The always fabulous Michael Tomson weighs in!
I will admit to you now that I feel lucky every single time my byline appears in The Surfer’s Journal. Scott Hulet and co. continue to produce a masterful product. One that simply shines and in the latest issue I am allowed to chat with the one and only Michael Tomson. We’ve done much, here at BeachGrit, with the most fantastic character the surf industry ever produced. Who could forget this video?
Not you, of course, but anyhow now Michael Tomson is also in the latest Journal. Should we read one quote?
Chas Smith: Where did surf go wrong?
Michael Tomson: You mean why is the surf industry on its ass right now? That’s a big question for which there’s no short answer. But I think you have to start with why the industry was booming before it tripped and fell. From 1998 to 2008 the industry went through a period of unprecedented growth. There were more people surfing than ever, longboards were happening, women were in the water along with old people, kids, and anyone game enough to paddle out.
Along with that surge in participants came an influx of new brands. It wasn’t surfing anymore, it was “boardsports.” The tribe even had Hollywood signed up for the program. Blue Crush came out, there was Fuel TV, and a lot of scripts “in development.” Retailers were supporting this new surf handle and allocating large amounts of floor space to the new movement. Quiksilver and Billabong were hitting sales levels in the billions and both were on an acquisition spree buying brands and buying the retailers who could showcase those brands. It was reckless investing, corporate swagger at its finest, and to the uninformed it looked like the surf industry was heading towards an impossibly bright future.
Which of course it wasn’t. What nobody was considering was the consumer and the speed with which tastes change. Kids left the party, particularly mall kids, to whom surf product became a turn off—it just wasn’t as sexy as technology, which is where most kids were (and still are) spending their money. Then on top of that, by the time 2008 rolled around, the real estate market had capsized and the global financial crisis was in full swing leaving the surf industry, as we once knew it, in a desperate fight for survival. What used to be the ultimate career lifestyle became a shit show of broken dreams. The surf industry managed to survive the great clean out, the epic reality check, but not without a host of bankruptcies and reorganizations and today it faces a different set of problems, that being the internet and the changing nature of the way consumers buy products—meaning on their phones and not in stores.
Read the rest here!
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I did the packaging of Gotcha’s “The Blue Cool” video…. Pottz on cover… Great happiness to have been part of that creative buzz… https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
That’s awesome you tracked down “The Leprechaun” actor!
More of this please!!!!! As others have said, hunt down the gritty old, salt beaten, time hardened fucks and suck out their wisdom before they’re gone to Huey. Fuck, I wish someone had drilled down into Midget’s psych before he evaporated into memory. Go get em’, make it your mission.
I am! I’m an actual dorky human who goes surfing. 🙂
Michelob Ultra
and Asian surfboards , Asian clothing , all Asian hardware , made offshore to enhance profits.
Surf Business ethics , sale or return / consignment ,public Co’s where their God is not Huey , but profits for shareholders .
Too many surf writers who just enhance and propagate ,” how rad surfing is and a rebel youth sport!”
Fucking EPS surfboards with Carbon wank!
reverse airs , drop wallets, laybacks , and check turns!
Yeah MT , how the fuck could you possibly start a new Co, you would get arrested , let alone the sexual harassment charges , which brings me to are we all a bit worried about past deeds?
Quiksilver’s peak sales were just a bit over $2.5 billion. Billabong just over $1.2 billion.
Hahah fuck mate! Nailed it. Surfing is so boring.
I always mooch the TSJ from the coffee shop. I really should subscribe because it’s super good pretty much always.
Surfing, the thing where people go in the water with surfboards seems to be doing pretty great. Like, maybe a little too great? There are so many people going in the water with surfboards. But it does seem like fewer of them are interested in buying clothing from the surf brands — as though surfing is less an identifier than something they do on the weekend sometimes.
I really like you Jen See.
(blushes, flaps arms awkwardly)
That coat/shirt combo is the enemy of cool.
MT is coming over all kind of prescient wizard like. Who would have thought?
He is the ultimate surf wizard. Experienced, credible and, um, socially enhanced!
“Who could forget this video?”
Yeah….yeah…..no……yeah, yeah ….sure…..yeah…..yeah…no….yeah…..sure……..yeah, yeah…..sure…. yeah
It’s brilliant technique keeping MT’s flow moving along.
I’m the worst interviewer ever!
The way MT steered through and away from the cocaine question was some next level Jedi wiggle powers shit.
Just nod your head and smile awkwardly
Oh man, I would diiieee doing video interviews. Listening back to transcribe tape is painful enough.
Here’s something that looks right up your street. From our friends at magic seaweed.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
I love me some coke too. Clean, crisp, and refreshing. Like MT in so many ways. Sharp as a tack that guy. What’s the story on the Eddie??
like Montana?
Yeeeaahyah!