Show News

The State of Surf Hardgoods

After a few years of fighting a rough rip current of negative economic stability and unpredictable weather patterns, the surf hardgoods market is starting to level out at the surface and is even seeing some positive swell on the horizon.

Posted 1/31/2012

By Kepley DePalma, Associate Editor, TransWorld Business
Survey Data Collected by Haley Arsenault, Megan Bertha and Nicki LaCarra
Produced in association with TransWorld Business

Swells In Sales
While sales are still down from their peak about five years ago, they are coming out of the 2010 rut and shapers and retailers alike have noticed a steady pace and even a slow increase in sales over the past year, spawning optimism for the upcoming year.

“Surprisingly, board sales have stayed fairly consistent this year,” says Adam Warden of AJW Surfboards. “Retail shops tended to have a slow start, but just when things looked dead a swell would jump up.”

According to our 100 surveyed retailers across the country, 47% report sales have been up over the past year and 40% say sales have been steady, leaving only 13% of retailers seeing a decrease. This is a positive change from last year when 50% of retailers reported sales were down, 23% were holding steady, and only 27% were up.

ZJ Boardinghouse’s Dylan Farr comments, “Sales are generally up. The economy is still a tangible effect but the vibe is better for sure.”

Retailers’ inventories are mostly manageable with the majority of shops carrying between six to ten brands, including local shapers. The playing field of international imports versus domestic boards has leveled out since last year with 58% still carrying Asian imports and 42% not, compared to last year’s 88% to 12% ratio.

Although that may be the case, there is still demand for imported boards from cash-conscious consumers. While shops prefer to support the local economy through domestic shapers, Surfride’s Zack Beck comments, “The market requires us to carry Asian imports because customers are requesting those particular boards. Given the economic climate, they’re benefitting from having boards that are slightly less expensive. I would say domestic boards are still selling better than imported boards, but there is still a market for imports.”

Driven By Design
Shapers across the board continue to produce wider, shorter boards. These boards have been holding popularity with the consumer for several reasons, including the ability to catch more waves across a variety of conditions using this design.

“Guys are digging boards that allow them to bypass longboards and stay on short boards that catch waves and perform in the worst conditions,” says ...Lost Surfboards’s Matt Biolos.

Rich Price agrees, “Gone are the days―at least for the time being―of thin, narrow, rockered out boards being considered the only boards for performance. Also, surfers should always know the fin options available to them; it has much effect on performance as any other aspect of the board’s design.”

Many surfers are opting for multi-fin set ups to increase the versatility of their boards and shapers are designing accordingly. “The five-fin box option remains strong and we’re definitely seeing strong demand for shorter boards with wider tails and increased volume that are still capable of fairly high performance levels,” says Firewire CEO Mark Price. “The Sweet Potato is a good example and has been embraced across a broad section of surfers. If someone suggested we’d sell as many units as we have when we first looked at it, we’d probably have laughed.”

FCD Shaper Fletcher Chouinard adds, “Even guns are going whole feet shorter with the help of quads to control the extra volume.”

On the sales floor, Farr has seen people opting for multi-fin set-ups on both stock and custom boards. “It works for some shapes, but not all of them,” he says. “The benefit is that it allows surfers to explore boards with mixing up fin packages. Five pack convertibles have been good for fin sales too.”

Journey To The Core
When Clark Foam closed its doors back in December 2005, needless to say, there was some upheaval. But when one door closes, several more open, and shapers were left with no choice but to test out different materials and flex patterns, generating progressive energy through the industry.

“Shapers and surfers explored flex patterns through unique material and stringer combinations as new blank manufacturers angled to gain market share,” says T&C Director of International Licensing Adam Borello.

Although economic challenges didn’t make the journey easier, now that things have leveled out a bit and it seems that this exploration has been implemented into creating different options for the market.

Firewire CEO Mark Price says, “We believe that there are only incremental improvements in performance that can be gained by refinements in today’s shapes using traditional materials. However, exponential improvements in performance can still be achieved through the ongoing evolution of flex technology, including adjustable flex, and new materials and construction methods. Ironically, the cumulative effect of pursuing these avenues will open up opportunities for further evolution of shape.”

AJW Surfboards shaper Adam Warden has been continuing the focus on flex patterns and strengthening crucial points on the board. Recently Global Surf Industries signed a deal to produce Future Flex construction. “This technology is a stringerless EPS core with a super high tech resin and a carbon rail," says GSI Owner Mark Kelly. "It's lightweight, high performance, and offers the surfer a board that has alonger life span than PU.”

According to M10 shaper Geoff Rashe, “These new EPS blanks that split the top from the bottom with a carbon fiber inlay (similar to a snowboard) will be the future.”

Dave Boehne is experimenting with using carbon fiber and occasionally epoxy resin on PU boards, making them stronger. Mark Kelly comments they have also been experimenting with a similar new resin/core process for 2012 using Epoxy resin with a PU core. “It is interesting and the tests are showing that the boards keep their liveliness way longer than a Polyester resin PU board,” he says.

Although most shapers are still using PU for construction, the fair share of shapers making EPS/Epoxy boards are keeping things fresh on the innovation front.

“I think for too long surfers have been conditioned to accept certain failures in construction,” says Rich Price. “With EPS Core/Epoxy Composite boards, you can build a board that has a dramatically higher strength-to-weight ratio—you get the performance of a lighter board with no loss in durability.”

Santa Cruz Surfboards’s Marketing & Team Manager Matt Lochner adds that epoxy and epoxy molded boards are “great to travel with and work well in most conditions.”

“EPS/Epoxy is a little more expensive to build, but there are customers who don’t mind the extra cost,” comments Rusty Preisendorfer. “They like the lightness, durability, and flex characteristics.”

Warden agrees, “We've tried Keahana Epoxy and it feels very lively and fresh in smaller surf.”

“Epoxy is so fun and easy to work with. This is a new generation,” adds Chris Clark, founder of Shaper Studios in San Diego.

While admitting to still being an old-school poly guy, TDK’s Todd Kamin points out, “Material choices have never been greater. Choosing to use the best materials and skill services in the industry has never been easier. It’s a shame we don’t have a better way of communicating to the end consumer the choices they have in materials and glassing.”

Shea Weber, founder of Dewey Weber Surfboards agrees, “In regards to the different materials, I believe they're adding confusion to the marketplace because our industry doesn’t do enough to educate the average consumer on hardgoods. A source where consumers can go to self educate on technology and design would be way cool.”

With more options on the quivers these days, perhaps customer education is a task that retailers need to take more seriously, making sure that all staff members are up to speed on board design and construction and are able to thoroughly explain to consumers the pros and cons of various models.

Surfride in Southern California attributes strong customer service to being one of the reasons sales have been up this year. “A lot of customers come in specifically asking for advice and we provide a pretty thorough breakdown so we can get them the best board they need irrespective of brand,” says Beck. “We’re a pretty staple business within the community and people tend to come back based off the fact that they’ve developed a relationship with us, so our clientele is very consistent.”

Of our surveyed retailers, 94% said they felt their staff was qualified to sell custom boards. Perhaps the remaining 6% should consider some roster changes.

Technological Advancements
While many shapers still eschew anything but the hand planer, advancements in technology are now available to help shapers provide accurately calculated designs and quick turnaround times.

“We have upgraded to a more advanced shaping machine, this helps ensure that we have the latest technology to assist in replicating a magic board for a top pro or a weekend warrior, says T&C's Borello. "It also allows our shapers to focus on putting the ever important final touches while providing good turn-around time for custom orders.”

Channel Island’s Scott Anderson comments, “We have been using CAD software that has thousands more data points than typical surfboard design suites. The accuracy and subsequent performance is astounding, which translates to making less than half the team boards we did in years past and ultimately better product in the shops.”

“People aren’t as scared of the new technologies coming out,” says Farr. “It just really comes down to the price point being accessible to people and making sense to the customer.”

“There’re a lot of new things in materials right now,” says Chouinard. “We will get a lot of military/aerospace cast-off technologies in the future, but it has to stay easy enough for the little guy to use in a semi-traditional way or the creative side of our sport is lost in another popout revolution that excludes the craftsman. So for now we pick and choose among the baby-step products that we can use to hopefully make a better board without being prohibitively expensive.”