A debate on the delicate topic of made-in-Asia surfboards…
If you’ve kicked around here even for us the past few months, you would’ve seen the myriad stories about shaper Peter Schroff’s war against made-in-Asia surfboards.
The sixty-three-year-old shaper from Newport Beach in California, the darling of eighties surf chic, has fashioned himself as the anti-imported surfboard and fiercely anti-Asian, provocateur.
He has used a chainsaw to cut in half an (imitation) Hypro Krypto and, lately, he’s been targeting the Kelly Slater-owned Firewire surfboards and Slater Designs, all of whom manufacture surfboards in south-east Asia.
(They’re not the only countries who enjoy the considerable economic benefits of Asian labour, of course. Most of the carbon-wrapped boards you see are made in Thailand or Vietnam. JS, Lost and so on. Have a look at the tail of your board.)
You might remember the story, Peter Schroff Does Yellow-Face or Modern: Peter Schroff Doubles Down.
Two days ago, Shane Dorian, whose son Jackson is Kelly’s godson, who rides Slater Designs and who was a guest at Surf Ranch, weighed into the debate on Schroff’s admittedly poorly subscribed Instagram account on the side of Asian-made boards.
“Imported goods don’t sell because they’re imported,” wrote Shane. “People buy the board they want to ride. Just like you buy the car you want to drive and the food you want to eat. If you have an imported car, shop at Target or Cosco or wear Italian sunglasses y8ou are unable to preach about buying local. The surf shops are not the problem, imported boards are not the problem The problem is people don’t want to ride your boards.”
Valid points, yes?
There’s a lot of back and forthing on the thread, which you can read here, but it gets good when the longboarder Joel Tudor suddenly bites after one commenter wrote:
“Ask @joeljitsuwhere his values were when he had a full line of surftech longboards before he went all elitist and purest. Look to the past and you’ll see your old weed maps black belt buddy riding surf tech China longboards. While I don’t mind a change of heart, be transparent about your past. Those boards paid the bills at the time, now his child labor footwear does.
To which he replied, “I quit doing it because I saw the damage it was doing to friends in surf factory’s here at home/also wasn’t in retirement mode that I needed the extra income at the cost of local builders …,takayama & velzy were the ones who originally talked me into it ….over time realized that royalty wasn’t worth the damage it was causing to the industry! Yes i smoke weed ,witch has nothing to with this conversation- enjoy your day.”
And, pointedly, to Shane, “Call me sometime & we can chat about this stuff – I can give you some helpful insight on all this stuff & where all the old school crew are coming from ….this isn’t just a here at Home issue ….this effects all the factories world wide that are owned & operated by surfers …the very people that created the industry & write our checks all stated out mowing foam or were around surf manufacturing! The easiest solution to all of this is build them locally in each hub of sales …aus , Europe , Hawaii , Japan , USA , Brazil have excellent factories & builders who actually surf ….hence keeping it in the hands of surfers …also most the countries with exception to Brazil have a active EPA that call bullshit on all the corners FireWire is cutting to avoid losing profit …..acetone recycling…charcoal filters …fire marshals …EPA are all realistic things we should deal with in a attempt to keep our stuff somewhat clean – pretty much a way of life for most world who build Surfboards.”
Shane replied, “I agree with a lot of what you are saying. All I’m saying is complaining about imports or anything else does nothing except make people look like whiners. Anyone can talk, and there is a lot of that here. It’s easy to see the problems and point fingers and place blame. Anyone can do that. The surf businesses, including the surf shops are adapting just to barely stay alive. It’s all changing so quick and to me it looks like trying to stop the tide from coming in, unfortunately.”
You, yes you, tell me: are Asian-made boards a tide coming in? Does it matter?
Personally, I couldn’t care where the damn thing was made (read about my date with a Cambodian model here) and feel that a brother is a brother is a brother, Asian or otherwise.
Are you with me?
Obviously you people have NEVER built Surfboards for a living. So stop talking about stuff you have no clue of. Just keep writing your ass kissing shit stories. To get your free products from Kelly and crew.
I’m a whiner but here ya go.
Quad axis 3.2 oz glass under nylex, unidirectinal carbon on a PU stringerless blank with g10 fins,tell me how were not innovative? https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Just stay in fucken school kids….
The old white guy’s boards look so shitty. If he has to make fun of Asian people to get a tiny bit of attention what does that say about him? I may buy one of his boards and chop it in half on Insta.
I think it’s a sustainable business model.
He reckons they replaced it because he bought two at the same time of different lengths for a trip to indo. He has proof of purchase of them at the same time and can show the deterioration in one vs. the other. They said there was a bad batch of resin at that time and it was policy to replace them due to that.
Did it happen? I don’t know. But he has got a new board that is the same as the old one. He could have paid for it. What would I know? I’m just the on-the-spot reporter letting you know the latest details from the local hotspots.
Fuck. This is so good. Dorian vs. Tudor. Thank you Chas.
we’re going to give it another try, yanks got short memories
Plant the seed, the tree may grow
There is something deeply depressing about seeing grown men, especially surfing icons, argue on Instagram.
Seems like to even have an opinion on this debate is exhausting…. I care about 2 things when I buy my board . 1 shape/ dims. 2. Price. The rest seems like Cali problems along the lines of finding organic / gluten free avocados and the best skinny vanilla latte……
The Asian argument is so tiring. I don’t know a single shaper who is good who has been hurt by this. There was initial fear, no doubt, but the good ones kept on making boards and commanding dinner earning wages – not FU money, but reasonable.
The clogged lineup situation is one offshoot, for sure, but that’s mostly Wavestorm driven where I live. And it was inevitable, regardless of the boards’ origins.
If you’re still bitching about imports, might be time to find another line of work. That ship has sailed, just like webcam surf reports.
Dorian and Joel and Schroff make the old topic interesting . ..
Some shapers did it to themselves. Flash back to 200*, you could spot china / kid labor / non surfer assembly line / factory made surfboards. The bad glass jobs, colors, and shapes. I liked the asymmetrical fin arrangement, the nose that looks like its melting, the tail that can’t decide squash or swallow so it choose to wear one of each shoe on its foot . . . I liked the reverse rockers or the amorphous rails. Crisco anyone?
there’s a glass house in north county off of E******* Blvd. Known top shapers and glassers. They set the standard like Clark did to foam. Their names are ****** and ######, oh and @@@@@, yes, even &&&&&& they were all given 20K or so and bit of royalties if they offered to allow use of their name and all expense paid trips to China to show the top factory workers (their is a hierarchy) how to shape and glass. So they went and a few of them went ex pat in costa rica or indo etc . . . Then the artisan thing kicked in for China and their boards are much better.
Same thing happened in the electric guitar industry. First in Japan (google japanese fenders), then China and other countries. Guys that knew what to do, Americans, were hired out to teach them, then the cheap factories make quality with price.
The anti china thing is 2010, its all here, and costco surf is now cool with the piggy back and pro surfers using wavestorms and Slates joining with vibrato equipped firewires that kick ass as grovelers but more bounce to the ounce in waves of consequence (4+) or in HI . . .
Future is environmental + sustainable but next to cutting edge great performance (for that board type / type of riding) made by someone who can surf as well as Chas or better than me (i’m not that good ). Cuz cutting edge is made for 1-2 heats and opposite of sustainability.
Also future is powered surfboards once the 2+ hr battery endurance one comes out. I’m not a fan, but like ever exponentially growing SUP community, powered surfboards will become the rage.
Hydrofoil surfing might rage but die because wings of gold cause mangled riders / line up
when combined with washing machine wipeouts . . . with bleeding stuffs will cause shark attacks to rise.
Made by humans on planet earth.
The old school pirates can have their opinion… because those dicks hazed children and snorted their window of opportunity I don’t bat an eye at the plight of the burned out born again pikers, when the time comes and they pass, we will have a paddle out and sing their praises and talk mad shit
If we weren’t being pushed, tempted and encouraged to buy a new board every season this wouldn’t be such a problem.
En ingles por favor, no hablo
To survive , wrote Marx, Capitalism is condemned to expand permanently.Condemned to collapse under it own weight, knowing that the universe is not infinitely extendable and we will not be always able to make more profit , and above all while the ever increasing number of humans become proportionally poorer. ( best I could do in under 2 minutes)
Much appreciated.
Interesting to hear the Euro / France side of things , where Labour costs in France a very prohibitive to making low cost surfboards , and Spain a lot less so they can nearly compete with cheap surfboards, and that’s why Pukas make CI’s , Euroglass lost the CI license , and Pukas now can sell into France where they get top price and offer generous trading terms, but not consignment like Firewire/Slater designs , which to me is way more damaging to the market and will end up , pardon the pun , but going Belly up!
Euroglass is tied to Quiksilver , and as Quiks fortunes tumble , there will be an affect on Belly , but bankruptcy is a big call as he has the QuiK hardwear license , hopefully he will ride thru this.
Funny to see Joel and Shroffy calling for protectionism , obviously spokepeople for Donalds Merycan First!
Wait. Are the two of you saying trickle down economics is a little fuzzy?
I agree that at the end of the day , how does the Asian product stand up to locally made product?
A lot of the Asian boards have very good quality , often better than locally made , and can deliver better technology cheaper , than Local , but this is for the surfer who probably doesn’t want to think too much and get confused by all the hype , so very understandable your position and I think is probably a majority view.
A lot of the smaller but very well known shapers , are now making better boards locally , and adjusting to the market , sso there is a boom for some custom makers….and these are not the back yarders , but well established designer/surfer shapers who don’t sponsor kids , don’t wholesale anymore , direct sales , and very comfortable!
so many gumby’s by FireWire,SD, lost carbon wrap Etc an then quote the spiel written about whatever board it is they’ve bought as to how it makes their cutbacks better or some shit when in reality they can’t even do a cutback.
Surfings become a sport of rich mongs with very little skill. Good surfers will ride what works. The sheep but good marketing. HS etc.
Brutus you shaped me some epic boards some years ago. Love ya work champ 🤙🏽
Or there’s the bloke down the beach that has taken back 3 or 4 boards by an imported name for the same reason. He gets a new one each year because he can show them how yellow it is compared to his original. Good for him, but it means someone is paying. I guess when you’re selling a board for $850+ that costs $120 to make, you can do that eh?