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Zachary Petersen
Professor Edward Park
FFYS 1000-27
12 October 2015
Has Globalization Rode Too Far Into the Surf Industry?
The modern surfboard building industry was started in a backyard by a couple of friends, trying create a foam based surfboard to make something they could have more fun on in the ocean. They created an amazing product, proceeded to make boards for their friends, and later teach their friends to make surfboards. A culture was solidified and the techniques were handed down verbatim to the new board builders. The overwhelming sense of tradition and respect for the roots of the craft is strongly woven into the every individual in todays industry (prior to the start of Asian manufacturing of surfboard “pop-outs”). For these reasons amongst others, the board building industry is different than most other industries and does not follow normal patterns of globalization. The advancements in technology over the years, opportunities for cheaper labor and alternate materials have not changed the way the industry operates. Even with the addition of technology and manufacturing procedures, the fundamentals of how a board is made has not changed since it was first made in the late 50s. The industry is very exclusive, but not closed. There has been no opposition to globalization; globalization has kept the industry progressing forward. Most master shapers (people who sculpt the surfboard) and glassers (people who do the fiberglass sealing) take on apprentices to further spread the craft. Not only do they spread knowledge of board building but also the traditions and values surfers that surfboard builders share and abide by. The process started in a small town in Southern California has been

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shared globally through the decades. The advancement of surfboard design and application of new technology to traditional methods was a direct result of thousands of shapers and glassers working in the same way across the globe and sharing their information with all other producers.
The difference came in the 2000s when the industry, which operated the same way for 5 decades, was shaken up by a new producer who blitzed the market with boards constructed differently than boards have been in the past.
Surfing was born in Polynesia in the late 18th century when Polynesians carved tree trunks into surfboards. This sport stayed in Polynesia for many years. After Europeans settled in
Polynesia, Polynesians were put to work and surfing took the back seat until the 20th century when it was revived and spread to Australia and America. Although surfing became very popular in California, surfing saw little innovation. After 300 years, people were still riding giant hunks of wood. It wasn't until the 1950s that the “real” surfboard was invented.
The people who make the surfboards (shapers) have honed their craft over the past years prior to the 1950s by shaping balsa wood surfboards. Wanting a lighter and better preforming board, two men named Hobie Alter and Gordon Clark figured out how to make a polyurethane foam “blank” to shape into a surfboard then seal with fiberglass. The modern surfboard was born in 1957 in Laguna Beach, California. With their surfing knowledge and expert craftsmanship, they developed shaping and glassing methods to construct the highly functional surfboard people recognize today. Because the technology was so new and foreign, surfboard construction stayed in Southern California. Overtime, the man who invented the surfboard blank created an empire and supplied almost every shaper with surfboard blanks. The craftsmen taught young apprentices how to shape and glass surfboards. Soon many surf companies blossomed in Southern

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California. Modern surfboard construction mainly stayed in California until a couple of
Australian surfers came to America and saw the new surfboard and its performance abilities.
After attempting to replicate the design, California shapers started teaching Australians how to shape and glass the new type of surfboard. Slowly the production of surfboards spread outward as people taught new apprentices the craft their predecessors spent years teaching them. Every shaper, to this day, uses the same techniques and time honored traditions to hand shape a surfboard as those used in the 50s/60s. Because of the way the industry workers operate, it formed a tight knit group that practiced the same craft and developed and applied theories collectively to produce more and more functional surfboards.
The creation of a functional surfboard is very difficult. Surfboards went much farther beyond hydrodynamics. Anyone with basic knowledge or an education in hydrodynamics can tell you how water will interact with a surfboard; what science can’t determine is how the surfboard interacts with a surfer, and that is what makes a good surfboard. The only change to shaping was the introduction of the CNC machine. Shapers, starting in the 90s, would create a board and replicate it using a Computer Aided Design system that the CNC machine could roughly cut out the surfboard then the shaper would then finish by hand. This was to be able to replicate a design perfectly every time.
Surfboard building had became globalized. Everywhere in the world there was waves, there were board builders. Even with thousands of board builders operating independently across the globe, everyone applied the same process passed on by the masters. The tradition that board builders were apart of was something everyone was proud of. It set up a dynamic within the industry nonexistent in most other industries. How every shaper or glasser learned or came to be

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can be directly traced back to the board builders in Laguna Beach, California in the beginning.
Southern California still remains the dominant area for surfboard production. Regardless of how globalized surfboard building had become, it has remained a very intimate industry.
By the early 2000s, surfing was everywhere and the industry was still operating in its traditional way. Gordon Clark’s surfboard blank company supplied 90% of American shapers and just over 60% of the world’s shapers with blanks (Finnegan). Surfboards cost between $200$400 to produce. Most boards were available for purchase in surf shops or directly through the company for $450-$900. Clark was using harmful chemicals and unsafe manufacturing equipment. When he was under investigation by the government, without warning, he shut down his company and destroyed all his research and equipment. No other producer else knew how to produce a blank of his quality or in those quantities. The industry went into chaos. Shapers scrambled to find blanks to create surfboards with, prices skyrocketed. Customers flocked to shops to buy the last of boards that (“Clark Foam”). Clark Foam’s closure marked a turning point in the industry.
Talks of outsourcing production to Asian factories were in the air; because of the traditional values held by the industry, mass production in China was never considered before. A nameless shaper, in direct result of Clark Foam’s closing, went to China to seek out fiberglass manufacturing. Using CNC machines and untrained workers, he started producing and importing very poor quality surfboards. The Chinese were incapable of producing a board of the same quality as the master board builders but they did for hundreds of dollars less. Board builders quickly picked up Clark Foam’s slack and returned to board building as normal. Word of cheap manufacturing was out and China’s door was wide open. Entrepreneurs previously uninvolved

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with the industry jumped on the idea of producing surfboards for much less and undercutting the craftsmen who’ve dominated the industry since 1961. Cheap and poorly made surfboards flooded the markets. Although they were poorly made, the ability to buy a board for up to $600 less made many people buy them. The Asian pop-out surfboards were being produced by companies not previously involved with the industry. Then, older, legendary craftsman, hit hard times in the next couple years and saw the opportunity to make quick money. With their brand name already internationally recognized, big names started selling imported pop-outs by the container full. Now with the cheap, poor quality boards everywhere, the traditional craftsmen quickly started feeling the side affects.
The “weaker” surfboard companies gave in and started production in China to remain competitive but sacrificed quality and their brand name. The demand for domestic surfboards plummeted. A producer could have a board fabricated in China for less than the raw materials cost if bought domestically. Everyone in the industry who stayed true to the traditions instilled by the generations before lost a lot of money. The glassers’ wages were cut the most in efforts to lower board prices and compete with the pop-outs. After the flood of imported boards, glassers were making only a few dollars more than they were in the 1990s (Naylor). People who spent their entire life mastering the craft of board building were stuck. Most surfboard building companies are located in popular, affluent areas on the coast. With the decline in wages, many workers couldn’t afford to live where their work was. When workers started not being able to afford to live there, they left the cities and their livelihoods to look for a different work. Soon after Asian pop-outs found their way onto shelves of many surf shops, the majority of boards bought were manufactured in Asian factories (Surf Industry Manufacturing Association). The

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domestic surf industry lost the entire beginner market because people just starting out did not care about performance and wanted the cheapest possible product. But board builders marched on, producing quality surfboards in the same manner handed down through the years. Big companies, little guys, small talk in the ocean and “propaganda” (stickers, hats, shirts, towels) started spreading messages denouncing imported surfboards from Asia; they started trying to reclaim their market.
The factories in Asia operated with only profit in mind. Many factories were capable of producing over 100,000 surfboards a year. Surfboards still had to be hand made in the factories.
Most boards were made from a lesser quality foam and had to be finished by hand. The glassing had to be done with human laminators, sanders, etc. What would normally take around sixteen days of work to finish building a board with traditional construction, was being done in less than a day. They used fast, unskilled workers, heat to speed resin dry times
(which degrades the integrity of the board tremendously), amongst other poor fabrication practices.
The Asian factories even use automobile paint to cover

This is a picture of the laminating portion of the glassing process in a factory in
China. There is not nearly enough protection to keep the workers safe and their techniques are very poor.

up all the mistakes when finished. The methods of fiberglass fabrication are not only poor, but dangerous. The resin used is extremely toxic and has negative health affects if inhaled or left on the skin. Many other chemicals involved in the process are corrosive and combustable. There is little safety precautions taken in the factories in Asia and the methods of disposal of their waste

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harms the environment. The traditional glassers who’ve been apart of the industry wear protective shoes, clothing, gloves, respirators, eye protection, etc. In efforts to crank up production, Asian factories overlook crucial health and safety hazards.
When glassing a surfboard, the fiberglass and resin must be applied in such a way to ensure the optimal performance. This is done by the glassers who took years to master the very specific ways to do this. In Asia, that wasn't even considered. Anyone who’s at least decent at surfing recognized the blatant lack in quality. People who care about their surfing, knew the industry or culture continued to support traditional board builders. The Asian pop-outs were bought by beginners or people who could not afford a traditionally constructed surfboard, but that was a massive portion of the market.
Many major surfcraft manufacturing factories have been begging the large surfboard
Here is a picture of a board a master glasser, located in Huntington Beach,
CA that is in the middle of being constructed. Even mid-construction, the craftsmanship and quality is easily observed. companies to move production to Asia. I personally know the owner of one of the largest surfboard companies in the world. I spent the last two years of my life in a

factory pushing out 80-100 surfboards of his a week. Even that wasn't close to enough to keep up with his demand. The factory I worked for was one of the dozens he uses. His name is Matt
Biolos and he owns “…Lost Surfboards.” He grew up in San Clemente, California and was brought into the industry the same way everyone else was…introduced to shaping from master shapers and taught the craft. He produces tens of thousands of boards per year and every single

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board is made in America. He could easily open his own factory in Asia and pump out much more surfboards at a fraction of the cost. However, he has strived to keep jobs local and stay true to what he was taught when he was a young kid learning the craft. If you walk around his warehouse or in his office or even look at the murals painted on the side of factories, you’ll see a handful of different stickers and posters, etc. with the words “F*CK YOUR CHINA MADE
SURFBOARD” in big, bold letters. Its become a stigma in the industry to be involved with the production of surfboards in Asian factories. Since the increase in Asian surfboards in the local market, we’ve been working more and making less. We skip out on surfing or personal events because the tradition we had the honor to be taught pushes us to fight for our industry and our passion board building. As companies like “…Lost” gain momentum and our custom surfboards continue to improve, the local market is slowly realizing the difference between the pop-outs coming in on boats and the time tested tradition of board builders like me, Matt, Chato, Greg or anyone else who spends 14 hours a day in the ally, slaving away to improve our communities’ and customers’ experience in the water.
Some traditional surfboard companies have noticed the lack of regulations in Asia and have used it to their advantage. In America, the glassing portion of board building is very regulated and limited. A surfboard company called Haydenshapes have set up a factory in
Thailand that uses much more advanced resins and materials not approved by the United States or Australia (where they are based out of). That allows Hayden Shapes to produce a quality surfboard that that utilizes high-preforming materials. Haydenshapes developed their own factory and brought traditional shapers and glassers to manufacture the surfboards, they did not use manufacturing practices of the Asia pop-out production, just the land. Although that aspect of

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globalization has allowed for a higher quality board to be produced, the materials used in their factories in Thailand are very bad for the environment and there is no way of disposing of the waste safely, so the local environment in Thailand is being severely polluted by Haydenshapes large scale international production.

Globalization has played a huge part in the growing and developing the board building industry. What was once confined to a small area, is now operated on a global scale. Surfboard design has undergone tremendous changes in such short amounts of time because of the global producers share their design advancements openly. The game changed when Clark Foam went out of business. In a news report, the author states that, the demise of Clark Foam “provided a beachhead for mass producers from Asia to muscle in on industry and business model that had not changed much for several decades,” (Rizzo). The surfboards produced in Asian factories are poor quality and saturate a market that has always been dominated by traditional board builders.
All producers were operating the same producing the same quality product for generally the same price. Obviously some board builders made better boards, some did not but it was as close to perfect competition as possible. The industry changed very fast when the Asian imported entered the market and left the producers clueless as to how to combat the new competition.
Since traditional board builders have been in perfect competition with each other, no one could continue producing the same product and price it at a low enough price to compete with the
Asian imports. The quirky surfboard building industry (minus Asian pop-outs) all stems from a common background and shares values, which is why the industry took such a hit when Asia got involved, most would not stoop to producing lower quality products. Even though the Asian

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manufactured surfboards make up a large portion of the market share, there are only a few companies who produce the boards in Asia compared to the amount of traditional board builders.
There are still thousands of board builders did not stray from their traditional practices. The market available to them has just been reduced significantly.
Since the shift in the surfboard market was so rapid, effects of the new competition were felt very fast. Paul A. Samuelson claims while discussing affects of imports in America and free trade, “Since the U.S. labor has lost its old monopoly on American advanced know-how and capital, free trade could indeed lower the share of wages in the U.S. gross domestic product and overall inequality,” (qtd. Chanda 289-291). When the trade gates opened up to the surfboards coming from Asia, the wages of workers were quickly reduced when traditional producers tried to compete with the outrageously low prices. Also, for American surfboard builders, there are usually tariffs between 20%-25% on surfboards coming into foreign nations like Japan, Europe and Australian put in place specifically to protect the domestic board builders (Boehne, PBS).
America does not impose any tax so it makes the competition with Asian manufacturers even tough. Chanda continues to write, “The fact that Chinese workers were ready to work for wages thirty times less than the american average raise the specter of plummeting U.S. wages and the mass transfer of manufacturing jobs to the world’s factory, China,” (Chanda 298). When the
Asian companies saw their opportunity to delve into what was a very exclusive, very big, industry some traditional surfboard manufactures realized how much cheaper it was to manufacture surfboards in Asian factories. Those surfboard manufactures who’ve stuck to traditional board building in the past moved production to Asia which further more increased demand for board building jobs back home. It is amazing how many producers have stuck to the

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traditional building practices despite the easy opportunity for increased profit. That willingness to stick to the traditional practices and maintain the craft many held sacred is what makes the surfboard building industry so unique. It has allowed surfboard design to continue forward.
However, with more Asian competition, workers are continuing to loose their jobs. It’s feared that the aggressive Asian competition will eventually eradicate the traditional, advanced board builders. They are the ones using their vast knowledge and craftsmanship passed through generations to push the progression of surfcraft design. If workers continue to loose their jobs as a result of Asian manufacturing, the industry will hit a stand still.
Even though the surfboard building industry has seen incredible technological advancements, the core methods of production have remained untouched. One affect of globalization often overlooked because of the precedent issue of cheap Asian imports is the small job lose due to the CNC machine. Chanda refers to the political economist, David Rothkoph,
“(lost jobs are) ‘outsourced to the to the past.’ They are eliminated because a new technology comes along, not because a foreigner grabs the job.” (qtd. Chanda 296). The CNC has allowed shapers to design a board and use a CAD system to alter the board, create new ones, etc. The
CNC machine can cut it out of a roughly blank perfectly. After the CNC, there only is about 20 minutes of sanding to be done until it is ready for the glasser. This has eliminated the need for many shapers and actually reduced the amount of skill needed to make a surfboard. Many large companies use the CNC but there is also many that do not stray from hand shaping surfboards.
The industry is so deeply rooted in the traditions and values handed down from generation to generation, even technological advancements are resistantly used because it strays too far from proper way surfboards should be created. Even with a CNC, a shaper is still needed to design and

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finish the board. From there, the glassing process is the same. The effect of the CNC has not result in a large number of job loss but it has increased productivity allowing large companies to more readily stock surf shops with their domestically produced surfboards.

Chanda writes, “business exploited poor-nation workers in sweatshop conditions and denied them basic workers’ rights,” (Chanda 287). The practices of the factories in Asia are incredibly poor. The health of the workers and people living close to the factory is jeopardized.
The lack of skin protection and especially respiratory protection when working with polyurethane dust and chemicals is known to greatly increase risks of health problems. He also elaborates, “(companies) wreak havoc on the global environment by moving operations where environmental regulations are weak or nonexistent,” (284). The factories in Asia do not use proper ventilation when working or dispose of waste properly. It is also seen that the larger surfboard building companies, even though they may not hesitate to outsource production to sub par Asian factories, they won’t hesitate to take advantage of the lack of environmental restrictions, like Haydenshapes did.
The Asian factories are incapable of producing a quality surfboard not only because they do not have as high of quality materials to work with, but they do not know how to use proper techniques. “The old issue of globalization has pitted the holders of exclusive products or technology against the rest who don't have them…enormous sums of money will flow from the developing world to developed countries to compensate them for access to the fruits of research,” (Chanda 288). Since most of the traditional producers in the industry outright despise the mass production and importation of surfboards from Asia, the advanced techniques of our

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trade are kept from asian mass-producers. Many professional craftsmen have been offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend time teaching Asian manufacturers how to build surfboards properly. For the most part, they've declined but there are a hand full of less popular board builders who have gone to give them a generalized crash course in the subject. Regardless of the educational efforts, the factories still cannot produce a quality surfboard and resort back to cheap foam and car paint to dress the board up.
The surfboard building industry has seen much positive growth on a global scale through the years. For the most part, it contains a unique group of individuals, all operating on the values and practices of the first surfboard builders in the 50s and 60s. For the individuals within the industry that share the same background (nearly everyone), the industry is more of a community than a cut throat, competitive industry. It is truly unique that there are so many people building quality products the same way, selling them for similar prices, and practicing the same time honored traditions. The abrupt appearance of boards poorly produced in Asia is a direct reason why the board building industry hit such hard times; it gives us a common enemy that we unite as board builders to keep our craft alive in the face of foreign, big business. Globalization is what has built up the surf industry to the empire it is; however, the manufacturing being outsourced to unorthodox, unsafe, poor-quality factories in Asia is where globalization has stopped being helpful and is destroying the industry. The undeniable room to profit off the surf industry is what makes cheap imports seem like a good business venture, but what the unattached business owners do not realize is while their are building a new market with their pop-outs, they are taking away from a market belonging to incredibly skilled craftsmen for decades. Not only is their blind, aggressive business practices make competition near impossible but also hinders the

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development of surf craft. There is no innovation coming from their factories. If their products put the real surfboard builders out of business, eventually they will run out of types of boards to produce. Traditional surfboard builders are necessary to carry surfing trends and meet the ever changing demands. Perhaps if the businessmen sold their cheap pop-outs at a price that would not throw off the market or did not invade the market at such a difficult time in the industry’s past, the board building industry would accept another producer more openly, despite how different their methods are. As the industry continues to advance with new board design and manufacturing in Asia gets improved, perhaps the Asian producers could play a crucial roll in the progression of the industry, given their production capabilities. For now though, the global spread of the board building industry to Asian mass-producers has done nothing but wreak havoc on the industry, create turmoil, unemployment and taken away from the profits of truly hard working people dedicated to their craft.

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Works Cited
Boehne, Steve, Brent Pascoe, and Anthony Vela. "Is Globalization Wiping Out the American
Surfboard Industry?" Interview by Paul Solman. PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
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"Clark Foam." Encyclopedia Of Surfing. Surfshop.com, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Earnest, Leslie. "Production of Surfboards Overseas Expected to Swell." Los Angeles Times. Los
Angeles Times, 08 Dec. 2005. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Instagram. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Kvinta, Paul. "Surfonomics 101." Fortune. Fortune, 05 June 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Murray, Brendan. "Paradise Lost for Aussie Surfboard Makers Amid China Imports."
Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 5 Jan. 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
Murray, Brendan. "Paradise Lost for Aussie Surfboard Makers Amid China Imports."
Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Rizzo, Patrick. "U.S. Surfboard Makers Thrive in Choppy Waters." Msnbc.com. NBC News, 05
Aug. 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.