And a quick question for your consideration.
BeachGrit principal Derek Rielly, just yesterday, covered the renting out of Billabong’s once-proud and palatial Gold Coast offices, also touching briefly upon big box retailers receiving dump truck loads of Billabong and RVCA t-shirts which are being sold for, basically, free.
$13.99, in fact, more than the World Surf League.
Authentic Brands Group, which almost owns Billabong, RVCA, Quiksilver, Volcom (sale finalized on August 31), wasting zero time in slashing any idea of “core.”
The issue, I suppose, is do you care?
Do those old flushes of excitement when donning a stylized wave or, for our younger brothers and sister, RVCA’s fighting poom poom shorts, feel whorish now? An embarrassment that will be taken to the grave? Or, as a price point shopper, are you excited to get your hands a new fall/spring wardrobe for pennies on the dollar?
In your opinion, is surf culture alive, just thriving in different soil, dying or dead?
If dead, who killed?
Let’s name names.
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Someone needs to bring back Lightning Bolt. I’m not sure it ever got any better than being a 12 year old grom in the OC back in 1979.
I’m keeping my Ducati t-shirts.
I think they’ve done a good job with Volcom so far. Perhaps they’re sacrificing Billabong and RVCA to make some money to enable them to breathe life into Quiksilver. I’m fine with that. The California based Boardsport patriarch will hate it though. “Money I could take and pretend to re-invest in the sports, leaving the industry? Not on my watch”. Love it. Hypocrites
Maybe they’ll do a nice job with Quiksilver by making money from Billabong and RVCA? I’d like to love Quiksilver again. They’ve done a surprisingly decent job with Volcom so far. Of course no one in the industry even the Californian based millionaires want any money to leave their greedy pockets. The patriarch is alive and well in boardsports – hip-o-crits (see what I tried to do there?).
No net, it was a small world back there controlled by gatekeepers.
The internet blew open the gates and everyone realised what a crock of shit they had been sold?
People started caring about authenticity more too. Those guys in Indiana buying Billabong in the 90’s or 2000’s look back at that time with shame. They know they were posers.
I don’t care.
It’s dead.
Kelly 11 killed it.
I could think of nothing worse to wear than surf brands and that just because the terrible quality
Nothing else for it, but to Ripaquikbong
Any self respecting man should wear a Bonds tee, Levi’s 511’s and tan work boots/dress boots/bare feet. All of the footwear works. No thinking required, just fuck shit up. Xox
Good advice, but ya Gottmove to the 516’s when you get a bit older, even if you remain svelte, as I do.
Oh no way, my legs are fantastic! Cute bum and a little package action at the front too xox
So where is home now that you hate all the states?
your mum goes to college
Is Elo working at Surf Culture in Bondi now?
Come for the shirts, stay for the $2 hotdog with refillable drink cup and $3 pizza slice
Pauly’s memes help me thru the tough story lines. Nicely done!
Gotta differentiate between fashion and tech.
Tech (wetsuits, boardshorts, etc) is what got the ball rolling in the late 60s but fashion is what made all those sleazy reps rich in the late 80s thru early 90s.
Fashion is fickle and kids dont want to look like their middle aged dad or even their grandpa. Very few brands can pull off multi-generational appeal. Think levis or adidas. Even levis almost came a cropper for a while in the early 2000s.
I went into the local surf shop and asked the guy whats selling. He said ruca is dead. No one wearing it and shit, tiny range. No one wearing quik either, though a little bit of movement in wetties. Hurley may as well not even exist.
Still a little bit of sales in rip curl and billabong but way off the old highs. Rip curls wetties used to be the best (by far) but no longer, and way overpriced. Vissla and need essentials really hit them hard.
Everyone’s wearing niche stuff from the small brands. Funnily enough the hardware brands making fins, leg ropes etc. are still holding their own place in the market as they were never fashion to begin with.
O’Neill wetsuits still not bad, have a 5/4 hooded and a 4/3 that get frequent use … I had a 4/3 Rip Curl I got around 2010-12, wore over many east coast winters, held up pretty well. Have a 3/2 RC now I picked up on cheap a year or two ago, but haven’t worn enough to make any judgments about whether durability/quality declined. Haven’t tried Buell, obviously becoming the default choice now, so I’m behind the curve. As to clothing, have a couple O’Neill t shirts I picked up for $6 each on a super fall sale, a whalebone surf shop (obx) tee that I’ll wear til it falls apart, and otherwise just don’t wear surf brands on a daily basis. I don’t think anyone killed it for me, I think I’m just old.
Also, if you’re going to buy some surf stuff, do it at Surf Country in Goleta bc Doug is a stand up dude.
Maybe (that extremely organised and ecologically minded sports organisation) the WSL could buy them in a bulk lot, sew up the bottom and sleeves, and use them as grow sacks for the plants they plan to plant around the world’s cliffs and sand dunes etc.
And use the rest to mop up (any WSL associated) oil spills…
waited to drop this in on somebody that really gets it!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media…
I think I’ll literally start making a Hurluley clothing range and see how long I last before I get sued.
Shut up and take my money
I haven’t got the foggiest idea how the clothing industry works.
Print-on-demand (spreadshirt etc) seems expensive and sketchy.
Anyone got any ideas?
https://everpress.com/how-i…
Seems pretty straightforward – or maybe just a millennial scam like fyre festival.
Go for it !
I’m the guy who overpaid on two boards and a box of 3xl & 4xl original AIPA SURFBOARDS T-shirts from Uncle Ben’s estate auction. The boards are great (they rip) and I gave a bunch of shirts away as gifts which were very appreciated.
Futurewise, I’m going Florence Marine for two reasons:
1) I support local and JJ is NOT a kook.
2) The hooded rashguard I got from them makes me feel like Spiderman, but not the gay Tobey Maguire one.
Considering how ill-advised pockets are in the water, how much does the hood mess you duckdiving etc? Genuinely curious.
Unfortunately, I’ve only tested it up to a squidge overhead due to THE WORST 2023 for swell in Hawaii since 1983. It performed flawless in waves of a couple tumbles.
The pocket is smartly placed with a seamless NASA-like zipper. A single car key and/or credit card wouldn’t be felt.
The stitching/shape for how the hood comes up your neck honestly doesn’t allow for any pocketing (water resistance), but its not overly tight or constricting in any way. It doesn’t choke you. The brim is actually floppy material but not weak.
I was very stoked having that extra SPF1,000,000 protection for my face during long-cook lulls at noon. Its easy to wear the hood off the back if too hot, or the slight hearing impairment from ear covering is a bother. It feels like a second skin, but Tony Stark level tech. We’ll see how it performs after real ragdolling this winter.
A theory for this swell drought suspects a curse from the “mahu stones” placed for pride display fronting Duke’s statue in Waikiki. After that little stunt, Hawaii lost its swells – so the coconut wireless has reported. BG… where are you on this!?!?
Thanks for satisfying my curiosity regarding the hood.
As for cursed stones, I call bullshit.
You’re welcome. That’s an easy far away position to take. Many with blood in game disagree.
If this world and the waves in it exist at the whim of the gods, they are a surly bunch of assholes, Maui just being the most recent example.
Bankrolled by )( ☘️
Haven’t bought a surf brand t shirt for at least 30 years , wondered for a while what a rvca was though?
Rincon Ventura California
I thinking it’s a car club in Victoria, Australian?
If you needed to identify as a surfer by being anything else other than a surfer you are a kook , that’s been the point the whole time , fashion labels tried to steal surfing’s sole and screen print it onto a t shirt , in the end ” only a surfer knows the feeling” and you don’t get that by purchasing a t shirt.
Now if we can just see the end of the global menace that is rip curl the search , things might finnaly get a little better for recreational surfers.
HURLULEY STILL UNAFFECTED BY RECESSION.
RECORD PROFITS.
INVEST NOW BEFORE STOCK PRICES GO UP.
WE WILL NEVER BE SOLD IN DISCOUNT SHOPS.
I’M SHOUTING SO YOU CAN HEAR ME DOWN THERE IN ORDINARY PLEB LAND AS I RECLINE ON MY LUXURY CLOUD OF UNIMAGINABLE LUXURY.
I’VE GOT SO MUCH LUXURY I CAN SAY IT THREE TIMES.
You guys make the best Fin Cozies
THANK YOU PETER.
ONLY TOP QUALITY SWEATSHOP LABOUR PRODUCED IN FOREIGN PLACE.