Business
Creating a niche in the world of surfing and building an empire out of it, or even just staying true to your beliefs, is a pretty amazing feat. Here, we collect some of the most inspirational business people and find out how they did it.
Steve Morpeth epitomises the Kiwi surfer’s spirit and has built an empire around it with Sticky Johnson – New Zealand’s very own wax brand. Taira Blakely catches up with Steve in the Sticky Johnson factory in Kumeu to discover how he’s built his empire. Hailing from a line of watermen,......
Bringing a new wetsuit brand into New Zealand was never going to be easy, but that didn’t deter Simon Clowes and Cian Sullivan – the duo behind C-Skins here in New Zealand. Simon jokes that he and Cian could be father and son. While there is a 25-year gap between......
While the surf industry seems to be in a slump, Backdoor’s Geoff Hutchison remains cautiously optimistic as he opens his 25th and biggest store in Dunedin. We caught up with the 60-year-old ripper and surf business guru to learn a bit about what’s going on in the surf industry right......
Very few surfers have had the weight of expectation heaped upon their shoulders quite like Taylor Hutchison. At 26, he’s come to terms with being born into a hard-working, surfing devoted family. We caught up with Taylor during one of his recent “work trips” to the Otago coastline. Back in......
Billie Scott is prodigiously talented at anything she tries. She’s a New Zealand representative in stand-up paddleboarding despite it being a sport she’s really only just started in. And her newly hatched creative business is thriving. In this interview, NZSJ’s Isaac Chadwick delves deep into her sudden career shift, health......
Dunedin surfer Jimi Crooks remembers the day well. There was a powerful swell at the Black Head quarry break. The waves were hollow and intimidating. Heavy. So heavy a lot of the young gun surfers from the area chose not to go out. It was about nine years ago. Veteran......
Out of lockdown blooms a new magazine that puts women at the centre of New Zealand surfing culture and champions their connection with the ocean. Find out how these three, in their early 30s, turned lockdown adversity into a magnetic creative surf production … and why it is here to......
With New Zealand’s competitive season coming to a close we put some tough questions to Surfing New Zealand’s Ben Kennings. Is Surfing New Zealand headed in the right direction? Are we looking after our athletes? Are we providing a pathway? Ben Kennings gives us an insight into what the off-season......
Local sunscreen brand Skinnies has partnered with Surfing New Zealand as an official supplier and with a welcome ambition to support talent development. In the freshly inked deal Skinnies will become the official sunscreen of Surfing New Zealand and support the development of emerging talent by providing the Skinnies VW......
Just last week Surfer magazine folded. Yes, the seminal work that was started by John Severson in 1960 was suddenly no longer a viable business, according to its publisher, American Media Inc. It was cast aside as easily as you might squish a sand-fly on the West Coast. No fanfare.......