The True Superstar of the Surf Industry

The True Super Star of the Surf Industry I am not a science fiction nut. However, I saw the movie Rise of the Silver Surfer just the other day and I think Hollywood.... got something right. The Silver Surfer was unstoppable until the source of his power was taken away. The source of his power was his surfboard.....
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I have been surfing for 25 years. Twenty of those years I have been part of the surfboard manufacturing industry. I have always thought that what I made was one of the most important and respectable things in the business. The last couple of years have been a challenge, to say the least. In a time when our main source for surfboard blanks disappeared over night and all other material costs have increased steadily month by month, the retail price for boards has steadily done just the opposite, fallen. This drop in price is due to a growing supply of mass produced surfboards. ....
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Profit being the only concern, any person interested in making a quick buck off the surfboard is getting in on the game. A large percentage of these guys don't even surf. Board builders, importers, sales reps, surf shop owners, etc… A very difficult product to produce well is now being brought into the ....US.... on ships filled with container loads of mass produced "surfboards". My business future all of a sudden didn't seem so clear.....
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I had to make some hard decisions if I wanted to stay in the surfboard making business. I took a huge risk and invested all I had in making my little factory bigger. In a time when many of the guys were throwing in the towel, I became a retailer to help off set the number of wholesale accounts that left me for greener seas. I felt I needed to be able to talk to my customers directly in order to show them what we really do here and why we are different and better.....
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As a wholesaler, I always took the position to have perfect quality and sell it at a higher price. My thinking had to change. Don't get me wrong, we still strive for perfect quality, but we also lowered our price to obtain a higher volume. I prayed with everything in me that the surfing public actually cared about who their surfboard came from and that there were enough people in search of great craftsmanship, real experience in building and TRUE custom surfboards to support and even grow my business. ....
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Three years later, I can say…"Thank God!" In a time when most people are saying the surfboard industry is in a slow year, we have had our BEST year. I now have surf shop owners (like McKevlin's) who know the real value of a good product for their valued customer. They also value the relationship that is built with honesty, trust and mutual respect for what we do. ....
It is ironic that two of my best customers are two of the oldest surf shops in the country. They date back to the 60's when all this began on the east coast. They have seen all the fads come and go. They have waded through the shady sales people just looking for a quick buck, cheap quality boards being sold in Sears and Sam's Club as well as the high time and lows of our beloved sport. They have been there.....
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When I lowered my price, I was told by some of my competitors that I was de-valuing the surfboard. I don't find that to be true. What I was doing was giving a few surf shops the tools they needed to compete with the people who really are decreasing the value of the surfboard… that would be the shops and customers who purchase based only on price. We all know the old saying, which rings true here too…"You get what you pay for."....
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In closing, I just want to give thanks to all of my customers for their continued support. I hope that our industry and surfing public, both old and young, realize the true source of power in the surfboard. It's what makes the whole surfer life style possible. Can you imagine Kelly Slater and Andy Irons body surfing Pipe for the next world title (just not the same, huh?). Or how different the ocean would look to all of us without a surfboard by our side?....
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Your dollars matter when you buy. I just ask you to have some thought as to who you give those dollars. The consumer has the real power and is the true super star of surfing.....
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Thanks again!....
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Todd
www.islandinspired.com....