of General Manager, RVCA Women’s.

Greg Healy, Global President, President EMEA and APAC, and Nate Smith, President, Americas will drive the commercial execution of these initiatives in their markets as part of their respective leadership roles.

Supported by stronger profitability resulting from the 2018 acquisition, Boardriders intends to increase investment in its brands, “Boardriders is fortunate to have assembled with a significant emphasis on expanding such a dynamic and strong leadership team, its leadership in women’s products, further (and) is well-positioned to expand upon investing in its digital transformation, its leadership position in the global action leveraging the strength of its brands to sports and lifestyle industry,” commented expand into new categories, unlocking new Mr. Tanner. revenue streams through partnerships, increasing speed and regional flexibility in product development, and changing go-tomarket models to better serve key customers. JS INDUSTRIES USA NAMES HEATH WALKER PRESIDENT OF In addition, Boardriders will launch a new AMERICAN OPERATIONS centralized sustainability platform to align JS Industries USA has appointed Heath and strengthen the Company’s corporate Walker as president of American operations. and brand sustainability efforts.

Having held leadership roles throughout “The long-term strategy for Boardriders has the surfing industry following a ten-year always been to build a solid foundation professional surfing career, Walker’s by integrating the Billabong acquisition experience will help to bring all of the latest onto a common back-end platform, to innovations and newest models from JS to continually improve our operations through the best surf shops in the USA. more disciplined business practices, and “Our support team in Australia and athletes to achieve significant synergies that could all over the world have made JS a globally then be invested back into the brands,” said recognized and trusted brand. There’s a Boardriders CEO David Tanner. massive opportunity in front of us to see the “After a decade of headwinds and brand grow and become a household name restructuring, Boardriders now has that throughout the country. strong foundation and is ready and able to “It’s an honour to work in a category I have invest strategically at scale in our brands, so much passion for. Surfboards are the our people, and these targeted growth original reason why surf shops exist, and initiatives.” the surfboard category has never been so In order to drive the new growth agenda, exciting!”

Boardriders is announcing the creation Also joining the team is Brent Reilly, as of several new roles and the repositioning SoCal sales rep. Born and bred in Carlsbad, and promotion of a number of key leaders.

Brent has held roles at Surf Ride Oceanside Effective immediately the Company will: as General Manager and Surf Team Create the new role of President, Manager, and also Surfer Magazine.

Commercial Strategy and Growth to lead “I’m ecstatic to be joining such a talented the co-ordination of the implementation team at JS. With so many proven surfboard of the new growth initiatives, lead global designs from Jason, alongside the incredible retail strategy, and drive cross-brand HYFI technology, there’s a lot to be commercial strategies. This role will be filled excited about!”

by Shannan North. In addition, Shannan will oversee Billabong Men’s, Billabong “We’ve been supported in American stores Women’s, Quiksilver, ROXY, and Xcel with for almost twenty years now and have their respective leadership teams remaining seen an incredible amount of love for our in place. boards and brand overall. Heath’s unique Create the new role of Global General Manager, Billabong Men’s to lead the Billabong Men’s organization. Mark Weber will elevate to this new role.

Nev Hyman will join the International Surfboard Builders Hall of Fame held at Huntington Beach USA. Fellow 2019 inductees include Carl Hayward, Herbie Fletcher, Lance Carson, Mark Martinson, Dick Brewer and Bill Frierson. This year’s induction ceremony was held on north side of Huntington Beach Pier Plaza.

Create the new role of Global General Manager, Billabong Women’s to lead the Billabong Women’s organization. Katie Singer will elevate to this new role.

Nev began shaping in his garage in a suburb north of Perth in 1972. A year later, he and two colleagues started Odyssey Surfboards.

Hyman built boards there until 1978, when he moved to Burleigh Heads —and launched Nev Hyman Surfboards. He later started two other companies: Nev Future

Create the new role of Global General Manager, Street in order to synchronize efforts in the skate and street space.

Dan Levine will fill this new role while maintaining his current leadership of DC Shoes, as well as taking on the global strategy leadership of Element.

18/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

Create the new role of Global General Manager, Partnerships and Distribution in order to unlock new revenue streams that more fully leverage the equities of our brands. David Brooks will transition out of his leadership of Element and take on this new role.

background means we couldn’t be in better hands moving forward,” said Stevenson.

IMPERIAL PARTNERS WITH BUILDING THE REVOLUTION Imperial Action Sports, the surf, snow and adventure sports arm of Imperial, has partnered with Building the Revolution and Mike Vavak for a limited-edition hat collaboration featuring Imperial’s DNA Project collection.

“We’re super-excited about this collaboration with Building the Revolution. I, for one, love what Building the Revolution is doing with this platform,” said Blair Wheeler, sales

manager for Imperial Action Sports. “I’m stoked on how these limited-edition hats turned out.”

rivalries and serves as the ideal forum for shining light on just how important these local businesses are to our respective communities.

As part of the partnership, Imperial will be supporting a content series in which Vavak will interview industry leaders about the value of branding local shops and the state of retail

Regional qualifying events are held throughout the year. The winners of each region received an all-expenses-paid trip to Nicaragua to battle it out for a cash prize and, more importantly, bragging rights.

SIA TO BUY CONSUMER SNOW EXPOS Snowsports Industries America (SIA) announced its intention to acquire the consumer-focused Boston and Denver Ski and Snowboard Expos from BEWI Productions, Inc (“BEWI”). BEWI, founded in 1979, is the producer of the Boston Ski & Snowboard Expo and the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Expo. The “unofficial kickoff to winter” for over forty years, BEWI celebrates the winter lifestyle by connecting consumers with winter/outdoor products, resorts, specialty retail and more.

SIA is excited to provide a platform that not only delivers a new and authentic experience to consumers but also a valuable consumer activation for the entire outdoor industry.

“We’re thrilled to be moving into the consumer space. Since the sale of the Snow Show which focused on a B to B experience, we have turned our focus to B to C. We asked ourselves how SIA can best connect our industry directly with today’s consumer and consumer expos make a ton of sense in this regard. Consumer expos create experiential and direct interactions with winter sports enthusiasts and potential enthusiasts. These expos are intended to benefit suppliers, specialty retailers, and all industry stakeholders equally,” said Nick Sargent, President of SIA. “I couldn’t be happier that SIA will continue to bring consumer shows to the people of Boston and Denver. BEWI has been a longstanding partner to the winter industry and has provided the local consumer with important access to retailers, resorts and brands and created an overall excitement for winter!” said Bernie Weichsel.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year and is subject to certain closing conditions. Thereafter, SIA plans to start the transformation of the Denver and Boston shows in the fall of 2020, with an eye on expanding to additional cities soon, creating a nation-wide network of consumer-focused events for the industry.

CATALYST IS AMERICA’S MOST CORE SURF SHOP San Clemente surf shop Catalyst now owns the title of “America’s Most Core Surf Shop.”

After winning Surfer Magazine’s Oakley Surf Shop Challenge in Playa Colorado, Nicaragua. In attendance were six teams representing various hotbed surf regions throughout the country, but it was the first-ever appearance for Catalyst. Other teams that made the trip south included Sunrise Surf Shop from Florida, Secret Spot Surf Shop from North Carolina, HIC Kailua from Hawaii, Pacific Wave Surf Shop from Santa Cruz, and 2018 defending champion Surf Ride Oceanside.

Catalyst was represented by hometown pros Nate Yeomans and Kei Kobayashi, who teamed up with ‘employees’ Jack Hopkins and Kevin Tran. A shop from San Clemente or Dana Point had never won the title.

The Oakley Surf Shop Challenge debuted in 2009 as a way to celebrate the critical role that surf shops play in surfing’s vibrant culture. Today, the contest series is the proving ground for friendly surf shop For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

“We all came out and just wanted to have fun—no pressure at all,” said Tran. “That’s when we perform the best; just having fun, and it worked out in our favor. Everyone did what they had to do, and it was such a fun time out here. That trophy is going to look good in the shop!”

RIP BURTON FOUNDER JAKE BURTON CARPENTER Burton Australia announced via their Instagram account this morning the sad news that Burton founder and snowboarding pioneer Jake Burton Carpenter (65) has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Tributes are flowing in from across the world, including those from Australia @bluntskatesnow “Sad news!

Thank you Jake Burton for #snowboarding”

ROB MACHADO OPENS HOMETOWN SHOP AND MUSEUM Rob Machado has opened Rob Machado’s Salty Garage, on South Coast Highway in Encinitas behind his wife Sophie Machado’s 2-1/2-year-old lifestyle boutique Salt Culture The Salty Garage carries shirts, pants, hoodies, shoes, sunglasses and other items produced by Machado in collaboration with sponsors like Hurley, as well as his own T-shirt brand. There are also gift items like coffee cups, books, music, DVDs and Machado’s personal photography as well as his own brands of surfboard fins and wax.

“I thought it would be nice to bring together a lot of these things from my life and display them together in this cool space,” said Machado, 46, who hosted the grand opening for the Salty Garage last week.

The shop sells a selection surfboards

by Firewire Surfboards, and the shop is the only place where customers can buy the custom boards Machado shapes and finishes in the garage studio of his Cardiff home. Rob has filled the shop with personal mementos and prized possessions that include his old camera collection, souvenirs he picked up in his global travels, old posters that decorated his bedroom walls as a teen, childhood surfing trophies, Star Wars toys he played with as a boy and a piece of pottery he made in class at San Dieguito High School as a teen.

There are also framed photographs taken in the late ‘80s and early 1990s when he skyrocketed to fame as one of the world’s most iconic surfers. And there’s a pair of old binoculars Machado’s father, Jim, used to watch his son surf at Cardiff ’s Seaside Beach as a boy.

Hanging from the shop’s ceiling are three of Machado’s favorite classic surfboards including Thomas Campbell and Sage Vaughn and the famous Jimi Hendrix surfboard Machado was photographed riding on the December 1994 cover of Surfing Magazine.

The building behind Salt Culture was occupied by another business until about a year ago. When it moved out, the Machados decided to lease the space and expand their retail operation.

Sophie Machado said she found that men weren’t comfortable shopping in the front boutique, where women were moving

in and out of the changing room as they tried on bathing suits and other attire. So the couple decided to move their men’s merchandise to the back location and, eventually, make it more of a men’s shop and museum for Rob. It can be accessed directly through a gated walkway on the north side of the main boutique.

“So many people and fans and local friends come here and want to know more about Rob, his lifestyle, his culture and where he grew up,” she said. “This is his space to showcase the things he loves and the products he makes.”

Over the past two decades, Machado has continued to travel the world surfing, while also playing guitar in bands, designing his own surfboards and running the Rob Machado Foundation, which is dedicated to reducing plastic waste in the ocean.

He hosts monthly beach cleanups and is working to reduce the sale of single-use plastic water bottles by installing filtered water dispensers at local schools to encourage the use of reusable water bottles.

“I’m trying to change the way the younger generation consumes water,” he said. “You can change minds when you go into the schools. It really works. Plastic water bottles aren’t cool anymore.”

ambassadors and friends in a way you would expect from us,” said Yeti CEO Matt Reintjes.

INDUSTRY UPDATE While big mergers continue to rock the surf industry, New Zealand surf retail is taking a cautious approach ahead of the 2019/2020 summer.

New Zealand’s Barkers’ Clothing and Roger Hall’s Surfline surfboard brand are putting the final touches on a campaign for their summer range.

This will be the sixth edition of the clothing range, which is a collaboration with Roger Hall and references the colourways of his boards and his love for New Zealand’s surf culture.

“I shaped my first board in 1971 and Barkers’ Clothing started in 1972,” explained Hall.

“So it’s also a survival story of two New Zealand businesses who have made it through thick and thin.”

The collaboration started off in the Barkers’ Clothing Takapuna store.

“It’s like a shrine to me, embarrassingly enough,” laughed Hall. “Pictures of me surfing back in the day and my boards displayed there. The collaboration is about Machado also recently celebrated the launch us being this little country in the bottom of of Solento, tequila brand he co-founded the world and being able to celebrate our with surf and lifestyle filmmaker, Taylor own culture and surf identity.”

Steele. Rob plans to host a series of “Talk Story” events every four to eight weeks that Jay Jackman has a similar sentiment in could include him speaking about his life, his boutique surf store located in the very fellow surfers traveling through town, artists trendy shopping precinct The Tannery in he admires and outdoor movie screenings.

Woolston, Christchurch.

nz news YETI LAUNCHES IN NZ Yeti CEO Matt Reintjes announced that following the brands success in Australia they would be crossing the ditch and operating in New Zealand through a combination of Yeti’s own ecommerce site and local dealer network. Since launching in Australia, Yeti has grown a network of over 230 retail stores as well as online and direct to consumer channels. Nick Swinnerton of Seatrail Agency was selected as Yeti representative in NZ after a lengthy process.

However, the initial role out will not target surf distribution and is currently being stocked in outdoor, fishing and hunting stores only.

Commenting on the launch in NZ, Tim Persse – Regional Sales Manager, Australia & New Zealand “We are incredibly pleased with the response from our retail partners and consumers alike since launching in August. The plan has always been to work with around 20 hand selected premium, credible and authentic retail partners strategically positioned geographically across the North and South Islands,” said Tim Persse.

“We are stoked to be working with Nick and Seatrail agency. He has delivered on the plan and we are excited about the opportunity in front of us.”

Complementing this New Zealand launch, the South Island will be the storyline of the upcoming Yeti Dispatch magalog. The Dispatch will land in 1.5 million homes in the U.S. this month.

“New Zealand epitomizes adventure like no other, and we were able to bring to light a small part of it through stories of snowboarding, surfing and native Maori cuisine. This showcases the intersection of the lifestyles and experience of our Yeti

Alongside his production of surfboards ranging from longboards through the hipster arc of twin-fins to performance boards, he also sells hand-stitched clothing and even classic albums on vinyl.

“When we opened up down here we knew that not everyone who walks past a shopping mall in the middle of Woolston is looking for a surfboard,” Jackman explained.

“We wanted to have something different than your average surf shop. We had a policy that we wouldn’t buy in anything that wasn’t either made by us or anyone else we knew.

We’ve stuck to that to a point. My wife does all the shirts and clothing.”

While Boardriders has been fairly quiet around its New Zealand operation since acquiring Billabong and Amazon last year, ASB has heard that the Queenstown Quiksilver store is set for a major refurbishment.

favour of short-term targets and hitting numbers,” he told ASB. “We aren’t buying into that and we’re not going on sale as we believe the long-term future is only assured when you build a brand up and look for the premium space. Our belief is that everything that you do with your brand needs to be focused on what’s best for the long term.”

When asked about the retail mood for the coming 2019/2020 summer, Hutchison described it as “a bit gloomy”.

“We’re generally really optimistic, but with global pressures and negative sentiment within New Zealand, it’s slightly off,” he revealed. “We’re well positioned, so we’re okay.”

That forecast certainly hasn’t dampened Backdoor’s ambition, with new fit-outs to be completed in Taupo and Palmerston North before the end of November.

indo news TAKE A LOOK AT RVCA ULUWATU RVCA have recently opened their third Indonesian retail concept space in Uluwatu, Bali on Jalan Labuansait with Indonesian operator Occi Wijaya. This marks an exciting accomplishment for the brand opening its first concept space in the Bukit region of Bali.

The store represents the brand’s ethos “The Balance Of Opposites” using local materials, textures and planting throughout the store including customised chevron breeze blocks that cover the façade of the store. There are continual subtle call-outs to the diversity of the brand.

Throughout the store there are pieces of ephemera that talk to the brand’s inclusion and authenticity in the surf, skate, art and MMA subcultures.

Australian contemporary artist Elliott Routledge (RVCA Special Edition Artist) whose work exists in a balance between expressive mark-making and abstract form, has also completed installations on the façade and throughout the store.

ASB understands the store is earmarked to become the first Boardriders-branded store in New Zealand and will feature an experience on its upper level. The refurb represents the first major investment in the Southern Hemisphere under the new Boardriders’ management structure. ****EDITOR****At time of print, ASB hasn’t been able to obtain official comment from Boardriders. We’ll hopefully have more from the NZ arm of Boardriders in our next edition.

Publisher Craig Levers and photographer Warren Hawke have just landed their new limited-edition book, NZ Surf: The Collection Vol 2. The tome features a magazine-style approach that tends to find its way onto every surf coffee table in the country. With only 1600 printed, it is likely to sell-out just as fast as Volume 1 did.

Over at Backdoor, Geoff Hutchison, who has been riding a wave of expansion over the past few years, warned that the retail industry was “facing a never-ending race to the bottom with pricing”.

“The idea of brand building has pretty much gone out the window for most brands in 19/

EXCLUSIVE

“

WHEN I LOOK AT THE FOUR PEOPLE HERE THE SUNLIGHT REFLECTING BACK OFF THE WATER ONTO THE ROOF OF THE BOAT AND ALL...

“

JUST BLOODY REMARKABLE

- Claw

DOUG WARBRICK AND BRIAN SINGER HAVE PULLED OFF THE SALE OF THEIR BELOVED RIP CURL WITH THE SAME INTEGRITY AND FELICITOUS TIMING THAT HAVE CHARACTERISED SO MANY OF THEIR MOVES. IN OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, WHICH TOOK PLACE DURING THE COMPLETION OF THE KATHMANDU SALE AND DEEP IN RIP CURL’S HOME TERRITORY OF TORQUAY, THE FOUNDERS REFLECT ON FIVE DECADES OF INNOVATION.

ASBMAG > It’s a sensational spring day on the Surf Coast. How important to both of you was it that your Torquay staff continue to enjoy all the Surf Coast has to offer and that those jobs are retained here?

BRIAN SINGER > The head office remains here, with (CEO) Michael Daly.

For each individual, it’s up to themselves. It was nice when I woke up, a nice day. I went down to the beach, had a quick surf and hung out at the beach.

And we’re lucky to be able to do that. But quite important, for us, that the company keeps its head office here in Torquay.

DOUG WARBRICK > Probably two key objectives we had through this sale process were to take care of the brand and take care of the crew. So I think the things that have transpired are doing just that. They (Kathmandu) didn’t express anything about moving, shaking up or transforming Rip Curl here, in Torquay, around the head office and our structure.

Kathmandu have said that Michael (Daly) and his team and the crew are in place and they’re said to be delighted with our brand. They’re very happy about our brand and our principles, so it sounds suitable. It fits our original objectives that we’ve had for a potential sale for a decade or more, to look after the brand and the crew.

ASBMAG > What are those intangible qualities about the Surf Coast that have contributed to Rip Curl’s success, and what is it about the Surf Coast that has fostered two of the industry’s biggest brands?

BRIAN SINGER > Here in Torquay over the years, people come, and people go. Some people stay, hang around and I felt that the ones that do hang around and stay are those that feel the power of this coastline, between Point Lonsdale and Torquay and just down past Port Campbell. This area has got a lot of power, like few other spots in the world, and I think some people feel that power and resonate with it. I think it’s the power of this particular geography that’s attracted and kept some people here.

DOUG WARBRICK > I’d endorse Brian’s remarks: it’s certainly a spiritual place and a powerful place too. And there’s no doubt that it’s part of Rip Curl’s success and you can feel some of that in Rip Curl’s brand. The spiritual nature of the geography is one element but there’s also that proximity to Melbourne. We’ve always had, over the fifty years, quite a large city not too far away.

So, we’ve got customers. All of those big city elements are just up the road, but far enough up the road that they’re not all over us seven days a week.

We have a critical mass of customers and also a talent pool because there’s a lot of people of like mind. People who aspire to Rip Curl’s principles and values, and aspire to live on this beautiful coast, go ‘well, I guess I can leave Melbourne, even though I’ve been educated and trained there, and I’ll go down to Torquay, and live a productive life.’

ASBMAG > So if we take the Surf Coast out of Rip Curl, do we still have the same brand?

BRIAN SINGER > Good question. Probably not. When we went to the US and to Europe, to France, we chose locations like this as best we could, places like Trestles near the coast. We chose Hossegor because we ran into Francois (Peyot) there, but, logistically, that was quite difficult. That wasn’t an hour from a big city. It’s pretty hard to get to Hossegor.

DOUG WARBRICK > Peniche, in Portugal, is very equivalent and the big city’s an hour away, along with Brazil and its cold water. Very similar.

ASBMAG > Given those intangible qualities, what qualities are lost to Quiksilver by moving north, to Queensland?

BRIAN SINGER > I think it’s pretty important that brands, in particular, have a sense of where they grew up and belong. And I think they’re somewhat in danger of losing where the brand is rooted and grew up.

But more interesting is the disruption of people, because a company’s not just about a brand, it’s about the people. It’s a pity because, Quiksilver and Rip Curl, we grew up together, we were friends. We fought very strongly and very fiercely in the marketplace, but we were friends, still are, and it’s a pity. It’s a real shame.

DOUG WARBRICK > That direct competition’s gone. Brian and I were involved with the foundation of Quiksilver in the beginning. And I guess we share some distant love of their brand and a lot of admiration for what they and Billabong have done. But in the here and now, they’re an American brand, aren’t they? They’re owned by American private equity, the Californian part of which have probably driven their product and culture for a long time.

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FEATURE ARTICLE / JUST BLOODY REMARKABLE

BRIAN SINGER > We love the surf industry and it was such a pity to see that all happen. It wasn’t good for our surf industry, which was basically a cottage industry years ago, when we all started.

And Billabong too, up on the Goldie. It’s sad for the people, and sad for the surf industry, and what it’s changing.

quickly that that wasn’t appropriate for our company. Even though you need the numbers to be right, we didn’t need that steering.

BRIAN SINGER > It was interesting. When we realised and got off our arse, I got off my arse, and focused again on the product, it turned around very quickly. Very interesting.

“WE FOUGHT VERY STRONGLY AND VERY FIERCELY IN

or two others that were quite keen, or appeared so, and Kathmandu approached us. They approached Michael Daly, our CEO, and at first, I thought they were just another one of these tyre kickers. But, it soon transpired that they were pretty serious, and we got stuck into it. It was only a four-month process or something.

DOUG WARBRICK > Yes, I think Brian answered about Kathmandu very well. And why now? The timing, well…

ASBMAG > I think we care about our brands in this industry and I don’t think that operates in many other industries so much.

BRIAN SINGER > I think most surfers have an acceptable stable of brands that they can wear. But there’s no doubt that the emotional connection, which is what brands are supposed to do, no doubt there’s a strong emotional connection with a lot of people. But I just want to let them all know, there’s no change, they won’t notice any difference. So he (the guy on social media) can keep buying his wetsuits from us.

THE MARKETPLACE, BUT WE WERE FRIENDS, STILL ARE,

BRIAN SINGER > We’re getting old. Simple.

AND IT’S A PITY. IT’S A REAL SHAME.”

DOUG WARBRICK > We’re certainly getting old, but a fifty-year innings is a pretty good innings.

We’ve done a lot in that fifty years. A lot of growth and a lot of development, personally as well as with the company at all kinds of levels. It seems like a good time to hand it on to a new generation of management and even a new generation of ownership. And we’ve always had quite clear goals and objectives about the mission and vision stuff, we’ve done that before.

ASBMAG > If you take fifty years of experience in business and you condense it into a twentyminute heat, how would that heat play out? How do you build a brand like Rip Curl? Is it possible to build a brand like Rip Curl, or repeat the formula?

You’ve probably heard people here articulate our vision, and that is to become the ultimate surfing company in all that we do. Well, that’s a moving

DOUG WARBRICK > I agree with Brian. Maybe the window of opportunity’s not very wide open for surfing right now. But in other fields, yes. If you want to apply that to a heat strategy, you’ve got to start with a fundamental strategy and have something in mind that you’re trying to achieve.

Now, we might not have had that too clearly in mind, but it was powerful. It was powerful within us. The same thing can happen with surfers. Some surfers can train to a heat plan and formula, others do that intrinsically, but they’re certainly working to a formula.

DOUG WARBRICK > One of the attractive things that helped us get us across the line in selling the company here is that Rip Curl is remaining right here, in Torquay. It’s still the nerve centre of Rip Curl and it seems Kathmandu are happy to run their brand and their part of the business on the South Island of New Zealand. They’re happy that Rip Curl is operated out of Torquay making it an Australasian company. I think we’re more comfortable with that.

BRIAN SINGER > Kathmandu have got a big office in Melbourne. It’s really Christchurch- and Melbourne-based.

DOUG WARBRICK > That’s a lot more palatable.

We’re more comfortable with that than going to the US, or a final destination could’ve been China.

BRIAN SINGER > No, it couldn’t have been.

DOUG WARBRICK > And then, even in private equity ownership or that big corporate ownership, it’s good that we’ve avoided all of those things.

BRIAN SINGER > We had three or four pretty important objectives since quite a few years ago, if ever we were to sell. We wanted to find a home that was good for the brand, good for the crew… gave us some money and ideally local, not overseas. So we lucked out, again.

ASBMAG > Was there a point along the fifty-year journey that you felt the business was spiralling out of control, that it had passed your combined skillsets?

BRIAN SINGER > It was about 1989. In ‘89, we were pretty close to going broke, through our own, or my, complacency. We had a couple of supposed gurus involved, who we allowed to lead us off the track and focusing on numbers, when it really was just about to spiral out of control. It was a time of

ASBMAG > Do you have mentors? Because for everyone else, you are it. You’re the spiritual leaders.

BRIAN SINGER > It was always just us. You have to do it yourself and get off your arse and really knuckle down and do it ourselves. But the senior executives at the time, the top product guys that are deeply rooted in surfing said, “Let’s just get the product right and the way surfers want it.”

“OUR VISION IS TO BECOME THE ULTIMATE SURFING COMPANY IN ALL THAT WE DO. WELL, THAT’S A MOVING TARGET, BUT, OVER THE FIFTY YEARS, WE’VE GOT PRETTY CLOSE TO THAT TARGET. WE WERE GETTING A FEW ARROWS INTO THE BULLSEYE THERE.” DOUG WARBRICK > Just work hard, and go out, and see more retailers ourselves. Like playing footy, you’d go, well, we’ve got a great fullback and great centre halfback here and it’s just a matter of how do we win this game?

BRIAN SINGER > I moved out of my nice, big office to a little hole just next door, where I’ve gone back to now. That’s my office again.

ASBMAG > There have been a number of potential buyers over the years, so why Kathmandu and why now? Why this particular time and place?

BRIAN SINGER > It felt right. We went through a formal process about a year and a half ago. We did it in Melbourne and went to New York to talk to some people that the advisors had dug up.

WE WANTED TO FIND A HOME THAT WAS GOOD FOR THE BRAND, GOOD FOR THE CREW… GAVE US SOME MONEY AND IDEALLY LOCAL, NOT OVERSEAS. SO WE LUCKED OUT, AGAIN. high interest rates, too: the banks could’ve easily pulled the plug. And the first two blokes that got the arse were those two. Then, unfortunately, a number of others had to go because we couldn’t support that number of people. Anyway, it was an interesting and very educational, instructional time.

DOUG WARBRICK > They were guest directors from a finance background. And we learnt pretty 22/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

There were six or eight of them, some of them were private equity, a couple of others from America, and Canadian.

DOUG WARBRICK > And one European…

BRIAN SINGER > The only one Aussie one that was interested was a private equity mob and we weren’t really keen on that. We’d been talking to one

target, but over the fifty years, we’ve got pretty close to that target. We were getting a few arrows into the bullseye there.

And we think that the new crew, especially the management, they’ve been trained and grown up here in Torquay, in this building. They’re going to continue to hit that target and drive that vision into the future.

BRIAN SINGER > It’s pretty obvious, if you’re smart enough, to realise you can’t just completely merge two companies of different brand values, even though they are quite similar in many respects.

And we really do believe that the management team led by Michael Daly will continue on running the place.

Michael will continue running Rip Curl - and Xavier (Simonet) at Kathmandu - and they’ll obviously talk together and we can each learn off the other, I’m positive about that. They’ll be doing some things better than we are and we should learn from that. So, I don’t think the people here in Torquay will notice much difference. The retailers won’t notice any difference, I don’t think.

I was talking to Damien Hardman and just the emotional impact on people is quite staggering.

His kids were all upset; my grandkids are upset. He was watching the social media comments and one guy’s saying, “Oh, I’ve had my Rip Curl wetsuits for thirty years; I’m never buying another one.”

Just the way people get emotional about this shows you how connected many people are with the brand.

Because for anybody over about sixty, it was quite a big part of their life, growing up as a young surfer.

DOUG WARBRICK > It probably must be.

BRIAN SINGER > Not, maybe, in surfing, but…

If you’re about talking about a twenty-minute heat.

We’re more like Gabriel Medina. He’s our numberone guy right now. Gaby’s instinctive. I’m sure he’s had the training, and I’m sure he’s discussed stuff through with his close supporters, maybe his dad and other Brazilian surfers that are close to him, and the Rip Curl network and other world champions that respect him and have passed things on to him.

But, he really does it instinctively. He doesn’t go out, as other surfers can be successful, working to the formula.

ASBMAG > Are there times where you’ve gone against the grain in business? Maybe the numbers are telling you one thing, but you decide to go the other way?

DOUG WARBRICK > Exactly. And you’re talking about a heat plan, it’s got to be more instinctive and more intuitive. Well, you see that in most of the top surfers, but you see it abolutely clearly with Medina. You see it with Kelly Slater. Tom Curren’s a great example of going against the grain. In heats, they train a plan B, now. But if you’re in a twenty-minute heat, you don’t necessarily know when to press the button for plan B. It’s only when plan A’s not working. We (Rip Curl) were always be prepared to go to the alternate strategy, or reevaluate, try something new, try something unique.

You were talking surfing, but we just watched the footy finals. They were won and lost by the brave coaches. It wasn’t like the regular season. Geelong, our team here, their coach Chris Scott tried some brave moves that didn’t work out; his team lost.

BRIAN SINGER > Fucking idiot.

DOUG WARBRICK > Richmond tried some brave moves and it paid off. If both sides went by formula, the games would be closer, but those instinctive, intrinsic moves…we certainly played some here at Rip Curl. But those moves can’t be

your theme fifty-two weeks of the year. You’ll come unglued with that. You can only do it when it’s right and it’s so hard to know when it’s right. You’ve got to be brave enough to give it a go.

ASBMAG > That comes with experience, right?

And your gut instinct, and being in tune with your customer, all those things?

DOUG WARBRICK > It’s a surfing heat, so the serendipity’s there, isn’t it? You can’t be sure the wave’s coming. But, if you do it right, you can keep the faith. The wave will come.

ASBMAG > Another twenty-minute heat. After the heat you’ve come in, you’ve shaken hands with your competitor. I feel like, in business, it’s a never-ending heat. There’s no hooter; there’s no final. Are those tacit understandings that you had between the other brands gone now and it’s gloves off?

BRIAN SINGER > I think we were all pretty lucky to have arrived. And when I say ‘we’, Quiksilver and Billabong, ourselves too, have arrived in the surf industry when we were young, at a time when surfing itself was just developing. So that’s the element of luck that’s involved. And at that time I think the competition between the three, I likened it to paddling out with your friends in the water.

You paddle out, and are you going to give your mate a chance to get the wave that you want?

No way. You’re going to fight to get that wave off your friends, aren’t you? Everybody does. Well, that’s what it was like between us and Quiksilver particularly, but also Billabong. It was very intense competition between the three major surf companies in Australia that helped forge the surf industry in Australia. There’s no doubt about that, in my mind.

When we got into the ski industry after quite some years it was a pushover to start with. They were just not in the same league. The surf industry was really a well-run industry back then. The retailers were good. Most of the retailers were very good, so we all got into that luck. But the heat went on for a long time. The twenty minutes extended, and the battle continued.

As the founders stepped away, we haven’t really worked as executives here for over ten years, and new groups of people come through and they fight their own heats. So, I’d just like to stress that everybody says what a remarkable job we’ve done, but there is that element of luck.

DOUG WARBRICK > I think a pretty strong element of that camaraderie still exists. I don’t know how much he’s got to do with his business, but Bob Hurley’s like that. He can still be very proud of his brand and very competitive, but he can switch off and have a bit of fun, and talk about the common challenges, not just the ones at Hurley or Nike.

Gordon Merchant is absolutely our generation and he can still do it. I think he still probably has quite a bit of influence in Billabong.

And I think the big chief at Boardriders is Dave Tanner. He seems to be able to respond to that sort of culture. I don’t know what really happens, but he can act like that. And the next generation, I think they can. They’re just what our generation was and certainly the next generation of Rip Curl people I think that’s the case. But they’re highly competitive with the other major surf labels also. Amongst that generation, guys like Garry ‘Spurter’ Wall, it’s not all lost and forgotten.

BRIAN SINGER > Because this is aimed at the surf retailers, an interesting observation of the industry as a whole over a period of time is that, up until about 1995 or something like that, it was really the battle of the brands and the surf companies, particularly the so-called big three.

But after that time, it became a battle between the retailers, when surf retailers started moving into the malls and so on. Then, it was the retailers having a battle between each other. And sooner or later, as normally happens in many industries, a retailer who’s got one, two shops gets ten, and fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, and then the power shifts: it’s not all with the brands or the surfing companies so much.

The power, to some degree, shifts to retailers because, when you’ve got fifty stores, you’ve got a bit of power. And so the surf industry game, today, is quite different to what it was in its first twentyfive, thirty years or so.

ASBMAG > You’ve got to pick a surfer in a heritage heat. Who are they and why? Any time, any era.

DOUG WARBRICK > We’ve had a lot of great surfers and world champions on our roster. But highly reliable to get the job done, to close out a heat, win the final? They’re Damien Hardman, Mick Fanning, Gabriel Medina. When the chips are down, it’s tough, you can rely on them to win.

We’ve got surfers on our books that may be better surfers, or as good, or better, and, at times, almost untouchable in the water, like Tom Curren for instance.

BRIAN SINGER > Well, I’m only going to pick two. It’s interesting he picked two goofies, I thought that might happen. I’ll go back further in time and I’ll pick Nat Young and MP.

“I THINK RETAILERS CAN GO FORWARD WITH CONFIDENCE THAT RIP CURL IS STILL GOING TO BE A ROCK THAT OUR SURFING INDUSTRY, CERTAINLY HERE IN AUSTRALIA AND BEYOND, CAN ROTATE AROUND AND RELY ON.” ASBMAG > Do their approaches to heat strategies and tactics represent your different leadership styles?

DOUG WARBRICK > I was more into, not so much the heat tactics and all of that, more into - I don’t know - something else.

ASBMAG > You’ve demonstrated incredible business acumen and influential leadership navigating the past fifty years. Would it be fair to say that the brand values handbook carries that legacy forward? Do you see those values aligning with Kathmandu, today?

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com 23/

FEATURE ARTICLE / JUST BLOODY REMARKABLE

BRIAN SINGER > No. They don’t align, necessarily.

They’re not in conflict or antagonistic, but Rip Curl’s got its brand values, just as Kathmandu or Coca Cola or Nike have got their brand values.

ASBMAG > So, in another fifty years from now, you’ve still got that Brand Values book? And that’s your legacy, in a way.

And I’m thinking back twenty or more years ago here. We knew the company had behavioural values that are often expressed by the behaviour of the founders, or the bosses, or whatever. And as the company gets bigger and more and more people, they don’t get to have first-hand knowledge of that, so we started writing a company values handbook, which was to be perpetual, into the future, long after we’d gone.

DOUG WARBRICK > Yes. Absolutely.

But at the same time, we recognised that the brand had values, which are really the external viewpoint, external perceptions that outsiders had of the brand, and they won’t change. They’ll continue on. And different people come and do this, and it’s death to brands. Once you start messing around with what a brand means emotionally to people, it’s all over.

ASBMAG > Thank you. You’ve nailed it. Lessons there. Claw?

DOUG WARBRICK > Well, what can I say about that, other than I agree wholeheartedly? I could potentially see a minor shift in the next fifty years, but it’d have to only be minor. The values are what the values are, and I think they’ll remain, and I think they’ll become stronger, the brand values.

And the principles and the values of the company, but particularly the brand values. I think they’ll just become stronger. I don’t think that they’ll change.

When we’ve talked about not changing them, but maybe shifting them around a bit in the new version of the book or changing half a phrase, look, the true believers… you mentioned (CMO) Neil Ridgway before. He’s such a true believer in those brand values and he’s only one of many; they’ve just steadfastly refused to change anything, and that’s the way we want it. And that’s the way it should be because…

BRIAN SINGER > …new people come into companies and they think they need to do something. “Oh, we better change this”. It’s bullshit.

BRIAN SINGER > We’ve still got that.

BRIAN SINGER > For your readers, those retailers that are a bit business-minded, get hold of a book called Built to Last (Jim Collins and Jerry Porras) It influenced us at the time we were doing all that work on the company values.

ASBMAG > What specific instructions have you given to Michael Daly and the leadership team at the time of this sale announcement?

DOUG WARBRICK > We haven’t given them any.

We’re confident about our core culture and belief system, the things we’ve talked about, the Rip Curl principles and values, and Rip Curl brand values.

I’m confident that they’re so deeply engrained and entrenched that that was probably the main thing, at this point, that we had to do. I think it’d be foolish to.

BRIAN SINGER > They’ve been going for ten years. We haven’t been working for ten years; they’ve been doing it. And the reason why there were no instructions is because we knew they could do it.

ASBMAG > Who are some of the stellar employees that got away from Rip Curl that you see doing great things elsewhere, carrying those brand values in other brands/industries?

BRIAN SINGER > I can think of a couple of people. Butch Barr, who went on to run Reef, is one.

But, there’s another one who was interesting, and I’m going to swerve out a little bit here, onto the issue, which is quite common in the media these days, of females in the workplace. And for fear of putting my toe in hot water here, surfing, way back, was a very male sport. It’s great to see a lot of females surfing now. So, it was fairly natural that the surf companies had lots of males working in them.

I had to choose between two people for a CFO role, the chief finance role. There was a bloke and there

“ONCE YOU START MESSING AROUND WITH WHAT A BRAND MEANS EMOTIONALLY TO PEOPLE, IT’S ALL OVER.” DOUG WARBRICK > There’s two parts to that story. There’s the internal part that we’ve put in words and articulated in a fairly simple format so we can understand it. But then there’s the external.

Now, the customers out there, the end customers, are real surfers. They’ve got their view, which must be very close to what we’ve written.

BRIAN SINGER > What we wrote was after researching all the customers for the brand values.

Not the company value, for the brand values, which is the external perception people have of a brand.

We did a whole heap of research with hundreds, maybe thousands, of people with a formal research company. And the views of all those people that were researched, the customers, were very similar to ours. It was just validation of it.

24/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

was a woman, and they both seemed pretty good and pretty equal. I picked the woman. Well, she surfed. She was the one who surfed, not the bloke, so it was pretty simple. She was really good but left, like a lot of the women do, because she followed her husband. And she’s now in line for running the big construction company, Boral.

ASBMAG > We’re launching a Women In Business series. And the woman on our first cover is Alison Thomas, who worked for you for a while.

She’s now the General Manager of Volcom.

DOUG WARBRICK > Well, look, there’s a whole host of them and you know the names. You just brought one up with Alison. But that generation who were here at Rip Curl are good contributors, and productive, and bought into the belief system.

A lot of them are running or at the top level of surfing companies and other action sport companies here, in Australia, and around the world. And when I bump into them, they often speak fondly of their times at Rip Curl.

And they refer back to brand values and principles, and values among other things that they learnt at Rip Curl. And they’ve often said to me, we wish the company that we’re at now had those, it would’ve been easier for us. And they’ve even said, well, we’ve brought along our version of the ones that we already knew from you. We use them here.

DOUG WARBRICK > Well, you tell me some names. Who are the Young Turks, now?

Something else on that trip: at one point, there were two of us in the water at Macaroni’s late one afternoon. There’d been a storm. The light’s just coming in beautifully from the side. And it was just Tom Curren and me in the water. And I’m paddling out, watching him on a wave, thinking, at the time, this is pretty amazing, just getting a first-hand view of this guy.

COMFORTABLE ABOUT LETTING IT GO TO. BUT THINGS

DON’T GO ON FOREVER, SO IT’S REALLY THAT SIMPLE.”

ASBMAG > You’ve both had many moments like that, whether it’s in the Mentawais or on the ski fields with mates. What’s the immediate future for the both of you?

ASBMAG > I guess, for me, ones that are carrying those values forward in that C-suite club that leapt to my mind immediately is Alison Thomas at Volcom, and Dane O’Shanassy of Patagonia.

Dane’s been really successful aligning Patagonia around values, and really sticking it to people like Alan Jones, and all the politicians. And getting into the Fight for the Bight, and rallying the crew, like you guys did, around causes and environment. They’re the ones I was thinking of.

BRIAN SINGER > It certainly was a great trip. It was a three-week trip. It felt so good to be getting on a boat for three weeks, instead of two, but I’ve got no idea what we were looking at. It must be late afternoon because of the way the light is, and I’ve got a beer. I’d told Martin (Daly) I wanted to be surfing at Macaroni’s on the morning of my 50th birthday. The boat broke down before we were on it.

He’s towed the boat with a little tinny from up north somewhere, down to Macaroni’s, left it there. He’s got on a tinny, drove across on a ferry to Padang, flown down to Perth. Had parts for the boat flown in from London to Perth, waited for them, picked up the parts and then did the reverse trip all the way back. I did surf Macaroni’s by myself on the morning of my 50th birthday. But, how’s that for Martin’s dedication? His goal-oriented patience is fantastic.

Fantastic trip. Pure surfing, true adventure, great mates sharing a wonderful experience. All of those big elements of The Search and the big elements of surfing, really. I think this would be from ‘Beyond the Boundaries’, around 1994.

BRIAN SINGER > There’s another one: Justin was the son of a really close friend of mine and he’s now running Luxottica and Oakley, the whole show, over in New York.

ASBMAG > I’m just showing you now, the cover of ASBMAG #87, the Rip Curl issue. Where are you and what are you looking at, at that moment?

“WE’VE FINALLY FOUND SOMEBODY WHO WE CAN FEEL

DOUG WARBRICK > It’s probably midway or up north in the Mentawais. I don’t know why I’m looking so happy steering the boat because we’re obviously close to a wave and close to a reef with Sunny Miller filming. So I look pretty relaxed despite the fact that it’s my responsibility if the boat goes up the bricks or not. You’re not allowed to put them on the bricks.

Justin Andrews is a bit of a star.

DOUG WARBRICK > Some of our competitors who grew their own businesses, the young entrepreneurs like Peter Forass at XTM and Dave Salveson at Rojo, they always tell me they learnt so much from Rip Curl and they’re basically saying, we’re modelling what we do on how you guys did it. The ones that really do things in WSL, they often refer back to ‘how would Rip Curl have done it?’

WSL’s doing a great job at lots of levels, but it’s not that practical and hands-on, often. They say to me, ‘oh, we just think about if I was at Rip Curl, what would I be expected to do now?’

BRIAN SINGER > Just keep doing what I’m doing.

I spend the winter up at Mount Buller, skiing, or go on a quick couple of boat trips. In Torquay, you get up in the morning, and go down, have a look at the surf, have a walk or a run on the beach, have a paddle, have a surf.

years, there’ll be some change, or ten years there’ll be change, but that was going to happen anyway.

Things change, but because of us selling, that’s not going to produce any change as far as the retailers go. As far as the surf industry goes, it’s not the cottage industry it once was. It’s much more of a professional business these days. And I hope that the retailers can really have a lot of fun running these shops, whether it be a one-door stop or a fifty-door chain. They’re the backbone of the surf industry. The one-door owners, they are and always have been the backbone of the industry. When we first started, we had a bunch of surf shops to go and visit with our wetsuits. And many of them were people we’d competed against with in Aussie titles over the years.

ASBMAG > And some are celebrating fifty years themselves. Coopers is one. Steve’s Place (Robe) is another. Any message to them?

BRIAN SINGER > Coopers, well, that was different. That was Bob Cooper originally. There’s very few of the originals there.

DOUG WARBRICK > Not from any retailers.

We sponsored the Easter contest at Robe for something like thirty or forty years. I’d never been there, and I was doing a caravan trip around Australia and called in there and met the son (Sam), and he brought his dad (Steve) around. We used to exchange letters, handwritten letters with them, back in the 70s.

BRIAN SINGER > Only Mike Di Sciascio. I bumped into him on the beach. Carmelo from City Beach called. He’s a good retailer. I don’t like his shops that much. I didn’t tell him that, but he’s a very good retailer.

DOUG WARBRICK > We toured movies through Robe with the Mexican (Rod Sumpter). Well, obviously, congratulations on enduring through our industry for fifty years and it really takes something to do that. It takes something to do it,

ASBMAG > I just did a whip round the industry and I wanted to share with you some of the sentiments, and I’m sure you’ve received many messages...

“THEY’RE THE BACKBONE OF THE SURF INDUSTRY.

THE ONE-DOOR OWNERS, THEY ARE AND ALWAYS

HAVE BEEN THE BACKBONE OF THE INDUSTRY. ” ASBMAG > I wanted to conclude by asking what’s your message for retailers?

BRIAN SINGER > Well, before that, we didn’t really touch so much on why we’re selling. And we were a bit trite in saying, ‘oh, I’m getting older.’ Well, that is true, but we really haven’t been running the show now for ten years. I’ve been a Chairman and Claw and I have been to directors’ meetings, but really, it’s been up to the executives.

And sooner or later, you’ve got to let go and ideally, we’ve let go to somebody - we’ve finally found somebody who we can feel comfortable about letting it go to. But things don’t go on forever, so it’s really that simple.

ASBMAG > So the message for retailers - what do we say to them?

BRIAN SINGER > They won’t notice any change.

There won’t be much change in terms of the way Rip Curl keeps going. It’s got the same people, the same boss. As I said, we haven’t been doing it, so I don’t see any immediate change. Of course, in five

Curl being here in Torquay. They’re not saying, ‘come over and move it up to our Melbourne office’, or ‘bring it over to Christchurch’, or ‘let’s go together and we’ll build the Taj Mahal in Orange County.’

They haven’t talked about ‘let’s set up in LA or New York and blow the world away.’ There’s none of that. It’s very solidly grounded. And I think, if you go to Christchurch, there’s a bloody solid, hardcore surfing community there. The cold water, and good variety of waves, and I think they participate in this stuff. They’re into general outdoor activity, but it seems to me, when I was talking to them, they’ve got plenty of people that snowboard, plenty that ski. It’s just outside of town. You go this side, there’s a lot of good surf around there, and it sounds like they’ve got a lot of people on their staff that surf.

And that probably contributed to going, ‘well, Rip Curl’s a cool company; this is the one we should be hooking up with. Yes.’ Our conversation drifts back to the cover of issue

“THEY’RE NOT SAYING, ‘COME OVER AND MOVE IT UP TO OUR MELBOURNE OFFICE’, OR ‘BRING IT OVER TO CHRISTCHURCH’, OR ‘LET’S GO TOGETHER AND WE’LL BUILD THE TAJ MAHAL IN ORANGE COUNTY.” #87. It turns out it’s the first time the pair had been on the cover of a magazine in fifty years, and it begins to dawn on them as their eyes are locked on the cover. We’re in CEO Michael Daly’s office, the same room The Search was conceived in the old ‘advertising’ room. Between all the renovations and changes to Rip Curl’s Torquay HQ they still remember every square foot and what was there before, but amidst this setting their minds have raced back in time to 1994 on that ‘Beyond the Boundaries’ Search trip.

that you become part of the fabric and I think it’s important to be part of the fabric. I guess the bigger part of the message, with us being acquired, I think “The more you look at the photo, the better it is,” retailers can go forward with confidence that Rip says Claw. “Oh, yes it’s great. He’s a worker, that Curl is still going to be a rock that our surfing Sunny (Miller). He was a worker, Sunny. Oh, boy, industry, certainly here in Australia and beyond, he was a worker. Worked really hard,” says Brian.

Then Claw strikes a note that seems a perfect way can rotate around and rely on. to end our conversation: We talked about brand values before, and our principles and values, there hasn’t been a word “When I look at the four people here the sunlight about changing anything like that. And certainly, reflecting back off the water onto the roof of the from the people that are acquiring us, they’ve got boat and all...just bloody remarkable.” curiosity there to learn. They’re not too cocky. They see what they can learn about brands, and I hadn’t heard a word about changing the products, or tweaking the products, or changing the marketing.

Because lots of people that we spoke to along the way, they all had their opinions about those things and thought they could change or tweak here and there.

These people are not talking about changing or tweaking product or anything around brand, and they’re very supportive of the central core of Rip For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com 25/

VANS.COM.AU

ASB MULTI MEDIA METER 2019

ASB MULTI MEDIA METER 2019

Print Media

Social Media

THE PRINT MEDIA METER SHOULD BE USED AS A GUIDE ONLY TO SURFERS’ AND BRANDS’ IMPRESSIONS IN THE FOLLOWING MAGAZINES OVER THE SAMPLE PERIOD OF JANUARY THROUGH UNTIL MAY (2019) MAGAZINE COVER DATES.

SURFERS Rank

Brands First past the post. To qualify company logos must be clearly legible to the average person. Corporate advertising bearing more than one company logo earns one impression.

Brands accrue one point for every legible impression including all editorial and advertising.

Advertising & Editorial Ratios Magazines are ranked in order of highest editorial content percentage.

The Pointscore Legend Cover Poster (pull-out) Three-page action gatefold Double page spread Full-page plus column Full-page Half-page Quarter-page Less than Quarter-page

20 20 15 10 7 5 2 1.25 1

5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

— CREED MCTAGGART ↑ ↑

2

↑

KELLY SLATER

5,343,138

149.00

3

↑

MICK FANNING

2,139,139

139.50

4

↑

JOHN JOHN FLORENCE

2,038,482

135.00

5

↑

JULIAN WILSON

1,461,504

118.00

6

↑

FILIPE TOLEDO

MATT WILKINSON

1,453,192

113.25

7

↑

STEPH GILMORE

— GABRIEL MEDINA

1,276,299

112.00

8

↑

JORDY SMITH

— MIKEY WRIGHT

1,015,715

106.50

9

↑

KAI LENNY

— STEPH GILMORE

721,475

97.00

10

↑

OWEN WRIGHT

— ANDY IRONS (RIP)

678,500

96.00

11

↑

TAJ BURROW

— JULIAN WILSON

663,960

95.00

12

↑

TYLER WRIGHT

↑ ↑

JOEL PARKINSON

349,828

90.50

13

↑

MATT WILKINSON

KELLY SLATER

306,760

86.00

14

↑

DANE REYNOLDS

— TAJ BURROW

275,705

78.00

15

↑

KANOA IGARASHI

↑

OWEN WRIGHT

274,426

↑

CRAIG ANDERSON

259,011

16

↑

HARRY BRYANT

75.00

16

17

↑

MIKEY FEBRUARY

74.00

17

↑

MASON HO

243,352

18

— RUSSELL BIERKE

67.00

18

↑

SUNNY GARCIA

234,745

63.00

19

↑

CONNOR COFFIN

231,769

61.00

20

↑

CHRIS 'CHIPPA' WILSON

196,648

19

— KAI LENNY

20

↑

KANOA IGARASHI

21

— TOM CURREN

22

↑

23

— CONNOR COFFIN

53.50

24

— HARRISON ROACH

52.00

CHRIS 'CHIPPA' WILSON

54.00

Rank

Brand

Total

1

↑

NIKE

136,242,104

— TYLER WRIGHT

49.25

— DANE REYNOLDS

48.00

2

↑

GO PRO

29,481,637

47.00

3

↑

VANS

20,157,520

44.00

4

↑

NIKON

15,356,006

44.00

5

↑

QUIKSILVER

9,152,571

43.00

6

↑

HURLEY

6,637,245

7

↑

OAKLEY

5,302,724

8

↑

BILLABONG

4,735,592

9

↑

VOLCOM

4,462,641

10

↑

RIP CURL

2,820,453

121

11

↑

NIXON

2,024,440

94

12

↑

REEF

1,817,438

61

13

↑

O’NEILL

1,255,950

54

14

↑

RVCA

1,181,491

54

15

↑

SPY OPTIC

784,862

49

16

↑

GLOBE

543,294

42

17

↑

CHANNEL ISLAND SURFBOARDS

419,939

39

18

↑

DAKINE

387,305

30

19

↑

BRIXTON

371,664

20

↑

ELECTRIC

368,266

28 28 29

— SOLI BAILEY — BRYCE YOUNG — KYUSS KING — KOLOHE ANDINO

BRANDS Brand ↑ ↑

RIP CURL BILLABONG

3

↓

4

— DHD SURFBOARDS

4 5 6 7 8

↑ ↑ ↑

HURLEY QUIKSILVER RED BULL REEF

— ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK ↑

O'NEILL

Total

9

↑

WORLD SURFARIS

27

10

↑

OCEAN & EARTH

26

10

↑

OAKLEY

26

10

↑

MONSTER ENERGY DRINK

26

11

↑

DRAGON

24

12

— VOLCOM

18

12

↑

VANS

18

13

↑

PYZEL

17

13

↑

VISSLA

17

14

↑

SLATER DESIGNS

15

15

— CHANNEL ISLAND SURFBOARDS

15

↑

JS INDUSTRIES

14

15

↑

PATAGONIA

14

15

↑

NIXON

14

↑

GLOBE

13

17

— CREATURES OF LEISURE

17

↑

18

— ATOLL ADVENTURES

11

19

— HAYDENSHAPES SURFBOARDS

10

19

↑

20

— FCS

AL MERRICK

Instagram

#SOCIAL_MEDIA_METER Using top brands and surfers we’ve tallied surf brands or brands operating in surfwear distribution as the baseline for our social media list. Using the social media links from each brand’s Australian website homepage, we’ve combined their Facebook ‘likes’ as well as Instagram and Twitter ‘followers’ to determine our overall social media top performers. If there’s a brand that deserves to be on the list, write to us and let us know. If the link to your social media site isn’t the right one or there’s an alternative social media page for your brand we should be monitoring, also let us know. #SOCIAL MEDIA METER (ALPHABETICAL ORDER) NB NO TOTAL OR RANK DUE TO THE MIX OF GLOBAL AND REGIONAL SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS. SHOULD BE USED AS A GUIDE ONLY. TABLE CORRECT AT FEBRUARY. TABLE REPRESENTS THOSE BRANDS ON THE PRINT MEDIA METER ONLY.

GABRIEL MEDINA

NIKE

MAGAZINES Brand

Pages

1

—

SURFING LIFE #348

98

2

—

TRACKS #574

116

3

—

SW #408

116

Rank

Ads

Editorial

14

16

RVCA

Facebook

BRANDS

25 27

Twitter

59.25

26

2

28/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

CRAIG ANDERSON

Total

231.00

JOHN JOHN FLORENCE

4

Athlete

9,781,063

↑

MASON HO

Rank

GABRIEL MEDINA

2

↑

Editorial

↑

480.75

3

Advertising

1

MICK FANNING

1

RIP CURL

Total

↑

Rank

MICK FANNING

Athlete

1

6

Magazines Tracks Magazine Australia’s Surfing Life Magazine Surfing World Magazine Surfers Cumulative advertising and editorial impressions using the point score legend opposite.

SURFERS

12 12

10

SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENTARY

Looking at our list its global superstar Gabriel Medina, whose runner up place at Tahiti edged the Brazilian further up the WSL rankings and contributed to his 62000 ‘New Followers’ in August with 26 posts. Meanwhile, Tahiti Pro winner Owen Wright ‘New Followers’ grew a notable 11100 in August from 50 posts, and proving that big wins, brings new fans and new followers. Newcomer to our social media rankings, (Hawaiian) Kai Lenny gained the second most followers in August from our list. Kai recently won the Molokai paddle, in the new SUP foil division, followed by a successful debut at the Four Seasons Maldives event. Late July, Kai received the Waterman of The Year Award at SIMA’s Waterman’s event in California. Kai’s ‘New Followers’ grew 15000 in the month of August from just 76 posts. However, Kai was narrowly eclipsed on the ‘New Followers’ measure by Bethany Hamilton who followers continue to grow as her movie ‘Unstoppable’ tours the world. Bethany’s massive fan base of 5.5m grew 15,200 from 156 posts in August.

9

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FRESH

VOLCOM SHADE STONE L/S Code: A0541904 Colourway: Navy RRP$:$ 90.00 Available: March Description: 100% Cotton heavyweight twill flannel

OAKLEY FALL LINE XL MARK MCMORRIS SIGNATURE SNOW GOGGLE Code: OO7099-17 Colourway: Clas Camo Blue/Prizm Snow Sapphire Iridium RRP$: AUD$249.95 Available: Now Description: Partnership with Mark McMorris. The latest addition to our “LINE SERIES” of cylindrical style snow goggles.

Optimized for a wide variety of faces, engineered to fit with most helmets.

OAKLEY CLIFDEN Code: OO9440-01 Colourway: Matte Black/Prizm Snow Black Iridium RRP$: $254.95 Available: Now Description: The style merges Prizm™ Lens Technology, a best in class lens technology, and frame design engineered with side shields and a bridge blocker for protection and an integrated leash for stowage and convenience.

GLOBE HOT SAND SS SHIRT Code: GB01924001_PUM Colourway: Pumice RRP$: $69.99 Available: November Description: 100% Viscose, Peachface poplin, classic fit, yardage printed, revere collar, softener wash, straight hem.

R8GZWEAR WOMEN’S HUGGER PANT Code: RG11911003_LCSOLY Colourway: Locals Only RRP$: $79.99 Available: November Description: Brushed cotton poplin, oversized fit, cuffed leg, elastic waistband, keyloop.

R8GZWEAR MEN’S GRAZER PANT Code: RG01911001_FLYBNS Colourway: Fly Bones RRP$: $79.99 Available: November Description: Brushed cotton poplin, oversized fit, cuffed leg, elastic waistband, keyloop.

XTM PERFORMANCE GRANITE JACKET Code: TM034 Colourway: Yellow RRP$: $599.99 Available: Now Description: ersatile and affordable 3-in-1 jacket that includes a waterproof outershell and removable technical mid layer, wear them all together for the ultimate warmth and waterproofing, or separate for those warmer days where you need to dump some extra heat.

INDOSOLE MENS THONGS Code: MSAESSBLKBLK Colourway: Black RRP$: $44.99 Available: Now Description: Our footwear starts with sourcing the most thoughtful materials we could find, natural rubber and vegan synthetics using very little water and resources in our processes.

INDOSOLE WOMENS THONGS Code: WSAESSLEA Colourway: Leaf (Green) RRP$: $44.99 Available: Now Description: Our footwear starts with sourcing the most thoughtful materials we could find, natural rubber and vegan synthetics using very little water and resources in our processes.

PATAGONIA MEN’S PILE-LINED TRUCKER JACKET Code: 26520-MJVK Colourway: Mojave Khaki RRP$: $269.95 Available: March Description: A classic trucker jacket lined with pile fleece for warmth and comfort.

Fair Trade Certified™ sewn.

CREATURES OF LEISURE MINI GRIFFIN TRACTION Code: GMG9CYFOR Colourway: Cyan Fade Orange RRP$: $49.95 Available: Now Description: A slightly reduced template signature Griffin Colapinto for the groms.

This 280mm L x 290mm W, three piece pad features the Diamond Loc II ultimate traction with a 30mm kick.

CREATURES OF LEISURE GROM LITE 5 Code: LGL20005ORCI Colourway: Orange Citrus RRP$: $34.95 Available: Now Description: The Grom Lite 5 leash features a reduced size cuff for a groms ankle.

Combined with all the proven features of the Creatures regular Lite leash.

SALTY CREW OL KNOBBY FLEECE Code: 20335090A Colourway: Gunmetal Heather RRP$: $89.99 Available: December Description: Australian developed style.

80% cotton / 20% polyester. Heavy weight 10 oz fleece. Screen print front, back, and sleeves.

SALTY CREW HOTWIRE WINDBREAKER Code: 20935049 Colourway: Black RRP$: $109.99 Available: May Description: Standard fit windbreaker, 100% polyester, lightweight fabric, 330mm durable water resistant coating, front zip with hooded drawcord, screen printed front, back and sleeve.

VANS ERA Code: VN-0EWZBLK Colourway: Black RRP$: $109.99 Available: November Description: Vans are a staple in skate culture and street style, and the Vans Era is no exception. This classic lace-up skate shoe is focused on ultimate comfort and cool.

30/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

VOLCOM COCO BEACH PANT Code: B1212006 Colourway: Black Combo RRP$: $80.00 Available: February Description: Coco Ho Collection - 100% Viscose 30s, Wide leg ankle cropped beach pant

RHYTHM COLOMBO LONG SLEEVE 1 PIECE

RHYTHM VACATION STRIPE SS SHIRT

Code: JAN20W-SW15 Colourway: Black RRP$: $109.99 Available: January

Code: JAN20M-WT06 Colourway: Almond RRP$: $79.99 Available: January Description: Cuban fit short sleeve shirt in a soft-touch striped fabric.

PATAGONIA WOMEN’S DUSTY MESA FLEECE PARKA Code: 25115-BRTA Colourway: Bearfoot Tan RRP$: $299.95 Available: March Description: This cosy,100% recycled highpile fleece coat was designed for warmth in chilly conditions.

RIP CURL KEEP ON SURFIN GOOD ONE PIECE Code: GSIOG9 Colourway: Navy RRP$: $99.99 Available: January Description: Introducing a key piece in our Surf Revival collection. Celebrating the tradition of surfing culture and all that Rip Curl stands for, this is Surf Revival. A highfive for our colourful history and the fine madness that is Rip Curl.

RIP CURL MIRAGE WILKO KFISH Code: CBOOB9 Colourway: Black RRP$: $79.99 Available: March Description: Collab with Kelcey Fisher / KFiSH. Matt Wilkinson is the face of KFiSH’s creations. Inspired by the colours of Californian beach culture and made rich with depth reminiscent of the sea herself, the range is visceral, turbulent and only here for a few short months…

VANS VANS SPORT Code: VNA4BU6T9H Colourway: Amberglow RRP$: $129.99 Available: November Description: The Suede Vans Sport is a retro lace-up style featuring sturdy suede uppers, heel details and a throwback old school V side stripe.

YETI M30 SOFT COOLER Code: 18025180000 Colourway: Navy RRP: $449.95 Available: Now Description: The Hopper M30 Soft Cooler closes almost on its own with our HydroShield™ Technology – a strip of ultra-strong magnets – then is secured with two Quick-Release Buckles to ensure it can withstand being tossed around.

YETI ROADIE 20 HARD COOLER Code: 10020020000 Colourway: White RRP: $299.95 Available: Now Description: The Roadie 20 portable hard cooler has a compact body and rotomolded construction. This small but mighty outdoor cooler is ready to hit the road, whether you’re in for a day at the beach or kicking back at a backyard BBQ. 31/

BUYERS' GUIDE

SNOW APPAREL & EQUIPMENT

OAKLEY BLACK FOREST 2.0 SHELL 3L 15K ANORAK JACKET Code: 412777-02E Colourway: Blackout RRP$: $429.95 Available: Now Description: With exclusive FN Dry 15K fabrication and Hydrophilic lamination, this versatile Black Forest 2.0 Shell 3L 15K Jacket can handle almost any cold weather situation.

OAKLEY SPELLBOUND SHELL 3L GORETEX JACKET Code: 511733-02E Colourway: Blackout RRP$: $699.95 Description: Style and cold weather versatility for enhanced performance. Legendary GORETEX®, fully taped seams, and a zipper ventilation system offer ideal warmth and moisture management.

OAKLEY LINE MINER™ KAZU KOKUBO SIGNATURE SNOW GOGGLE Code: OO7070-54 Colourway: Kamikazu Derma/ Prizm Snow Torch Idirium RRP$: $209.95 Description: Collab with Kazu Kokubo, inspired by traditional Japanese tattoo art. These goggles were created with the purpose of providing the ultimate in peripheral vision, with a cylindrical-style design.

PATAGONIA POWDER BOWL JACKET Code: 31392-PSS Colourway: Peppergrass Green RRP$: $579.95 Available: March Description: Fair Trade Certified™ sewn and built with a 100% recycled GORE-TEX fabric, it provides long-wearing protection for those who ride the mountain in all conditions.

PATAGONIA INSULATED POWDER BOWL JACKET Code: 31448-SNS Colourway: Sunset Orange RRP$: $699.95 Available: March Description: Fair Trade Certified™ sewn with refined fit, clean styling, and 100% recycled GORE-TEX face fabric. It's warm, durable yet designed for ease of motion.

PATAGONIA POWSLAYER JACKET Code: 30305-HAGO Colourway: Hammonds Gold RRP$: $899.95 Available: March Description: Lightweight, packable, optimised for backcountry touring this minimalist design features 100% recycled GORE-TEX PRO fabric package and is Fair Trade Certified™ sewn.

SPY+ LEGACY Code: 313483231702 Colourway: 25th Anv Ltd Edition RRP$: $299.95 Available: Winter 2020 Description: The lowest profile, widest peripheral SPY goggle ever, featuring our HD+ color, contrast and mood-enhancing Happy Lens™ while taking our Lock Steady™ quick-change lens system to the next level. Bonus lens included.

SPY+ ACE Code: 310071265461 Colourway: Level 1 Collaboration RRP$: $199.95 Available: Winter 2020 Description: The free bonus lens and Quick Draw® lens change system put the midsized Ace at the top of the deck. In volatile conditions, you can easily slide the bonus high-visibility lens into place and quickly return to the action.

QUIKSILVER ANNIVERSARY JK Code: EQYTJ03220 Colourway: Black RRP$: $399.99 Available: November Description: Inspired by the boldness of the boardriding tribe, Raw Loud and Punk! 15k 3L jacket to keep you dry, all decade long!

QUIKSILVER TR STRETCH JK Code: EQYTJ03231 Colourway: Barn Red RRP$: $499.99 Available: November Description: Travis Rice's signature jacket built with Toray Mega Stretch Fabric. 20k mega stretch with mega stretch lining for the most comfortable jacket ever.

QUIKSILVER DRIFT Code: EGYTJ03228 Colourway: Grape Leaf RRP$: $299.99 Available: November Description: Urgan inspired with mountain performance. 10k 40g insulated jacket. Stylish, warm and dry!

PROTEST CUTIE JACKET Code: 6611192_719 Colourway: Think Pink RRP$: $379.00 Description: Tailored fit, short length, critical taping, 88% Polyester & 12% polyamide geotech with waterproof 10Kmm.

PROTEST WORTON JACKET Code: 6711392_207 Colourway: Golden RRP$: $379.00 Description: Regular fit, long length, critical taping, 100% Polyester geotech with waterproof 10Kmm. treatment and CORDURA fabric in the critical zones.

XTM PERFORMANCE CREMA MITT Code: DU002 Colourway: Rust RRP$: $199.99 Available: Now Description: Crema Mitt features all the premium warming technologies from GoreWarm to Primaloft. Named after former Winter Olympian Katya Crema.

XTM PERFORMANCE HANS GLOVE Code: DM004 Colourway: Navy RRP$: $129.99 Description: Stylish in its simplicity, the Hans glove is all about function so you can worry less about what's on your hands and more about what's on the slopes.

XTM PERFORMANCE GRANITE JACKET Code: TM034 Colourway: Yellow RRP$: $599.99 Available: Now Description: Extremely versatile and affordable 3-in-1 jacket that includes a waterproof outershell and removable technical mid layer.

RHYTHM BORA QUILTED JACKET Code: OCT19M-JK05 Colourway: Black RRP$: $199.99 Available: October Description: Our take on the classic quilted puffer jacket.

Featuring a contrast Sherpa collar as a Rhythm signature look.

RHYTHM JAMES NYLON JACKET Code: GAR00M-JK02 Colourway: Black RRP$: $179.99 Description: Our technical version of the Rhythm James jacket. Featuring a contrast diamond quilted lining and waxed canvas collar.

RHYTHM PASSENGER JACKET Code: GAR00M-JK04 Colourway: Olive RRP$: $199.99 Description: The passenger jacket is a technical version of the classic vintage anorak. Featuring a matte nylon shell and quilted lining.

CARVE FROTHER Code: 6220-01 Colourway: Matt Black/Silver Iridium Lens RRP$: $79.99 Available: April Description: Features OTG, Italian Anti Fog, triple foam, silicone waves & is helmet compatible.

32/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

NOT ALL GLOVES ARE CREATED EQUAL OFFICIAL SUPPLIER TO THE OLYMPIC TEAM

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BUYERS' GUIDE

SNOW APPAREL & EQUIPMENT

PROTEST ATOMIC JACKET Code: 6612592_401 Colourway: Seashell RRP$: $349.00 Description: Tailored fit, regular length, critical taping, 100% Polyester geotech with waterproof 10Kmm. y while maintaining a low environmental impact.

ROXY GORE-TEX 2L GLADE JK Code: ERJTJ03239 Colourway: Heather Grey Botanical Flowers RRP$: $599.99 Available: November Description: Roxy's Street inspired GoreTex jacket. Built for the mountains or bring it to the streets.

ROXY SHELTER JK Code: ERJTJ03214 Colourway: True Black RRP$: $349.99 Available: November Description: A sporty looking Anorak that has become an instant team favourite. 10k with 60g Eco Primaloft insulation

ROXY TORAH BRIGHT ROXY JETTY JK Code: ERJT03242 Colourway: True Black Magnolia RRP$: $279.99 Available: November Description: Torah Bright, Australia's most recognised snowboarder has brought her fashion sense to her price point jacket.

10k with 120g warmflight insulation.

CARVE SCOPE Code: 6154 Colourway: Matt Black/Photochromic Rose Lens RRP$: $189.99 Available: April Description: Scope features a Photochromic lens that will adapt to changing light conditions so you’re cover on a bluebird day to whiteout conditions.

CARVE THE BOSS Code: 6170 Colourway: Matt Black/Green Iridium Lens RRP$: $149.99 Available: April Description: The Boss features Magnalink technology lens system, interchangeable lens to suit any conditions and comes with an All round lens & a bonus Low Light lens.

SPYDER SCHATZI GTX INFINIUM JACKET Colourway: Lagoon RRP$: $849.00 Available: Description: Stretch Polyester Plain Weave 2L with Gore-tex. Primaloft Silver ECO insulation 80g. Underarm ventilation, adjustable cuffs & removable hood.

SPYDER TITAN GTX JACKET Colourway: Alloy RRP$: $829.00 Available: Description: Stretch Polyester Plain Weave 2L with Gore-tex. Primaloft Silver ECO insulation 80g. Removable hood, underarm ventilation, internal zippered pocket, mesh goggle pocket & lens wipe.

SPYDER TIMELESS DOWN JACKET Colourway: Volcano RRP$: $379.00 Available: Description: Down proof recycled polyester ripstop. 700 Fill Goose Down.

Reversed coil center front, internal elasticized hem & cuff.

RIP CURL FREERIDE SEARCH JACKET Code: SCJDS4 Colourway: Yellow RRP$: $449.99 Available: November Description: The Freeride Search Jacket is 20K/20K and has a RT Fortress PU membrane. Made with recycled materials and finished with PFC-Free Bionic finish eco DWR. Core two-way stretch body mapping zones, mesh lined venting.

The ultimate in stretch and tech while maintaining a low environmental impact.

RIP CURL SEARCH PANT Code: SCPCM4 Colourway: Black RRP$: $299.99 Available: November Description: The Search Pant is 20K/20K and is designed with a core stretch recycled material. The ultimate in eco-friendly mountainwear with an emphasis on stretch and technology. Finished with a PFC-free Bionic Finish eco DWR treatment and CORDURA fabric in the critical zones.

RIP CURL FREERIDE SEARCH JACKET Code: SGJDH4 Featured Colourway (image supplied): Moon Beam RRP$: $449.99 Available: November Description: This women’s mountainwear jacket combines environmentally friendly materials with an emphasis on stretch and technology. 20K/20K, 37.5 technology, a core stretch recycled fabric and a PFC-free bionic finish eco DWR make this jacket the best in women’s mountainwear.

VOLCOM GUCH STRETCH GORE JACKET Code: G0652014 Colourway: Resin Gold RRP$: $800.00 Available: November Description: GORE-TEX 3-layer stretch C-KNIT jacket, fully taped seams, zip tech jacket to pant interface, face tech, recco advanced rescue technology, internal guch peace stone screen print.

VOLCOM IGUCHI SLACK VEST Code: G0652001 Colourway: Black RRP$: $400.00 Description: Designed and approved by mountain legend, Bryan Iguchi.

Constructed to replace the bulk of a backpack, this vest is a more compact, comfortable and versatile alternative.

VOLCOM SHELTER 3D STRETCH JACKET Code: H0452009 Colourway: Black Floral Print RRP$: $360.00 Description: 15,000mm / 15,000gm2, V-Science 2-layer shell, *V-Science stretch Oxford w/ REPREVE, stretch lining, low loft stretch insulation: 80/60gm, fully taped seams, zip tech jacket to pant interface.

INTUITION BOOTIE Code: INBBOYE Colourway: Yellow RRP$: $119.95 Available: Winter 2020 Description: Keep your feet warm with and comfortable with the new intuition Bootie! Water resistant with a faux fur lining, the Intuition Bootie is perfect for all apres conditions.

34/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

BUYERS’ GUIDE

FOOTWEAR

ROXY ANDERSON II Code: ARJB700630 Colourway: Brown RRP$: $149.99 Available: November

ROXY MEISA Code: ARJB700628 Colourway: Black RRP$: $189.99 Available: November

GLOBE SURPLUS Code: GBSURP_10046 Colourway: Black/White RRP$: $79.99 Available: February

GLOBE CT-IV CLASSIC Code: GBCTIVC_11011 Colourway: White/Blue RRP$: $149.99 Available: February

RIP CURL TRACKS PLUS Code: TULAJ7 Colourway: Tobacco RRP$: $99.99 Available: February

RIP CURL CLASSIC SLUG Code: TUCAF4 Colourway: Chestnut RRP$: $79.99 Available: February

REEF RIDGE MID LUX Code: A2XMQ Colourway: Black/Gum RRP$: $139.99 Available: May

REEF CUSHION BOUNCE MATEY Code: A3YLB Colourway: Tobacco RRP$: $99.99 Available: May

VANS ERA Code: VN-0EWZBLK Colourway: Black RRP$: $109.99 Available: November Description: Vans are a staple in skate culture and street style, and the Vans Era is no exception. This classic lace-up skate shoe is focused on ultimate comfort and cool.

VANS VANS SPORT Code: VNA4BU6T9H Colourway: Amberglow RRP$: $129.99 Available: November Description: The Suede Vans Sport is a retro lace-up style featuring sturdy suede uppers, heel details and a throwback old school V side stripe.

ETNIES LOCUT 2 CB Code: 4101000521-599 Colourway:): Black/Red/White RRP$: $109.99 Available: March

ETNIES MARANA VEGAN Code: 4101000403-291 Colourway: Tan/Gum Vegan version RRP$: $119.99 Available: March

XTM PERFORMANCE GEORGIE BOOT Code: FL011 Colourway: Brown RRP$: $149.99 Available: Now

XTM PERFORMANCE KONRAD BOOT Code: FM003 Colourway: Brown RRP$: $149.99 Available: Now

36/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com

BUYERS’ GUIDE

GREEN

PATAGONIA ROAD TO REGENERATIVE RINGER TEE Code: 38521-WHWA Colourway: White Wash RRP$: $69.95 Available: March Description: Organic is the first step.

Regenerative agriculture is the next step to rebuild healthy soil and help reverse climate change. 100% Regenerative Organic Certification Pilot Cotton and Fair Trade Certified sewn.

PATAGONIA ROAD TO REGENERATIVE POCKET TEE Code: 38520-BSBL Colourway: Big Sky Blue RRP$: $69.95 Available: March Description: Organic is the first step.

Regenerative agriculture is the next step to rebuild healthy soil and help reverse climate change. 100% Regenerative Organic Certification Pilot Cotton and Fair Trade Certified sewn.

PICTURE ORGANIC HARVEST MEN’S JACKET Code: MVT-261 Colourway: Green RRP$: $749.00 Available: Winter Description: Introducing our first partially bio based membrane. Made from castor oil, this renewable technology is part of the process to end our dependency on oil.

GreenPlus certified.

PICTURE ORGANIC SIGNE WOMEN’S JACKET Code: WVT-152 Colourway: Pink RRP$: $549.95 Available: Winter Description: From bio-based insulation to a seamless bi-density construction, the Signe jacket offers total freedom while keeping you dry and warm. GreenPlus certified.

VOLCOM SOLVER TAPERED Code: A1931603 Colourway: Slate Blue RRP$: $100.00 Available: March Description: Made with sustainable ozone wash, saving approx. 13 litres per pair.

Modern fit tapered, regular rise, 14" Leg opening, comfort stretch jean.

VOLCOM OZZY S/S TEE Code: B3512004 Colourway: Light Peach RRP$: $50.00 Available: February Description: Made with organic cotton/ Ffrm to yarn, featured artist: Ozzie Wright, 100% organic cotton jersey tee.

XTM PERFORMANCE WILDCAT FLEECE JACKET Code: NM008 Colourway: Navy RRP$: 89.99 Available: Now Description: Lightweight and durable, our Wildcat Jacket features a recycled anti-pill fleece so you can stay warm and save the environment at the same time. The jacket is made from plastics that would normally end up in landfill and turns them into this functional and versatile mid-layer.

XTM PERFORMANCE BACK COUNTRY JACKET Code: MM014 Colourway: Light grey RRP$: 199.99 Available: Now Description: Utilising XTM’s Merinolite technology, this functional jacket balances performance and breathability without jeopardising warmth. Filled with Australian Merino insulation that is all natural and 100% cruelty-free.

DRAGON ALLIANCE BAILE Code: DR41895.245.54/19 Colourway: Matte Dark Tortoise/Brown P2 Polar RRP$: $220.00 Available: Now Description: Just like one of Mick Fanning’s signature carves, these shades are sharp, stylish & timeless. Now available in our Plant-Based Resin technology.

DRAGON ALLIANCE MONARCH XL Code: DR42009.246.58/20 Colourway: Matte Black/Lumalens Silver Ion RRP$: $190.00 Available: Now Description: Inspired by our flagship Monarch, the Monarch XL design offers the same great look and quality feel, only in a larger fit. Available now in our PlantBased Resin technology.

ROXY ANDIE SPINDYE Code: ERJTJ03238 Colourway: Living Coral RRP$: $369.99 Available: November Description: Made from Spindye fabric which uses 85% less water, 70% less chemicals and reduces it's CO2 imprint by 30% compared to the average jacket. 15k 40g insulated eco warrior outfit!

QUIKSILVER SNOWSPINDYE JK Code: EQYTJ03211 Colourway: Sulphur RRP$: $449.99 Available: November Description: Made from Spindye fabric which uses 85% less water, 70% less chemicals and reduces it's CO2 imprint by 30% compared to the average jacket. 15k 40g insulated eco warrior outfit!

RIP CURL BACKCOUNTRY SEARCH JACKET Code: SGJDG4 Colourway: Black RRP$: $499.99 Available: November Description: The Women’s Backcountry Search Jacket is the ultimate in technology, stretch and environmentally friendly design made for the backcountry. Designed with 37.5 ultimate stretch technology, this women’s jacket has a huge emphasis on breathability for the backcountry.

30K/40K, designed as a 2.5L shell and finished with a PFC-Free bionic finish eco DWR treatment.

RIP CURL BACKCOUNTRY SEARCH JACKET Code: SCJDR4 Colourway: Black RRP$: $549.99 Available: November Description: The Backcountry Search Jacket is the ultimate in technology, stretch and environmentally friendly design made for the backcountry. Designed with 37.5 ultimate stretch technology, this women’s jacket has a huge emphasis on breathability for the backcountry.

30K/40K, designed as a 2.5L shell and finished with a PFC-Free bionic finish eco DWR treatment.

INDOSOLE MENS SLIDE Code: MSASLDSOI Colourway: Soil (Brown) RRP$: $59.99 Available: Now Description: Our footwear starts with sourcing the most thoughtful materials we could find, natural rubber and vegan synthetics using very little water and resources in our processes. B-Corporation Certified. 100% Recycled Tyres Soles.

Responsibly crafted – no animals. All Natural, All Vegan, All Terrain, All the Time.

INDOSOLE WOMENS SLIDES Code: WSASLDSEA Colourway: Sea Salt (Off White) RRP$: $59.99 Available: Now Description: Our footwear starts with sourcing the most thoughtful materials we could find, natural rubber and vegan synthetics using very little water and resources in our processes. B-Corporation Certified. 100% Recycled Tyres Soles.

Responsibly crafted – no animals. All Natural, All Vegan, All Terrain, All the Time.

GLOBE LOW TIDE Code: GBLOWTIDE_14317 Colourway: Warm Grey RRP$: $119.99 Available: February Description: Low impact casual shoe designed to be skateable with minimal impact to the environment, Sustainable cotton stitching and water based glues, Shockbed™ insole with cork veneer lining and water based ink logo, Globe’s Super-V™ outsole containing 5% recycled rubber.

GLOBE LOW TIDE JACKET Code: GB02037009_JETINK Colourway: Jet Ink RRP$: $139.99 Available: March Description: 100% polyester, recycled PET twill (coated), quilted internal body lining, polar fleece internal hood lining, classic fishtail fit, CF storm flap closure, DWR coating, YKK zippers

VISSLA RADICAL ROOTS BOARDSHORT Code: M101ORAD Colourway: MUL RRP$: $79.99 Available: January Description: Boardshorts made from coconut fibres

VISSLA RADICAL ROOTS ECO Code: M507ORAR Colourway: JAV RRP$: $79.99 Available: January Description: Woven short made from 100% organic cotton

ETNIES HAMILTON BLOOM Code: 4101000524 Colourway: Tan RRP$: $99.99 Available: March Description: 100% recycled cotton, 60% recycled polyester throughout shoe, laces made from recycled plastic bottles. Bloom foam sole – plant based foam.

BASPAT – one tree planted for every shoe sold (nearing 2 million trees planted so far)

ETNIES BALBOA BLOOM Code: 4101000523 Colourway: Grey/Black/Blue RRP$: $89.99 Available: March Description: Bloom foam sole – plant based foam. 60% recycled polyester linings, 40% polyester mesh upper.

Laces made from recycled plastic bottles.

BASPAT – one tree planted for every shoe sold (nearing 2 million trees planted so far)

38/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com 39/

FEATURE ARTICLE / WORDS CAZ RIDINGS EMGE

FASTER RHYTHM: New speed to market programs ramp up

Words Caz Ridings Emge

IN A BID TO RADICALLY OVERHAUL THE SURF INDUSTRY’S TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO PRODUCE SPEED TO MARKET, RHYTHM HAVE EMBARKED ON A SLEW OF NEW PROGRAMS –INCLUDING ONE THAT DELIVERS STYLES FROM ‘CONCEPT TO COAT HANGER’ WITHIN 45 DAYS. FAR FROM A GIMMICKY FAST FASHION SALES GRAB, RHYTHM CLAIM THE INITIATIVES HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO REVOLUTIONISE SURF RETAIL. THE QUESTION IS, IS THE INDUSTRY READY FOR A FASTER TEMPO?

“INITIALLY, THE IDEA WAS JUST TO SUPPLEMENT OUR In a nondescript black warehouse in the industrial backstreets of Burleigh, mere blocks away from the showpiece HQs that have housed Billabong, Element, SurfStitch and more over the years, the Rhythm team have been quietly orchestrating a major production overhaul they hope will expedite an industry-wide shakeup.

In a white-walled room, festooned with racks laden with latest prints and woven fabrics, Rhythm’s Global General Manager Josh Barrett, and Curated Program Head, Colin Wyatt, pointed out two sparsely curated racks of apparel nestled in the corner. To the untrained eye they seemed akin to any another fashionforward capsule collection, but to Rhythm they represented a portal into surf retail’s future – on those racks, hopes hung in balance.

INDENT COLLECTION WITH SPEED-TO-MARKET STYLES THAT WE THOUGHT WERE MORE ON POINT.” Then there’s First Edition, a program designed to release directional styles that Rhythm test in their own retail stores. Once proven successful, styles are fed into either the Responsibly by Rhythm or indent collections.

For major customers there’s also Made to Order, a program which offers the same experience of buying closer to the market, with the compound benefit of segregating runs of products to minimise style saturation in the market, or cross-retailer discounting.

If the forecast for Torquay is 40 degrees for the Bells comp, retailers chasing boardshorts could buy on Monday prior to the long weekend and know that they’ve got 36 on-trend board shorts coming, that’s how reactive they could be – buy into a long weekend or event, or buy ahead of a festival like Splendour.”

Adapting to Retail in the Zara Era The term ‘fast fashion’ was first coined by the New York Times after Spanish juggernaut Zara commenced bi-weekly deliveries of new merchandise back in the early noughts, whittling production processes down to two weeks start to finish, and paving the way for the global chains in the space that – despite mixed fortunes, like recently bankrupt Forever21 or troubled H&M – now dominate high streets and online stores.

It may seem a world away from surf, however the effect on consumer expectations can’t be underestimated.

The collection is the latest offering from Although each program has been introduced to a production experiment that Rhythm the marketplace previously, Josh said the official commenced two years prior, to fast-track kick-off, running “in a precise way”, is Q2 this product turnaround. “Initially, the idea was just financial year. to supplement our indent collection with speedto-market styles that we thought were more If 45 days seems quick, Josh pointed out that as on point,” said Josh. As production capabilities the bulk of time was in design and manufacture, increased, however, Rhythm recognised Responsibly by Rhythm could actually translate potential to launch programs with a bigger into next day stock for retailers. Once product goal – to provide a quicker and more sustainable lands, Rhythm shoot it in an onsite studio, then transaction process between brand and retailer. load it onto Brandscope, set to go. “After stocks “The value of surf retail products is reducing, based on imitation products available from In addition to their regular indent collection, are ready to ship from our warehouse, any time retailers like Zara, Cotton On, H&M, and all initiatives include Responsibly by Rhythm, a an independent retailer places an order it’s sent the vertical brands within surf retail themselves,” program that delivers styles from concept to coat by courier the same day before 12 pm, next day Josh said. Then there’s the rate of trend adoption. hanger in 45 days, allowing their design team to after 12 pm, meaning product can realistically be With some brands producing 52 micro-seasons react in real time to market trends to produce on shelves within 24-48 hours,” said Josh. per year, or a new collection every week, buy-now, sell-now products. Exclusive to consumers have become accustomed to spotting independents, the program enables retailers to This translates into hot product on demand. a runway or social media trend one week, then buy closer to delivery, enabling more informed “Using Victoria as an example, most stores clear finding it in malls or available online the next. boardshorts prior to Easter. decisions on the stock they have on shelves.

40/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com 41/

FEATURE ARTICLE / WORDS CAZ RIDINGS EMGE

“The whole market needs to be aware the way we do business as a surf industry hasn’t evolved in thirty years. Right now indent lead time is 12-14 months. So if we’re going into the marketplace with products designed today for delivery in 14 months, we’re trying to tell people we know what will be trending at that time, when every other vertical retailer who sells product in close proximity to our retail partners – through WGSN or runway shows, Miami Swim or different inspirations – they’ve already seen what’s coming, they’ve reacted quickly, and they’ve done an imitation product,” Josh said.

“TO ME THAT MEANS WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE THE FIRST PEOPLE TO BE DOING EXCITING THINGS WHEN OPPORTUNITY PRESENTS. FOR US TO BE OFFERING THIS TYPE OF PROGRAM TO THE MARKET DIRECTLY

“Trends are created, exploited and killed far quicker than ever before, and if we’re using October ‘18 outsell and October ‘19 insell to make a decision on what to put in next year’s October ‘20 collection, we’re using redundant information to develop product for a customer base that spend almost their entire open to buy on indent products. So for me indent, which is meant to be the safety component of a retail store’s buy, is actually where they carry all of their risk.”

FITS IN WITH OUR BRAND.”

By accelerating production turnaround driven by real-time data, Rhythm intend to bring surfwear up to speed. “If we were just competing with brands and retail stores in the surf industry, the glory days would still be here and things would be easy. It’s the surf business now, and more largely, it is the apparel business. Apparel is so widely available either online or at shopping malls, domestically and internationally. The world has shrunk in logistical terms, how quickly and cheaply you can get a product from A to B, irrespective of location. The focus needs to be around treating your store or your brand as a business that is driven from data, with a very inherent focus on improving decision-making and no longer guessing,” Josh said.

Hiccups, Handbrakes and the Bigger Vision

Need for Speed Meets the Sound of Change As a brand that launched in 2003 in response to a So we no longer buy inventory on our indent “If cherry all of a sudden was just everywhere, perceived lack of authenticity across mainstream collection. We put our inventory risk into our we know that’s what’s in demand from all of surf brands, it may seem ironic that Rhythm speed-to-market collection. We don’t even proto, the different mills, because the mills supply the market, and the market supplies the brands.” are attempting to wrestle the surf industry into we go straight to production,” Josh said. submitting to fashion-led faster production. Yet to Josh, the clues are in the brand’s tagline – the Radically overhauling capabilities is no small While the Guangzhou office was well-placed to jump on fads, the team maintains that brand sound of change. “To me that means we should feat, and Josh admitted it brought challenges. always be the first people to be doing exciting “First twelve months we had all sorts of problems integrity remained key. “Trends come and go. things when opportunity presents. For us to trying to align timelines and deliver on our And we don’t play in every trend either. There’s be offering this type of program to the market commitment to the marketplace, so we went certain things we don’t want to do to dilute the strength of our brand. So whichever trend, we’re directly fits in with our brand – this isn’t the through a recruitment process.” always sliding that Rhythm lens over, and it’s got type of program any mainstream brand should to be right for us first and foremost as a brand,” Colin said.

“TRENDS ARE CREATED, EXPLOITED AND KILLED FAR QUICKER THAN EVER BEFORE.” be launching,” Josh said. They may be taking cues from high street, but the main aim is to avoid mainstream fashion pitfalls, including the unartful excesses of mass production. “We’re so close to the market when we design products, we’re confident to go straight to production in minimal units so that we have minimal wastage.

So much industry wastage comes from brands buying inventory on best-selling indent styles that don’t end up being the strongest performers, which leads to inventory clearance and price pressures and wastage and any number of negative connotations for the industry.

42/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

To bolster their talent pool, Rhythm made program-specific hires in Australia and the USA, and expanded design and manufacturing support with a team of seventeen people in Guangzhou, China, strategically positioned directly above one of the world’s largest fabric markets. “It’s such an amazing resource. So many stores and different fabric variations from sustainable, traceable fabrics all the way through, anything you want,” said Colin. Josh added if a fabric trend was going to be identified, the earliest place was that market.

Josh elaborated; “We never design bad product.

We never design brand off-trend or quality, offfit. That’s not the intent behind being quick.

The collections we offer every two to four weeks to independent retailers are to the best of our ability at the time, what we think is going to work for them.”

“Our original belief over the first twelve months of the program was, if we let retailers know this isn’t something that’s going to disappear, and we’ll always be back with new collections, that eventually they’d change buying behavioral patterns,” said Josh. He’d hoped they’d be lured by the obvious benefit of creating more excitement in store to increase foot traffic and garner more sales – a win-win for both retailers and brands. Yet uptake on earlier incarnations of the program had been slower than hoped.

“It’s not like it’s a flop. We sell over a $1 million dollars per year through our quick-to-market programs, which isn’t a tiny number, it’s just not the number we believe it should be for everyone to be getting a better return on investment.”

Josh predicted participation to increase if retailers adapted to re-allocating spend. “We tell them we have a great new collection and new boardshorts and new wovens, and they’ll say ‘Look, we love it but just don’t have any money to buy’. Our belief is the reason they don’t have money is because they bought products designed so far from the market that they’re not selling as quickly as they should.”

Rhythm hope other brands will adopt similar Yet by developing unique supply chain programs, as they’re aware changing deeply opportunities with both their swim and apparel engrained industry buying practices takes manufacturers, Rhythm are invested to use data strength in numbers. “Fifteen years ago, when to inform decisions that better serve customers. we walked instore with ‘Hey, we’re this new cool Even the sacred cow of indent is set for a digital brand Rhythm’, nine out of ten doors slammed overhaul. “Over time we’re wanting to have in our face. Progressively we gained market the entire indent collection move from being share, but we really didn’t get traction until a physical transaction that involves driving to a myriad of brands, like Critical Slide Society, literally every retail store in Australia four times Banks, Afends, Vissla, and others – collectively a year, to sell a collection out the back of our occupied a percentage of buy, that the sector was rep’s car.” Instead, they’ll fly a top-of-production considered a way for retailers to differentiate sample in studio, take a photo, and sell digitally. themselves from the big problem at the time, “Everything is sent out in eco-friendly packaging. which was major brand saturation in the We’re trying to get ourselves to a stage where we marketplace. It’s almost like history repeating have the least amount of wastage possible,” said itself right now. Every different sector of retail Josh. is experiencing problems. In principal, it’s the same problem – being able to buy product that First steps first, and Rhythm’s immediate hurdle turns quickly so that they can remain cash flow is changing retail buying habits to allow for greater quick-to-market adoption. “I’m not positive and profitable.” saying we’re a bunch of geniuses at Rhythm, but “We need participation so that we can improve the logic behind the programs we’re launching performance, because the most dangerous have enormous merit. A company that’s at allthing for the whole industry is if nobody does time highs internationally wouldn’t be making anything in regards to providing a supply chain radical changes to the way we take product to solution that’s competitive with other sectors of the market if there wasn’t a very strong belief, the market,” Josh said. He noted they’ve already driven from data, that if we continued to operate got some great retailers participating in the the way we operated, our brand would start to programs, “like your Cooper’s Surf, the Hillzeez, retract at some time in the future,” said Josh, touching on an industry-wide issue.

Salt Water Wine.”

To mitigate this, Josh proposed a placeholder “Mini independent chains see the purpose in the “In principal, if we can’t deliver indent product approach to future spend; “Instead of spending program, and do participate and do get results. that’s as competitive as it used to be, before 100% of your indent budget at time of indent, Major customers have certainly started to the performance gets to a level where it’s no spend 70%, then in season have 30% set aside to operate this way with us, and have reported back longer acceptable, we need to offer our different buy products they know they need. That might that the exclusive products that we’re developing retail partners different ways to interact with be a run on woven shirts coming into trend, for them are turning quicker than our indent us. I imagine it’d be really challenging for true or elastic walk shorts might be their strongest products that they buy six months from delivery. small independent customers who don’t have performing product – they’re able to make So, we do have proof from major sales reports an online business to remain competitive. But buying decisions based on information in real that this type of interaction does net better if they are buying and offering product to the time, not speculative information that’s a long marketplace in a more forward and on-trend results for retailers, which is better for brands. way from the time the product is delivered to way, I think there’s enormous potential for them.” market.”

“These programs we’re launching are going to really take a lot of time and care to correctly place it instore, and there’s no expectations from Rhythm that we know at a micro level what it is every single retailer or different sector of the market needs,” Josh admitted.

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com 43/

FEATURE ARTICLE / WORDS CAZ RIDINGS EMGE @SOULARCHMEDIA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS “I WAS SURROUNDED BY BLOKES, WHICH IS GREAT, BUT I WANTED TO FIND A WAY TO CONNECT WITH LIKE-MINDED FEMALE SURFERS DOING COOL, INTERESTING TRAVELS.”

Danielle Clayton: Salt Gypsy FROM SALES REP TO SURF GUIDE, DANIELLE CLAYTON’S PATH TO BECOMING THE FOUNDER OF SUSTAINABLE SURFWEAR LABEL SALT GYPSY AND CO-OWNER OF WOMEN’S SURF CONCEPT STORE SEA BONES HAS BEEN PART-SERENDIPITY, AND PARTIALLY A STUDY IN FOLLOWING INNATE TALENTS TO WHEREVER THEY MAY FLOW. Casually perched on a velour sofa at the rear of Sea Bones, the Byron Bay store she co-owns with photographer Ming Nomchong, Danielle Clayton reflected on the combination of sliding door moments that had brought her to this juncture – multiple career moves, two businesses, and one bouncing baby boy later.

Just blocks from the shop, the gentle point waves of The Pass beckoned. Today it was typically offshore, one foot, and smothered with backpackers and longboarders. Although not geographically distant, it couldn’t be further removed from the West Coast where Danny first cut her teeth surfing, near her childhood home on Auckland’s North Shore, New Zealand. “I learned to surf the long, hard way, out at Muriwai and Maori Bay beaches with lots of big, raw West Coast storm swells and re-forms,” Danny recalled. Also drawn to art as a grom, Danny opted to do an honours degree in 3D Design with a major in sculpture at university. At the time, Danny’s father questioned what type of career she’d hoped her studies would lead to. Danny didn’t yet know, but felt compelled to do it anyway. She revelled in recycling waste like old glass window panes to create sculptural objects that she’d install around NZ, and document them in still and moving image. Once Uni finished, Danny continued her sculptural practice at a glass studio in Japan while splitting time between teaching English and surfing around the southern islands.

When she returned to NZ in 2008, Danny landed a job at Billabong NZ as a sales rep and account manager for Von Zipper, Kustom, and Nixon, giving her a grounding in both the surf industry and sales – and lending her parents a reprieve from worrying about her career prospects. Yet after two years at Billabong, a chance meeting with a couple who worked as surf guides at Lhohifushi in the Maldives saw her change course again.

44/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

“They invited me to come and work with them and I applied, got the job, quit Billabong and hightailed it over there.”

Although Danny’s mum was horrified that at age of 29 she’d traded her secure job to become a snorkel guide in the tropics, for Danny the move was a no-brainer. “For the first time I had a season of concentrated warm water surf time and really good waves, consistently. It completely changed my surfing and changed my life,” Danny said. “My surf level accelerated from a very average intermediate level to feeling confident in myself and my ability in the lineup for first time. I note this because such a big part of being a female surfer is the inequity that exists in this traditionally patriarchal culture and industry.”

Danny met her now-fiancé, Jade, surfing the lineup at Jails, and the pair spent the next two years working for Liquid Destination, operating surf charters in the outer atolls of the Maldives and, in the off-season, flitting over to Jade’s base at Byron.

“It was really love that brought me here,” Danny said, motioning in the air to signify both the store and the township it stands in.

“I followed my heart. Jade had signed up for the 2011 season, so I joined him on the boat later that year and we ended up bouncing between Byron and the Maldives for a few years.”

While operating the charters, the first incarnation of Salt Gypsy was born – not as a brand, but as a blog. “I was surrounded by blokes, which is great, but I wanted to find a way to connect with like-minded female surfers doing cool, interesting travels. Around that time, blogs were becoming quite popular. It seemed like a good way to build a platform to talk story with other women, and at the same time showcase some of the cool independent women’s surf labels that had started to pop up.”

WITH THE FLOW Words: Caz Ridings

While surfing with guests, Danny and Jade would also be shooting tag team, so there was always a camera on hand. “Jade would be getting all these photos, and I would post shots of me wearing cool rashies and surf bikinis then do reviews on the blog. It was the springboard for what Salt Gypsy became – I kind of unwittingly built a community through the blog and Facebook page.”

During her third year of working in the tropics, Danny stumbled on the idea of women’s surf leggings out of necessity. “You’re exposed to the elements all day, every day. I was becoming increasingly conscious of sun damage and skin cancer. Although I’d found these cool brands making some cool rashies and bikinis, there was nothing for your legs. I had a couple of pairs made up on a visa run to Bali from a design I put together,” Danny recalled.

Danny took two pairs of leggings back to the Maldives and began testing them in the surf. “It was a swell of July 2012, and it was massive. It coincided with two other boatloads of women surfing around the Maldives in the same region at the same time, unheard of. I was super-excited because I had two ladies on my boat too.

They were getting burned, so I was like, ‘Try these and cover up your sunburnt legs.’”

“The other boatloads of girls saw my ladies wearing the leggings, and were like ‘If Danny had any of those onboard she’d have sold out, because we’re all getting burnt.” That was my a-ha! moment.

I heard that feedback, and ah okay, I think I might have a product here! My ex-Billabong sales rep brain kicked in.”

“A few months later the season finished up and the idea was still stuck in my mind, but I had no money. I was on surf-guide wages, we got paid in waves. So I was like, ‘how do I launch this product but get funded first?’”

Danny put it out there on the blog and Facebook page, and received about twenty orders for her color-by-number paneled surf leggings. “That kick-started it – I thought ‘people are interested, they want to buy these things. So yeah, we’ll go for it’.”

Today, Salt Gypsy has blossomed into a women’s ethically-made surf separates label bolstered by a community happy to pay a premium for sustainable products, however this current business model wasn’t by grand design. “In full disclosure, I didn’t start out to have a sustainable brand. I basically needed to find a way to earn money. I just followed what I saw other people doing within manufacturing. Starting in Bali, I literally jumped on a scooter and drove around the streets of Denpasar and Kerobokan trying to hunt down tailors and then eventually small factories,” Danny recalled. She then launched the Salt Gypsy online store initially as a multi-brand site, selling other indie labels surf bikinis and wetsuits, including The Seea – a US label which Danny was first to import and sell in AU. “Interestingly, the first thing I sold out of that summer were the bespoke one-off surf leggings I’d produced in Bali,” Danny said.

Danny then spent two and a half years in Bali getting her fledgling label on its feet. At first the brand jagged a few small wholesale accounts, then Urban Outfitters reached out and placed several large orders. Salt Gypsy went from $20k in annual sales to $150k the following year, but self-funded fast growth and constant production problems began to trouble Danny – as did seeing the amount of pollution generated by the manufacturing industry firsthand. “I was thrown into the deep end and didn’t really like what I saw,” Danny recalled.

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com 45/

FEATURE ARTICLE / WORDS CAZ RIDINGS EMGE @SOULARCHMEDIA

WE WANTED TO CREATE A SPACE THAT WAS WELCOMING AND INVITING FOR WOMEN TO FEEL COMFORTABLE SHOPPING, WITH ALL SORTS OF PRODUCTS AROUND COASTAL LIFESTYLE. MOST OF THE BRANDS IN STORE ARE LOCAL BASED, AND PREDOMINANTLY FEMALE OWNED AND OPERATED BUSINESSES. THAT’S PARTLY BY DEFAULT. THAT’S JUST OUR JAM. Danielle Clayton - Salt Gypsy

So in 2015, Danny pivoted again. “I hand-braked the business to restructure my supply chain and bring it more in line with my personal values. I was researching Kelly Slater’s Outerknown and Patagonia, two hero brands, and because they’re open source I was able to trace back to factories and textile suppliers, and found the fabric we’re now using, Econyl. I just love it. Lasts four to five times longer. It’s really attempting to help reduce the amount of marine debris and ocean plastics, as well as diverting textile and carpet off cuts from landfills, so all this nylon waste is being regenerated.”

Returning to Australia to restructure, Danny spent time sampling on the Gold Coast. “I was working with a production consultant to get into a China factory, but it fell through last minute.

Because I’d been sampling with the Gold Coast crew, I had a ready-made production order and they were familiar with my style. So it was partly by design and partly by default that I ended up with production in Australia. The communication’s great, the machinists that work in these boutique production houses in Queensland are experts at what they do. It’s fast turn around and it’s great – I really enjoy Australian manufacturing for many reasons. Definitely a relief to whizz up the road whenever you need to get a return on a garment, I can ask my team to repair it and am able to have quite immediate turnaround. That said, my production costs have quadrupled since I started, and that’s not even including the intangible costs. So I’m still open to offshore manufacturing.”

As the label matures, Danny earmarked financing and scaling Salt Gypsy’s growth as her biggest challenge. “I’m still working on pre-orders to help fund our production a lot of the time. We’re constantly doing back-to-back production runs because we can’t keep up with demand. So we have a great problem, but it’s still a problem. And yeah, just lacking big chunks of capital to really invest into inventory has been a challenge.”

The label is predominantly sold through Salt Gypsy’s online channels. “I’ve been direct to consumer right from the get-go.

From my Billabong days working as a sales rep through the GFC, I could see how hard it was for retailers. That was around the time online shopping was starting to become a main channel, so I knew once I had my surf leggings ready to go, it had to be straight through the blog and Facebook page direct. I’ve worked really hard over the last seven years to build an online business.”

Currently, three quarters of Salt Gypsy’s business is online and one quarter is wholesale. “With my production currently in Australia, wholesale’s just not a viable business model. We’re very reliant on online store sales, but also work hard to have really great customer service and minimise returns and exchanges, which can blow out company budgets in terms of costs of freight and things. Online is definitely how I’ve been able to survive as a small business for the last seven years,” Danny said.

46/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine issue #90

Sea Bones, on the other hand, is bricks and mortar – yet like Salt Gypsy it also centres around fostering community. “We wanted to create a space that was welcoming and inviting for women to feel comfortable shopping, with all sorts of products around coastal lifestyle. Most of the brands in store are locally based, and predominantly female-owned and operated businesses. That’s partly by default. That’s just our jam. We just love working with other women, and there’s such a great talent pool. So yeah, we wanted to have a space where independent labels who otherwise would struggle to have a retail presence could have a space collectively.”

In 2018, Salt Gypsy got a junior addition to the team when Danny and Jade welcomed their first child into the fold. After becoming a mother, Danny reshuffled and stepped back from certain business roles. “I still wear a lot of the hats, and had worn all of the hats up until I had my baby and had to hire my first assistant, Carly, who’s just been amazing,” Danny said. “I have definitely had to ask for help with our social media. Starting a second business, becoming a mum for the first time, life has been very, very busy. But I have just taken back on Instagram.

So my voice is coming back out.”

So yeah, with the view of looking cool in the lineup with a rad fun board that you’ll take care of and hand down hopefully to your daughter or nieces.”

Other recent Salt Gypsy collaborators include Le MU, the Australian sister brand of US-based Aloha Collection that make splash-proof bags. “We’ve had some design collaboration with those ladies, and they’re products I’ve been using daily. We’ve also got a new collab with an eco surf retreat run by friends in New Zealand called The Huts overlooking Shipwreck Bay, and worked with a New Zealand print and textile designer on the print for that particular collab.” The Huts and the beaches surrounding Shipwrecks also served as backdrop for launch videos created to announce Salt Gypsy’s board range featuring Danny and a cast of female friends putting the boards through their paces.

Forging additional partnerships is an avenue that Danny’s keen to explore further. “Creative collaborations are part of my core business values, and I’m always on the lookout for things that I personally would love to see designed better or in a cool or different way,” Danny said.

“If anything, I’m just a normal everyday female surfer who needed something for myself and couldn’t find it, so I made it. I keep talking to my friends and network and each production we do, and it’s getting better and better. I try to be as open and honest as I can,” Danny stated.

Mirroring the tight social community that Salt Gypsy sprang from, Danny’s future business aspirations are also decidedly inclusive.

“I’m not here to have the world’s biggest, best surf brand. I want to use this business to support my ocean women community around the world from grassroots levels and ideally, one day be able to support competitive athletes. I don’t know if that makes us so unique. All I can think of is that I am my customer. I just want to make cool products and help women feel awesome in the lineup, and feel equitable and stoked that they’re wearing something that has value to them in terms of environmental and social impact.”

Reflecting on her journey, Danny pointed out how skills honed during her seemingly arbitrary degree in 3D design and sculpture continued to help on a daily basis – like her eye for aesthetics and penchant for recycling materials. Career decisions that had outwardly seemed shaped by chance had actually hinged on Danny’s willingness to back herself. Random meetings with strangers had opened many doors, yet it was Danny who took each headlong leap. Her ability to flow or pivot whenever opportunity knocked was a recurring theme. On the horizon, sets are stacked towards the kind of business growth that will likely require additional course corrections and test Danny’s selfdetermination some more. “I’m in the middle of re-strategising some things, trying to figure out how to scale our growth and build a sustainable business. Looking at offshore manufacturing to help offset some of our local production. Increasing the number of drops of new ranges – going from one or two a year to three or four. More collaborations are in the pipeline, and just continuing to really thoughtfully design great products, and doing it in a responsible way,” Danny said.

Stepping back into personally creating content for Salt Gypsy’s social channels is time consuming, but Danny sees it as a crucial ingredient. “If you can find different ways to kind of humanise the social media aspect and have some direct engagement, that can really build you up for some great success,” said Danny.

“When you’re able to use social media as a tool for business in terms of showcasing not just your product range, but also your values and all the things that you want to see in the world and the change that you’re trying to help be a part of, that speaks to people, and makes you really open for collaborative dialogue and introductions. I think that’s a really great thing.”

Of the many invitations to collaborate that have landed in Salt Gypsy’s inbox, one in particular resulted in a new women’s board range with GSI. “I just received an email pretty randomly about a year ago, and then spoke to Matt Kelly at GSI,” recalled Danny. “It was just really cool to see someone have a vision for everyday female surfers that aligned with what I would love to see in women’s surf culture.”

The range includes a twin fin, a mid-length, a longboard, and a stand up paddleboard, all with a distinctive Salt Gypsy aesthetic and little tweaks in delivery, like plastic-free packaging. “Design-wise, we worked with Richie Lovett on the technical specs of the boards, because that’s definitely not my area of expertise,” Danny said, and noted she’s proud of the results. “We felt there was a gap for women like myself who aren’t necessarily competitive whippersnapper shortboard crew, but like to try a range of boards to suit different conditions for our backyards that we surf every day. I hope we’ve covered that with the three board models and all the colors that we came up with tie back into our Salt Gypsy range of surf garments.

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com 47/

ActionWatch INSIGHTS

AVG SALES PER STORE

AVG MARGINS

SEPAvg 2018 - SEPper 2019Store Sep 2018 to Sep 2019 Sales

SEP 2018 - SEP 2019 Sandals (Girls, Womens) Boardshorts (Boys, Mens)

Sandals (Girls, Womens) Boardshorts (Boys, Mens) 60%

$10000

ANALYSIS OF FOOTWEAR, SANDALS, SHOES

50%

$8000

40% $6000 30% $4000 20%

ActionWatch Insights is only a snapshot of top line results from our ActionWatch Oz Retail panel.

$2000

10%

For more information please email keith@actionwatch.com

SHOES Shoes (M)

(M)

JAN 2019 - SEP 2019

$50+ $45-50

Jan 2018 - Sept 2018 Jan 2019 - Sept 2019

110-120

5

$600

$500

2015

2016

2017

2018

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

-20 Q3

Price Point (%)

Price Point (%)

20

Q2

15

Q1

10

Q4

5

Q3

0

Q2

25

Q4-18

Q1-19

Q2-19

$20

$40

$60

$80

Sales volumes continued to drop each year while sales patterns were almost exactly the same each year

AVG $ SALES PER STORE

PERCENT OF FOOTWEAR REVENUE

TOP STYLES, MEN'S/BOYS' SANDALS

TOP STYLES, WOMEN'S/GIRLS' SANDALS

JAN 2019 - SEP 2019

JAN TO SEP 2019

JAN TO SEP 2019

Footwear (M)

Top Styles, Men's/Boys' Sandals, Jan-Sep 2019

$25000 Male Shoes

$20000

Sandals Other footwear

$15000

$10000 Female

$5000

Shoes Sandals Other footwear

HAVAIANAS - RUBBER LOGO

HAVAIANAS - SLIM

HAVAIANAS - TOP

HAVAIANAS - SLIM BASIC

HAVAIANAS - TOP MIX

HAVAIANAS - SLIM CRYSTAL

NIKE - BANASSI JDI

HAVAIANAS - SLIM FLORAL

REEF - CUSHION BOUNCE PHANTOM

HAVAIANAS - SLIM METAL LOGO

REEF - FANNING

HAVAIANAS - SLIM METALLIC

REEF - FANNING LOW

HAVAIANAS - SLIM RUBBER LOGO

REEF - REEF J-BAY III

NIKE - BENASSI JDI

REEF - REEF ROVER

REEF - CUSHION BOUNCE VISTA

REEF - REEF SWITCHFOOT LX

RUSTY - FLIPPIN

$0

19

Top Styles, Women's/Girls' Sandals, Jan-Sep 2019

$20

$40

$60

$80

$100

$0

$10

$20

$30

$40

$50

p

19

19

19

19

Se

g Au

Ju l

Ju n

9 r1

ay M

19 ar

Ap

19 M

b

19

Fe

18

18

Ja n

De c

8

ov N

t1 Oc

pt

18

0

Se

$100

Sandal sales improved significantly for both the male and the female segments compared to the first three quarters in 2018.

The peak price point for men's shoes was $90-$100 during Jan-Sep 2018 and 2019. Over 70% of men's shoes were more than $70.

Sandals

19

Q3-19

2019

Nearly all of women's sandals sold Jan-Sep 2018 and Jan-Sep 2019 were priced under $50 and the peak price point was $25-$30, followed closely by the $15-$20 price range.

Between $30 and $40 dropped while $25-$30 increased.

Shoes

p

19

REEF - REEF ROVER

Q1-18 REEF - REEFQ2-18 SWITCHFOOTQ3-18 LX $0

JAN 2019 - SEP Ave Shoes & 2019 sandals

Se

Au g

Ju l

19

19

19

Ju n

19

ay M

19

Ap r

ar M

19

19 Fe b

18 c

Ja n

18

REEF - FANNING LOW REEF - REEF J-BAY III

0

Q1

20

-15

$100

Q4

15

REEF - FANNING

Q3

10

$200

Q2

5

NIKE - BANASSI JDI REEF - CUSHION BOUNCE PHANTOM

Q1

0

HAVAIANAS - TOP MIX

-10

Q4

20-30

-5 $300

Q3

$5-10

HAVAIANAS - RUBBER LOGO HAVAIANAS - TOP

Q2

30-40

Top Styles, Men's/Boys' Sandals, Jan-Sep 2019

0

$400

Q1

40-50

$10-15

De

($,000)

50-60

$15-20

N ov

18 Se

Women / Girls

10

60-70

$20-25

Oc t1

pt

19 p

19

Se

Au g

19

19

Ju l

19

Ju n

19

ay M

19

Ap r

19

19

ar M

Fe b

c

Ja n

18

18

De

8

JAN 2019 TO JULY 2019

Mens / Boys

70-80

$25-30

SANDALS - YEAR-OVER-YEAR SALES Sandals - Year-over-year sales growthGROWTH Average Sales per Store 2015 - 2019

80-90

$30-35

AVG SALES Jan 2019 - Sept 2019

90-100

$35-40

Average retail margins for boardshorts and sandals varied considerably across the months of 2018 with highest margins above 50% in December and January and lowest margins all the way down to 31% in April and May of 2019.

Jan 2018 - Sept 2018

100-110

$40-45

Sales volumes and sales patterns were almost exactly the same for the women's sandals and men's boardshort categories for the past year. Almost half of the year's total sales for each category occurred in January and December.

2015 - 2019

($) 120+

N ov

18

SANDALS (W)

Sandals JAN 2019(W) - SEP 2019

Oc t1

pt Se

INSIGHT DATA

8

0

0

Footwear (W)

Sandal sales volume varied much more than shoe volume with a low of $1,351 in June and a peak of a little over $20,000 in December.

48/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine  issue #90

For daily news and analysis www.asbmag.com 49/

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50/ Australasian Surf Business Magazine  issue #90