Big Surf Clothing Brands

lcrcboy

Whats going on guys, I finished up a dissertation on how surfers view the large surf clothing brands e.g. QuikSilver Billabong etc. And because I only focused on a small group of surfers I was wondering what you guys think.

Do you buy into the big brands like Quiksilver? or do you see them as just multi-billion dollar corporation trying to attach itself to the sport and culture?
Do you guys think that they help to strengthen the image of the sport or damage it?

Any and all comments welcome, my personal results for this were pretty mixed so it will be interesting to see what you guys make of it. Besides that most people Ive come across had a strong opinion going one way or the other depending on how much they surf, where they surf things like that.

Gunnerkid

When I first started surfing I was automatically drawn to the large brands like Quiksilver because that is all I really saw when I looked over surf magazines and videos for the first time. But as I got to know people around where I surfed I found some smaller brands especially one or two from the UK which have some great gear.

plus have you seen the price of clothes from quiksilver complete rip off most of the time, they do make good quality stuff but I just dont have the money to be forking it out on brands like Quiksilver.

John_Rambo

Yeah, I'd buy them if I like them! They'd have to be nice, I wouldn't be buying them for the label. I find the t-shirts last very very well too no matter how many washes or how long they are left wet in the car for. I have had VANS t-shirts for years and they look like new and they have kept their shape. I know there are surfers out there who are very very conscious of what they wear or what they don't wear and will avoid brands like North Face, Ripcurl, Billabong etc.... But, then again, they are very conscious how they are perceived and of what they wear!

nickbok

Yeah I suppose I do. I would be a Slater fan and what looks good on him I might look into see if it would look as good on hubby! Lol
I'm of two minds really. In one way we need these companies to bring the latest fashion and hardware and bring us closer to the action by sponsoring tour events and bringing out surf films. On the other hand it's big industry and all about money. Even the pros are gettin affected by it. Quiksilver dropped all but Kelly practically from their team and ripcurl are only sponsoring one event on world tour this yr. So downturn obviously effecting them too.
A lot of smaller companies do nice stuff like protest for a BIT cheaper anyway. Don't think there's any Irish brand yet to support local!

CRenegade

nickbok wrote: »

Don't think there's any Irish brand yet to support local!

Emerald surfwear!

nickbok

Nice one! Been out of loop for awhile will check them out. Peter Conroy team rider for them. Cool. Hope he gets XXL award. Be great for us. Well be great for him! But we'd be dead proud

CRenegade

nickbok wrote: »

Nice one! Been out of loop for awhile will check them out. Peter Conroy team rider for them. Cool. Hope he gets XXL award. Be great for us. Well be great for him! But we'd be dead proud

No problem. Also lirchild surfwear is another.

Mickeroo

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There's another one called Mara surf wear too I think.

bobo26b

I try to avoid them because of cost like their boardshorts are really nice looking but to expensive...... quiksilver wetsuits are good quality as well mate of mine bought one set him back nearly 500 euro
I have to say with quiksilver and billabong and they have really become more fashion labels that have a surfing image rather than just surfing orientated

tigerballs

I would say that is an interesting dissertation given the current situation many once major surf companies are in...

Billabong up for sale http://www.smh.com.au/business/offer-for-billabong-hanging-in-20130428-2impn.html

Ripcurl unable to sell http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/rip-curl-pulls-400-million-sale-to-avoid-wipeout/story-fn91v9q3-1226591081475

Fashion wise it seems times have moved on from sponsored surfers been used to push up the price of cloth and splashing logos all over everything been a surefire seller... They have almost turned full circle now and try to hide any sign of branding and make their clothing designs look as simple and almost secondhand as possible...
I live in Australia now and its only the old guys that are sporting surf wear mostly out of habit...
Hopefully these companies will regress to what they should have been doing on all along ..
selling wetsuits and surfboards maybe throwing in the odd free tee??

rodento

Tommy Hilfiger starting to advertise on magicseaweed, interesting times

seachto7

While most of the clothing is pretty decent, it seems to be darn bloody expensive!!!

OldGuysRule

Seems odd that you have just finished up a dissertation on this subject, but only come looking for opinions from online surfers afterwards. Why did you focus on only a small group of surfers?

spaceHopper

Mickeroo wrote: »

[

There's another one called Mara surf wear too I think.

I just bought one of thier suits, supper impressed with it very well made suit for the money.

I didn't get to try it out yet as I had no hood with me at the weekend so I used my current winter suit which has one built in. As soon as I get a chance to try it out I'll stick up a review!

lcrcboy

OldGuysRule wrote: »

Seems odd that you have just finished up a dissertation on this subject, but only come looking for opinions from online surfers afterwards. Why did you focus on only a small group of surfers?

When conducting the dissertation you basically have three research schools to choose from: Quantitative (mathematical, surveys, cold hard numbers, large research population) Qualitative (focuses on attitudes, feelings and emotions rather than on numbers) and the final option is a mix of the two.

I chose a qualitative method because I was looking for how surfers attitudes and feelings were towards the big label brands, plus Im not to keen on using mathematical methods in order to get results LOL not a fan of numbers and neveer have been.

So I conducted to separate focus groups each containing 7 surfers and who dont know each other. I was able to obtain their thoughts as a group and reinforce that with branding and consumer behavior theories. However my results were mind of mixed in especially between newbie surfers and people who have been surfing for a while.

So I think out of nerves about my dissertation I posted this thread to just see if it matched with what I handed in to the University. And on top of that Im genuinely interested in the subject . Sorry for the long rant but I just wanted to clear that up for you

And cheers to everyone that has posted here, keep bringing in the comments really gives me an idea of what you guys think.:cool:

John_Rambo

spaceHopper wrote: »

I didn't get to try it out yet as I had no hood with me at the weekend so I used my current winter suit which has one built in. As soon as I get a chance to try it out I'll stick up a review!

Did you pick up the €120 deal? I think it's over. Would be very interested in what it's like, I'd love to buy an Irish suit, my last one was an O'Dare long john! My winter wettie is a RipCurl Flash bomb and it's unbelievably good, so I can vouch for RipCurl still putting the R&D in to the hardwear.

spaceHopper

John_Rambo wrote: »

Did you pick up the €120 deal? I think it's over. Would be very interested in what it's like, I'd love to buy an Irish suit, my last one was an O'Dare long john! My winter wettie is a RipCurl Flash bomb and it's unbelievably good, so I can vouch for RipCurl still putting the R&D in to the hardwear.

Yes got it for 120 + 5 shipping

John_Rambo

spaceHopper wrote: »

Yes got it for 120 + 5 shipping

Jealouse. Seriously, let us know how it performs.

keryl

Never seen the attraction, if they made a pair of slim fit shorts or something that I like I'd go for it but certainly not for the name.

darragh97

Its a tough one to answer because at the end of the day, they are the ones responsible for pumping so much money into the development of better equipment and gear (with the exception of billabong-terrible stuff) and without them, we would not be able to surf big cold waves like we have here. As for the fashion side, most stuff is very high quality, although still extremely overpriced

John_Rambo

keryl wrote: »

if they made a pair of slim fit.

H&M... Seriously. Good slimmer fit shorts & cheap.

keryl

Yeah, only said that as I once eyed a pair of Quicksilver slim, thought they were something I might actually buy from a surf fashion range...

68 lost souls

Im currently writing this while wearing a ripcurl tshirt. I do like a lot of the clothes the big companies come out with but it is way to expensive and tend to buy on sale, in shops like tk max or as a special purchase for myself. I bough a few pairs of board shorts last year in the states when they were 2 for $70 when they are normally about that price each. I am really happy to see some Irish brands come out and some of the designs they are bringing out with are great. One thing that really really grinds my gears is the likes of Hollister selling themselves as a surf brand what have they done for the surf community? A buddie of mine actually picked up a perfectly good surfboard that Hollister had thrown out! It was in the skip to go to the dump, brand new, only used for marketing.

EDIT: in terms of wetsuit I always tend to go for O'Neils as I have faith in them, currently use a 5/3 O'Neils Psycho as my main suit.

lcrcboy

68 lost souls wrote: »

Im currently writing this while wearing a ripcurl tshirt. I do like a lot of the clothes the big companies come out with but it is way to expensive and tend to buy on sale, in shops like tk max or as a special purchase for myself. I bough a few pairs of board shorts last year in the states when they were 2 for $70 when they are normally about that price each. I am really happy to see some Irish brands come out and some of the designs they are bringing out with are great. One thing that really really grinds my gears is the likes of Hollister selling themselves as a surf brand what have they done for the surf community? A buddie of mine actually picked up a perfectly good surfboard that Hollister had thrown out! It was in the skip to go to the dump, brand new, only used for marketing.

EDIT: in terms of wetsuit I always tend to go for O'Neils as I have faith in them, currently use a 5/3 O'Neils Psycho as my main suit.

wow cant believe they actually were going to dump a surfboard like that, what idiots, money is obviously all they are concerned about