Tuesday, July 22, 2008

custom...

...maybe 25 years ago. Now your "Oceanside" surfboard is not made in Oceanside, California, but instead in Oceanside, China. And its not a custom surfboard if you can't custom order one. Support your shaper who does it for love, not money.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about shaper's who do it for the love of money?

Anonymous said...

Why would anyone put custom on a board that is not custom. I am confused. Thanks Bob

Anonymous said...

What is a surf baord anyways?

Anonymous said...

does anyone out here know a good obgyn?

Anonymous said...

Anonymouse when do you go back to school so you will stop f'n up this blog?

Anonymous said...

You mean Kelly Richards doesn't love to shape? I bought a custom and a Perfection pop-out from him...so he has to at least love me 50% right?

I walked out of his shop stoked to have 2 cool surfboards and guess what, he didn't laugh at me or call me a kook for buying a pop-out...just happy I continue to buy stuff from him so that he can continue to run a surf shop and make money.

And the world keeps spinning...

Anonymous said...

I have a picture of Ians truck parked outside the shop with an NSP sticker on it.

Anonymous said...

that wasn't me a$$hole.

J.P. said...

I would like to know more about this. The glass shops in Oceanside California are going to freak.

Anonymous said...

if you are so anti-mass production, why do you carry channel islands who "sold out" to surftech a long time ago and was just aquired by Burton(by no means a local company)? Just because you are selling hand shaped CI boards does not mean that you are supporting the local shaper. if mass production becomes the standard in the surf industry, what companies do you think will dissappear? lost? channel islands? hardly.... there are plenty of small "local" east coast board companies you could be selling that are much closer to home.... Regardless, If people do take your advice and decide to buy from a local shaper they would be better off buying direct from the shaper - that way the shaper makes more money as he does not have to pay the shop fees to carry his product and the consumer does not pay an extra 200$ that the surf shop usually adds as a mark-up. It seems to me that the future of the surf shop is the pop-out. If people did what is best for the shaper they would buy direct from him/her and leave the retail priced mass-production boards to the shops.

Anonymous said...

You do not know what you are talking about anon. sorry.

Anonymous said...

By that I mean your facts are wrong. Good luck with everything.

Anonymous said...

$200 mark up???? WTF Hardly!!! Boards are the lowest profit margin item in a surf shop. Clothing, watches, sandals, etc. That's your profit margin items.

Anonymous said...

Wait let me clarify....hand made boards are the lowest mark up item. A mass produced board with the reduced production cost allows for a larger profit margin.

Anonymous said...

shapers would go out of business if it wasn't for shops - and does anyone really perfer to ride a pop out over a custom board - all the backoffice bull aside - its a pop out that doesn't even come in your size - so how do you even argue that?

Anonymous said...

recently bought 2 boards from a well known northern fl shaper under 700 total. local shops had the same boards, not custom, at around 500 a piece.

Anonymous said...

what if firewire can make custom boards like they predict on their website closer to the end of 2008? will those still be popouts? ive seen a lot of respectable surfers riding them and they seem to be better than surftech. any thoughts?

Anonymous said...

thinking is not part of this blog.

Anonymous said...

"recently bought 2 boards from a well known northern fl shaper under 700 total. local shops had the same boards, not custom, at around 500 a piece."


The missing information from this is crucial, though. How much does that shaper sell his boards to the shop for?

Keep in mind, shops...unless they're really struggling have a better budget to spen on boards than you or I (normally). So without knowing how much he sells his boards wholesale to the shop for, you don't know the actual mark up.

Plus, he may have cut you a "bro" deal for buying two boards he wanted to move. Or, did you custom order them?

Anonymous said...

custom ordered and made in 2 weeks - an amazing deal. he claims that he sells the board to the shops for the same he sells to his direct customers. these boards would have cost a fortune in a shop - both were close to 7'.

Anonymous said...

How can shops have same boards if you ordered custom?!?!

Anonymous said...

maybe he should have said "similar" boards. Of course they're not going to be the "same" if he ordered them custom. Anyone who is actually SHAPING boards in the quasi-traditional sense CAN make a custom board and CAN sell it to a customer for the same price they "sell" it to an established shop for. You make the shop money, by buying it there, but the shop also makes money by selling it. Not a real hard situation to get a grasp on. If a shop decides not to sell a local shaper's product because they can't sell local shaper's board for as much as "hyped up" CA shaper's board, then thats another can of worms altogether, but the bottom line is...surf shops don't make a lot of money off of anyone's boards, but they do make something, and yes you can (more than likely) buy a board, for less money, directly from the shaper.

Now if that "Bob" would just post something, then I could really start hatin'.

I.R. said...

What is that well known Florida shaper's name? I bet the shops he sells his boards through wouldn't be too happy with him. They provide him with floor space to showcase his boards to the general public, some of whom would never see his boards otherwise, which turns into more sales for him. So your shaper backdooring boards now will end up hurting him in the long run.