The LA Times looks for answers to the question: what happened to the surf fashion industry? Writer Andrea Chang catalogs all the year end reports we’ve linked to lately and talked to Quiksilver’s Bob McKnight, Huntington Surf & Sport’s Aaron Pai, ASR’s Andy Tompkins, Tanya Turner at Jacks in Dana Point, Sport Chalet’s CEO Craig Levra, and longtime surfer Mike Dumitras, 30, who paid a friend $20 for an old Hurley wetsuit and patched it with duct tape rather than buying a new one.
Bob McKnight, speaking from beneath Quik’s billion dollar mountain of debt, says they are prepared: “We’ve been through a couple downturns like this, so we know what to expect,” McKnight said. “But this one is certainly worse than anything we’ve seen.”
So what is the answer? Where have all the consumers gone? Turns out the economy is bad and people like Mike Dumitras just aren’t buying as much stuff as they were a year ago. Dammit, Mike. Would you buy a new wetsuit already. We’ve got an entire industry waiting.
[Link: LA Times]
What about the growth of the sport? What does participation level look like these days for surf?
Yeah, I know, its always better to have waves to yourself, but as an industry you need surfers to extend the life line…Plus to respect nature, you need people attached to nature to understand its inherited value.
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