It's a traction pad blood feud!
Do you follow Julian Wilson on Instagram? It’s a very good account with six-hundred-and-sixty-thousand followers and features giveaways, surfing clips and personal moments with his fianceé, the model Ashley Osborne. Controversy is something the impeccable Mr Wilson never seeks.
Recently, however, a post that featured three surfboards equipped with FCS fins and traction drew the wrath of the Astrodeck matriarch, the wonderful Dibi Fletcher.
Glad @fcs_surf knocked off my pads good enough that you’re satisfied, noticed your results seemed a bit better on Astrodeck, but what do I know???
It reminded me of the conversation I had with Dibi one month ago when I called to talk about Kolohe Andino and John John Florence paying ten-dollars apiece for their signature pads. Dibi, who is almost seventy years old, wouldn’t comment about the arrangement except to say she’d known ’em “since they were kids.”
Making money, of course, isn’t exactly what the pioneering deck grip company is famous for. Good grips, sure. Profitability?
“If I was making money do you think I’d be sitting at this fucking desk?” said Dibi. “You think at my age I’d be out the back shipping pads? The reality is, it’s a very small, niche market. But I still feel that I make the best pads. I have the best surfers in the most critical positions. That’s what I’m interested in doing. Making the best pads. Everyone in my family surfs. Unlike most of the other pad companies, do you understand, they’ve got people in cubicles making different coloured pads. They knock me off. I don’t care about. I don’t give a shit!”
Dibi added, “That’s my story, honey, here I am! I make the best pads in the world, we’re the original pad maker (since 1976), we’ll always have market share as long as I stay authentic. Companies went too big, they have to make their quarterly earnings. If you want big, you have to go and push your brand all over the place. Pretty soon you have no story left because you whitewashed it to death to get your corporate earnings.”
The Astrodeck office, which is the best place to find Dibi, was shut when I saw the Julian Wilson post. Instead, I got on Instagram (@dibifletcher) and asked her to comment.
“Hahaha, pretty old news. Julian rode my pads and obviously loved them,” wrote Dibi. “His Brother Bart called to see if he could get some pads for the ‘last time’? And said while picking them up ‘got to get these because FCS hasn’t knocked you off completely yet.’ Really??? Gotta love intended honesty.”
I also asked for her comment now that John John had been officially signed to Dakine to develop “a signature series of surf leashes, traction pads and a travel board bag.” Would the Astrodeck John John pad be pulped? Dramatically reduced in price? And Kolohe, will he still be buying your pads?
“I don’t know anything about JJ and Dakine, what do you know? Kolohe loves his pad and I adore seeing Dino when he comes to pick them up. Astrodeck will always be the best traction and we’ll survive/thrive, whatever surfers decide, for their best interest, to go to other companies. I wish them all the well.”
May I ask, does it thrill you when your pads are copied or does it make you sad?
“What do you think?”
Thrilled?
I hate the surf industry
Fucking whore, he takes the money and leaves behind the people who took care of him. People have no soul left. We need significantly less people on earth.
I am sure you work for free. And you volunteer your time at the old cubicle because they gave you your first paying wage out of grade school. Not to mention the fact that Dibi clearly profits off of using the athletes name on the “signature” pads, and then charges the athletes to promote them. Cant fault her if they are willing to pay, but cannot fault the guys for taking a check rather than paying for grips.
Greed is taking more than you need. Integrity is standing up for your values- above money or short term gains. I have built a successful business on integrity. Clearly you don’t know the difference, whore.
I’m trippin’ maybe I don’t know sponsorships that well, but i thought if you were ripping you got that shit fo free? Paying for them? Waaaahht?! I thought if you were mad hooked up you GOT paid to ride some cunts pads?
AI astrodeck was tha tits! With that being said, I’ll use anything that my sponsored buddies will discard when didn’t like the pink or light green pads they’d been sent. However, I used to love X-Trak…are they still around? They’d get all tacky with a lil wax, particularly nice for Summer in Santa Cruz when you can ditch the boots
They switched the company name to ‘freak’ and kind of started focusing on skim. But they’re not made in America anymore.
Not exactly. Freak pads are made in California now. Xtrak owners started a little company called “SeaDek” 10 years making traction for boat decks. Turns out that there’s waaaaaay more $$$ in that and they haven’t looked back since. Good people too, happy for them.
Well I hope it was kech after Quiksilver was dissolved.
It’s odd that Astrodeck claims if they were all about money, they would have filed patents years ago on their tail pads, however, they complain about competitors copying their pads. perfectly logical.
Chas referred to Rory as a passive aggressive writer who belongs at the Inertia and now Rory has gone AWOL. I want to see a deathmatch.
I cannot wait for the diss articles. fuck me
Let the bitchslapping begin!
Where the Fuck is Rory?!!
It’s his signature pad? Lame. He couldn’t come up with something else?
http://cdn.surffcs.com/imag…
You’ve seen his boardshorts right? It’s like my gran vomited in her 1980’s bungalow.
Snail, drop around to Rorzas with a chistmas ham and tell him to get his fat arse back to the Grit.
where did you send him to find his inner happy child?
when might we expect his cynical presence bless our tear swollen eyes?
what were you thinking trifling with the fragility of Rory’s emotions?
Rory went missing from a journalistic mission on Oahu with no explanation from either parties to their beloved readers. His lackluster reports on all things competition and equally amazing reports on human behaviour will be sorely missed. Great comparisons on past has been’s and never would be’s have been drawn, from Yogi Bear to Dr Phil, but Rory still may have life left in him writing advertising articles for his local Kauai paper.
That is pretty much the damn Archy pad. To the 9’s
They didnt even try to hide it – Same knucle, same square in square traction, circular holes, everything… wouldnt have been that bad if every other FCS pad didnt look complelely different/ have a dogshit design
I either ride a Archy pad or none I’ve got the holes in my knees to prove it, seriously, the only improvement needed was to MAYBE be a little softer, and take that top knuckle off because all it does is shred flesh, but they’re light cheap, black and they fit every tail design on the planet.
You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to spot the similarities between these two either:
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
What about the Rory Parker Vs Beachgrit blood fued?
I’m fucking dying over here.
Am I missing something, like some secret BG online society? How do you know about this?
Blame Cori Schumacher
I fucking dug that podcast.
What’s the chances of getting the featured comment tag.
Fucking zero.
Nice to see you back, good sir.
always a twat that makes men fight
No surprises with Fucking Chinese Shit , owned by banks and or investment Co’s , worst fin system on the market , no soul or integrity , damn I am going out and buy some Astrodeck now!
The irony is that Astrodeck is made in the same factory is all these other cunts. IN CHINA!