Last month I participated in the SIMA SURF SUMMIT 10. It’s a gathering of Surf Industry-types involved with the commerce and culture of the surfing lifestyle. As with most conferences, there were keynote addresses, happy hour get-togethers, and sharing of best practices. Unlike most conferences, the Surf Summit didn’t begin at 7:45 am and attendees weren’t dressed in traditional business attire. The day’s agenda began at 1:00 pm so attendees could catch the morning waves. And dress-wise, boardshorts were prevalent while khakis were absent. (Nice change of pace for me.)
For those not hip to the surf and skate culture business, it’s a $5.5B dollar industry that has formed loyal beyond reason relationships with men and women customers of all ages. The aspirational appeal of surfing has fueled much of its growth. While not everyone has access to the surf, everyone does have access to the surfing lifestyle thanks to apparel retailers/brands like Quicksilver, PacSun, Zumiez, Reef, Volcom, Mada, Sanuk, Nixon, and others. Overall industry sales are growing at a 13.0% year-over-year rate which means something meaningful is going-on with the surf/skate culture.
Shaun Tomson, surf legend and surfing entrepreneur, kicked off the conference by sharing the true school mentality of what it means to respect the surfing culture. When addressing the beginnings of the surf culture business, Shaun made it clear that the businesses which emerged in the late 60s and 70s were created by surfers for the sole reason of generating enough cash so they could get back in the water. That’s right … to live in order to surf, surfers created businesses selling shirts, shorts, and other stuff — all for the sole purpose of being able to spend more time catching the stoke from surfing.
To learn more about the true school mentality of surfing and how it applies to personal/professional life on land, you should read Shaun Tomson’s book, SURFER’S CODE: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life.
Go ahead and dip your toes into the water of Shaun’s book by flipping through this short Money Quotes presentation…
RSS Readers … click here to view the money quotes
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