Time For Leadership

I can’t begin to express all the ways I’m grateful for my 20 years in this market or for the incredible seat I’ve had to watch our industry grow, prosper and mature.

The fact that our business, at its base, is built around the greatest sport in the world, a lifestyle that’s healthy and dynamic, awe-inspiring and just simply beautiful places us among the lucky ones. No wonder our products inspire literally millions of people around the world who simply hope to pretend to be a part of what we get to call work.

I remember back in the early 1990s when neon died and “urban apparel” tried to elbow its way past us. I recall that trade show cycle vividly and how it pissed me off that our industry—and all it had to offer—suddenly seemed to be playing second fiddle to something that wasn’t a tenth as interesting as our market.

And over the next 15 years or so, as the surf and “action sports” lifestyle exploded in popularity around the world with more participants, incredible fashion, movies, video games, music videos, and its own host of mainstream heroes, it was particularly gratifying to watch it all occur and, in my small way, report on it. It seemed the sky was no longer the limit.

So here we are today, and I’m getting pissed off again. I’m angry that the surf industry seems to have become something of a punching bag. I get irritated by stories in everything from the New York Times to today’s California Apparel News, stories that seem to be eager and actively seeking out the most dire, glass-half-full outlook.

And to be honest I’m disappointed in the leadership of the surf industry and at how quiet they appear to be or shell shocked. This is just my personal opinion, not that of Surf Expo, but I’m disappointed that the amazing story of our industry, all that we’ve accomplished in the last decade, the panoply of incredible athletes and dream lifestyles they embody now seem overwhelmed by a pall of economic gloom.

Oh my god, yes, I know it would be hard for me to be more Pollyannaish even if I tried, but I’m just ready for less self doubt and more leadership. I want us all to remember why we got into this business in the first place and understand that nothing about that foundation has changed, that summer will return and how that first south swell could just fire up the imagination of millions – even if they’re living a thousand miles from the coast.

I want our story to be told more often and better and by people who matter, not bozos like me.

Our sport, our lifestyle, and all that that we’ve built together simply deserves better than what it’s received lately.

Tell me, please, am I totally off base here?