Are we back?
Just yesterday, surf industry fans around the world lit candles hoping beyond hope that the ongoing apocalypse might just might be coming to an end. Years upon years of contraction had met its darkest moment ever when management firm Authentic Brands Group and snatched up market leaders Quiksilver, Billabong, RVCA, Volcom and more then driving them even further into the ground.
A true highway to hell.
But yesterday, oh yesterday, a light through yonder window broke. The Beach Boys, a 1960s musical act introducing the joys of surfing to landlocked masses, experienced their highest-ever ranking on Billboard’s global music charts soaring all the way to 69.
And today, the world’s premier surf trade show has announced that its registration is tracking “significantly above” last year’s show and is forecasted to be largest since 2020.
Reef, Oakley, Bajio, Olukai, VISSLA, Melin, Outerknown, Sector 9, Firewire Surfboards, Slater Designs, Chubbies, FLORENCE, Rhythm, Rusty, Katin, goodr, Tommy Bahama, Birkenstock, Sun Bum, Jetty, THRILLS CO., Salt Life, Elan, Simply Southern, Hook & Tackle, Exist, Guy Harvey, ALOHA Collection, Sanuk, Dark Seas, HUK, Fahlo, Salty Crew, Body Glove, Seager Co., BN3TH, Free Fly, Vineyard Vines, Baja Llama, Dippin Daisy’s, INSTINCT, Roark, Costa Del Mar, I-SEA, Skullcandy, Sharp Eye, Haydenshapes, TAHE, Goorin Bros., GCI Outdoors, Smith & Quinn, and more will all have booths inside the expansive Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Thousands of giddy shoppers just waiting to test and try wares.
Surf Expo SVP and Show Director Roy Turner told Shop-Eat-Surf, “We are excited to see everyone in Orlando this week. Our buyer registration is tracking significantly above last year, and retailers will be looking to find new brands and solidify relationships with existing vendors. There are also lots of events, parties and Happy Hours planned for networking and mingling.”
I once mingled and networked at Surf Expo in 2019 and credit that experience for the record-setting 2020 show.
World Surfing Champion, best-selling author, entrepreneur, environmentalist, and leadership expert, Shaun Tomson, will deliver a session titled The Code – How to Empower and Unite Your Team this year.
An Industry Party featuring Rage Against the DJ will place on January 9 at 6 p.m. on the lower level of the convention center near registration and there will also be multiple Happy Hours and fashion shows each day.
We. Are. Back.
P.S. I don’t know why Surf Expo capitalizes “Happy Hours” in press releases but certainly another harbinger of good times ahead.
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30 years ago I attended the SurfExpo, complete with Typhoon Lagoon Expression Session. Halcyon days indeed, got a brand new board for $175 as the shapers were keen to offload them rather than ship them home.
“is forecasted to be largest since 2020.” Weren’t we all locked up in 2020?
Action sports retailers trade show. That was the bomb.
No doubt about it, can’t live without it
Great song!
Come by the elusive HURLULEY booth for rare stickers and unwanted advice.
Pool John B coming to a wave park sound system near you. And it will be nearby because they are going to be everywhere. Brian knows and still writes the score and scribes relentlessly from a secret cave in Patmos.
Breaking News: Malibu point heavies Jonah Hill and the likes homes are in danger
The brush fire will help make the Malibu mansion mudslides more entertaining when the winter rains arrive.
rains are arriving?
Eventually, it is winter.
This time last year, here in San Clemente we had close to 7 inches of the wet stuff.
This year so far, the total is 1/8th of an inch.
Those hills are as dry as a popcorn fart.
Yea but how are the waves.
Looking like it could be the most (dollar value) expensive fire ever in California by tomorrow morning. So many $10m houses are already charred and this thing has just started.
It’s like a hurricane, but a really powerful one. Pretty fucked.
There’s a surf brand called Chubbies?!? I feel so heard.
If Ashole hits Chad like that now, one would have to assume Ashole’s hand would bounce off that turkey gobbler neck and he’d end up hitting himself in the face. Maybe less hand dancing after this time though.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c… Letssss get ready to ruuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmble
Good memories of a 300+ comment sharticle and this pinned comment:
Anthony Arturo Leone 6 years ago edited
Featured by Beach Grit
Chas blew right past me in my booth, and with all due respect, seeing you in person for the first time, I realized you do look super fucking punchable.
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When I got into surfing as a kid in the 90’s the surfing I liked and was interested in was completely different than the surfing my dad did, which was riding the same templates he rode in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
Yes it was still surfing but Slater, Ward, etc. were doing something new and exciting. But now you see literal grandfathers ripping on shortboards. Thanks to the instagram posts of Zuckerberg etc. we’re not far off from parents getting their kids into surfing for the professional prospects, kinda like golf.
The brands that are able to recognize saw this shift are the ones that are doing well. Volcom is screwed but culture can shift in unpredictable ways.
Then there are those that think the whole concept of professional surfing is screwed. Time will tell. Many of those brands that “saw” the shift are no longer a growing concern lending credence to the idea that none of us are seers and what you might think is coming isn’t what comes.
Professional surfing will circle back “in” once this commercialised faux hippy surfer phase dies off.
Not if the power brokers in the surf industry have a say in it. They are in the process of trying to figure out how to grow the younger sector for the future, even if that means a loss of profits in the short term. Much like golf, I think Covid may have taken things over the edge to a point of no return.
That said, let’s hope you are correct since I don’t make a living from the industry.
who would you say are the power brokers in the industry?
The problem is the surf industry is in serious decline , especially the surfboard side . The only people left to buy lots of surfboards are the 50+ as the younger demographics are struggling with cost of living, and why is there no career pathway in the surf industry anymore?
I’m more referring to the larger shaping companies. They need to keep the younger generations interested as well as keep it affordable.
The power brokers are old and rich.
Will be so much room for fresh core youth brands to start up.
Was it at Surf Expo in 2019 that you got bitch slapped by Ashton? 😆
Oh, how the time flies!
Surely staged Chas, a faux promotional rivalry of sorts. Come clean after all these years..
What man hits another with an open hand.. I guess there’s that yellow beanie & that popeye gig. Where is that cunt now. I’d like to see how fat he got.
Between me n Ashton, I was the only one laughing.
You touched his beard in such an endearing way.
What did you say to him to make him so ferocious
Good question
How about now, though?
Do you think he watches the vid on repeat?
Take yourself on over to Stab for an update. He features himself in just about every video he makes.
Really, I thought the midget who could surf was running it now.
Maybe I don’t get the logger spam
it’s called a bitch slap…usually this takes place as a sign of disrespect as not worth punching!
A slaps a scary proposition in my book.
If I’ve ever hit someone it’s typically to end a situation not start it
Beautiful sentiment though. Sounds such an OG Hawaiian concept. No doubt works a treat as long as you’ve got a/the wolfpack lingering in the background.
A bit like when a 60kg Balinese surfer calls you in for exercise on beach in the cave after – he’s dropped in on you. It’s not him you’re worried about.. it’s his mates with the sticks waiting if you dare win
This^
Just noticed a girl serving beer out of a keg in the foreground. Might have have something to do with the high school jackass behavior.