World’s best surfer John John Florence and “diabolically sexy master shaper” Jon Pyzel launch luxury accessories brand and its name has explosive links to Proto-Polynesian!

For Florence it’s a further pivot away from the wreckage of heritage surf brands, now bundled together like junk bonds and sold to whatever vulture capitalist has a kink for surf.

The two-time world champion surfer and trans (Pacific) sailor man, John John Florence, has partnered with master shaper Jon Pyzel and the CEO of Pyzel Surfboards Dan McNamara to create a high-end luxury surf accessories brand called Veia Supplies.

Some of Jon Pyzel’s story you might already know: how this diabolically sexy shredder (sponsored by Rip Curl and Hamish Graham surfboards) fled Santa Babs for the North Shore in 1992 and was taken under the wing of master shaper Jeff Bushman before, in 1998, shaping a little blond boy’s first ever custom.

The boy, of course, was John John Florence.

For the thirty-year-old Florence it’s a further pivot away from the wreckage of heritage surf brands, now bundled together like junk bonds and sold to whatever vulture capitalist has a kink for surf. Last year, Florence, along with Bob Hurley and big-bag swinging Patty O’Connell, launched the twelve-million dollar start-up Florence Marine X.

The name of the latest venture, Veia, either comes from Proto-Polynesian and means “to dislike” or it’s Spanish for creek, or maybe neither. 

The first range of John John gear features a seven-foot board bag that retails for $US350, a couple of tail pads for fifty dollars and leashes ranging from forty-three to forty-seven dollars. 

“Multi-board bags are rockered so boards properly fit, and some of our larger bags also include purpose-built places for tie downs, extra padding, and carabiners,” CEO Dan McNamara told Shop-Eat-Surf. “No one travels with boards more often than John John and since we at Pyzel have supplied his boards for the past 25 years, we are in a unique position to build to that need. Another key difference is that we are infusing more color into the board bag category. We all love black bags, but we want to offer a little more design and differentiation both on the wall and at the baggage claim.”