Launches January 15, Orlando! With Pyzel, Tomo, Webber and… Rob Machado!
It ain’t no secret that the 11-timer Kelly Slater is a vast, unfinished masterpiece. You thought he was going to tap out from the tour, rated sixth, heading towards fifty, a fading legacy his only takeaway?
As obediently as we might like to conform to an idea of what an athletic icon might do, Kelly continues to surprise, and to delight.
Let’s backtrack a little, and quickly.
In April, Kelly Slater bought the third biggest surfboard company in the world Firewire Surfboards. Two, maybe three mill.
Firewire, if you didn’t know, is a surfboard brand that builds boards in Thailand, sells ’em for almost $1000 apiece, and counts Michel Bourez as one of its surfers, and Matt “Mayhem” Biolos and Daniel “Tomo” Thomson among its guest shapers.
The launch range will include four surfboard models from Jon Pyzel, Greg Webber, Daniel “Tomo” Thomson and Kelly’s ol pal Rob Machado. Running the show will be former Channel Islands lynchpin Travis Lee, a secret weapon in Kelly Slater’s later world title campaigns.
(Read the story about Kelly buying Firewire here)
This January 15, at Surf Expo in Florida (January 14 through 16, 2016) Kelly will launch his new surfboard company, which is called Slater Designs.
Got a ring don’t it?
The launch range will include four surfboard models from Jon Pyzel, Greg Webber, Daniel “Tomo” Thomson and Kelly’s ol pal Rob Machado. Running the show will be former Channel Islands lynchpin Travis Lee, a secret weapon in Kelly Slater’s later world title campaigns.
Do you hanker for the sweet throbbing surfboards that come from Slater and these shapers?
Would you give years of your life to touch one of these nymphets?
So he does the sustainable clothing thing guaranteed to not come out of a sweat shop, then launches a company that uses slaves to produce the unsustainable goods? I’m confused
The best part of the article is the photo where it appears nick carroll is positioned to give him a blow job.
Yeah, the Nick Carroll angle’s the bit I’m most interested in. Was he indeed readying himself for a blowy? Has Slater just punched him to the ground? Is he actually standing and really IS that little? Nick, we know you’re out there – I’m afraid we demand some answers
I think you’re all watching too much porn.
Made in Thailand. Thanks champ.
I think this is great for the shapers , who will get a royalty , marketing and generally increase their commercial profile .If they use the FW tech , they will be the best Asian popouts on the market, which is probably not a long term business as technology will eventually overcome the only reason bds are made in asia , is cheap labor . Libtech have showed how to make a better bd , cheaper and not have to go to asia. Good luck guys!
Good luck running an epoxy glass shop of any quality cheaper than you can in Thailand. Biggest FW myth: that they’re some weird heat composite glass job in a vacuum chamber. Truth: they were and are all hand laid up and hand sanded. No machine will ever do surfboards well enough, unless CNC software, vacuum beds, and cutting (sanding/polishing?) tips are way farther ahead of the curve than the current industry standard and mysteriously already economical to buy and run. I’d say twenty+ years until you can sand a board of any quality with computer-cutting tools. And I don’t see removing a human from at least the wet-out phase of any glass job.
have you checked out how Libtek do their bds , all infusion technology , done in a mold , put all the materials in close the lid and then pop the bd out, you only need to have someone to load the materials and then push the button , now that’s the future for stock bds , but I agree with custom bds having to still have a high component of manuel labour!
Yeah, I’m aware, cool process. But if I recall correctly they still have to wet them out by hand and they still have to be sanded. Not saying Thailand is the way to go, but our industry has repeatedly and shamelessly upheld that they’d rather pay the wet-out guy, the vacuum-bag loader, the button pusher, and the sander (not to mention fin plug/leash cup install) $6/day overseas instead of $20/hour in USA or AUS.
guess Kelly and Greg Webber buried the hatchet over that whole surf pool patent war?
Next question: are these Slater “models” ie boards he has designed and tested on Tour this year?
As an observer his equipment this year has looked sketchy to say the least. Not being a hater but what was a great strength of his now looks like a weakness. His boards looked undercooked and unreliable.
Not saying there hasn’t been moments of genius on them but if they look a bit sketchy under his feet it’s hard to see how the punter is going to make them work.
And what of Dane’s “Destroyer”? Haven’t heard anything about it except for Stab’s scoop.
A 4’10 Costs 2000$
Wonder if I can pick up a plain white “Slater Designs” Tshirt for under $98?
He must be retiring from the tour. No way he’d switch to FireWire-constructed boards on a serious title shot after all these years.
Maybe not composite sandwiches, but he’s already been riding stringerless and carbon-insert boards via Tomo for several years, some with CI logos.
The Gooch is a dick….!!!!
Confused. Is this Firewire rebadged? Or a part of Firewire with a separate name?
My understanding is that it’s meant to be manufactured and sourced through the same supply chain as FW (for now), although SD is an independent front office (marketing, retail relations). FW probably earns on the machine cuts, glassing, and logistics unless Slater (or Travis Lee) is trying to tool up to go solo, which I doubt…took FW over ten years to get there. I’d imagine FW will manufacture for Slater for a few years (like the Lost compsand boards of a few years back). I’ll tap a source and add to the rumor mill as I get information.
Update: Slater Designs is manufactured by Firewire. Pricepoints similar. Blank design/construction with slight variation on existent FW technologies. Purportedly all new shapes, different from FW/Tomo/Pyzel/Webber stock lines. Distro via FW. Haters gonna hate, they’re manufactured in Thailand.
So why buy FW if he is going to go into business as a competitor?
He could have just launched his company using FW as the licensed manufacturer.
Not a competitor. It’s all one, I would think. Just expansion of Firewire.
Sounds like a separate company to me. Separate company selling same product is competitor.
More details will surface, but I hardly doubt that is in fact a separate company. Slater just bought Firewire, so why would he compete with his own company? I’m pretty sure it just a similar deal as what they are doing with Tomo. Own website, some Firewire cobranding or not, but essentially Firewire.
His “company” is more like his brand under FW as the licensed parent manufacturer. Both parent manufacturer and licensed brand make money, depending on stakes, shareholder organization (royalties, for example, as Pyzel, Tomo, Dan Mann, Nev, etc. get for their shapes selling). Like General Motors making Cadillac and Chevrolet. Two brands, two different products, one manufacturer.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Another reason to do a brand under FW: distribution chain is already there, import/export tax handled at Long Beach already under one parent, retail client maintenance is already there. All he and the featured names have to do (and this is an oversimplification) is negotiate royalties on selling product under their names. Not sure of the split, but if it costs $400 to make and import a board, it sells for $900, that leaves $500 to divvy up between manufacturer (in this case also distributor, FW) and brand/licensee (each named dude). What I don’t know is if Kellz and Machado will do better than the shapers in the royalties-per-board realm.
@marianolanda:disqus where do you reckon that Slater has in liquid assets? GoPro stock is tanking, Quik went bankrupt, he isn’t winning on tour…
How does he have the capital (not ‘brand equity’) to fund these ventures?
I would really love to know how someone like Kelly has their finances managed…
Also, think he’ll ever marry Kalani?
Flailing or not, Kelly’s married to his hustle.
Sorry to disappoint, but I can only really comment on FW, some fin companies, Spanish American licensees of boards/components, a half-dozen SD and SC glass shops, and a pair of resin and chemical manufacturers. That’s all I got. In short, I’m a basic bitch.
Surfing in a wave pool, on a board made in Thailand, by companies owned by a former world champ who is part Syrian and from Florida and was on TV in “Baywatch.” Can’t make this stuff up.
Glen: “It’s a crazy world”
H.I.: “Someone oughta sell tickets”
Will be interesting to see if Slater designs will be boards that only slater can ride.Or will he use his wisdom to help an everyday battler like myself. Glad he decided to drop the whole “K” thing for the name
My guess is that it’s exactly the same boards Pyzel et al. are already making, but Kelly somehow convinced them that he should get a portion of the profit.
it’ll be a sad day for Kelly if there is ever a Slater Designs sweet potato
Agreed, though Slater Potater has a certain … nevermind.