Not my words, copied from a review conversation about Firewire from a real surfboard legend
Firewire make cheap shitty boards in Thailand , and then put their stock on consignment in all shops world wide.....consignment, not sales.....this has ruined the surfboard commercial world as we know it!
Kelly has had the most negative affect, of any single person in History , in fucking the Shapers/surfers/designers all the way down to the future of all surfboard makers....as his shitty boards have no succession/shaper/designer future plan/career for young up and coming surfers who have a passion for design /surfboard making.
For the surfboard industry, Kelly was/is and will be the malevolent evil that brought a cottage industry to it's knees......he uses Mark Price as his hitman and buffer between him and the worlds most unsustainable surfboards, so that for a few extra $'s Kelly is richer......but there is no-one in surfing that has disrespected shaper/designers/surfboard makers than Kelly.......a parasite on surfing , yeah!!!
Will someone really ask me what I really think?
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Yes there are shapers who are doing fine as they have new , more better designs , the innovative ones, but when I talk to the Blank makers/glass shops and shapers the last 6 mths has seen sales fall off a cliff.......
The problem is Firewire make their boards really cheap , sell them really expensive and fill stores( as the ask for at least 40% of floor space) with their product so a couple of the other brands have to do the same ......consignment is a very unhealthy business principle.
The good news is that a lot of shapers like myself have created a much smaller business model, do not wholesale , only do direct sales , and don't need to do as many boards.
The downside to being creative/innovative is boards are extremely expensive as there is much smaller supply ,and demand is up. This is when we get to a point and only rich people can afford the boards , so that becomes available in retail store is just Pop outs.....so people just get used to mediocrity, which in turn has stifled career paths for youger people who want to shape and glass.
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any shaper in their mid 30's is barely getting started........it's people like Kelly who try to suck the soul out of us surfer/designer/shapers , by exterminating and brazenly smashing any and all commercial relationships with retail we have built over the last couple of decades/
Kelly Slater/Mark Price/Firewire the anti-Christ of the Surfboard Industry!
Firewire make cheap shitty boards in Thailand , and then put their stock on consignment in all shops world wide.....consignment, not sales.....this has ruined the surfboard commercial world as we know it!
Kelly has had the most negative affect, of any single person in History , in fucking the Shapers/surfers/designers all the way down to the future of all surfboard makers....as his shitty boards have no succession/shaper/designer future plan/career for young up and coming surfers who have a passion for design /surfboard making.
For the surfboard industry, Kelly was/is and will be the malevolent evil that brought a cottage industry to it's knees......he uses Mark Price as his hitman and buffer between him and the worlds most unsustainable surfboards, so that for a few extra $'s Kelly is richer......but there is no-one in surfing that has disrespected shaper/designers/surfboard makers than Kelly.......a parasite on surfing , yeah!!!
Will someone really ask me what I really think?
----------------------------------
Yes there are shapers who are doing fine as they have new , more better designs , the innovative ones, but when I talk to the Blank makers/glass shops and shapers the last 6 mths has seen sales fall off a cliff.......
The problem is Firewire make their boards really cheap , sell them really expensive and fill stores( as the ask for at least 40% of floor space) with their product so a couple of the other brands have to do the same ......consignment is a very unhealthy business principle.
The good news is that a lot of shapers like myself have created a much smaller business model, do not wholesale , only do direct sales , and don't need to do as many boards.
The downside to being creative/innovative is boards are extremely expensive as there is much smaller supply ,and demand is up. This is when we get to a point and only rich people can afford the boards , so that becomes available in retail store is just Pop outs.....so people just get used to mediocrity, which in turn has stifled career paths for youger people who want to shape and glass.
----------------------------------------------------
any shaper in their mid 30's is barely getting started........it's people like Kelly who try to suck the soul out of us surfer/designer/shapers , by exterminating and brazenly smashing any and all commercial relationships with retail we have built over the last couple of decades/
Kelly Slater/Mark Price/Firewire the anti-Christ of the Surfboard Industry!