A Working Theory of Trends
The following is a working theory that I have been thinking about a lot lately, and needed to write down…
A trend is simply something that seems normal in the moment, but would seem incredibly strange at any other time or in any other cultural context.
Run this theory through whatever trends come to mind: design aesthetics, fashion, slang, social behavior, music…
People who are “in” on a trend carry an aura of “I know something that you don’t know” which is pretty much the basis of a trend—and also why trends are constantly changing. If you want to express that you know something the rest of the world hasn’t caught up to yet, you’re perpetually on the move.
In many instances trends are fairly innocuous, we can look back at old photos and chuckle about the way we used to dress (that felt entirely normal at the time) or laugh about the music we used to listen to before our tastes changed.
A catalog came across my desk yesterday from a brand I respect and I couldn’t believe how incredibly silly the clothes looked. While this might be a perfectly fair representation of the current cultural moment in fashion, everything I was looking at on the pages struck me as being nearly unwearable at any other time in history (including, probably, 12 months from now). Call me a pragmatist or old fashioned, but quality and function will always endure.
The word I have always preferred our work to aspire to is TIMELESS.
This is likely because in the early days of building surfboards, I was heavily inspired & fascinated by the board builders of the 1960’s—and it made sense to me to want to modernize some of the charm and craftsmanship of that era.
It also occurred to me that If I was riding and studying boards from 60 years ago, it followed that the surfboards we are building should be designed to look good, function well, and be worth caring for 60+ years from now.
That’s been our goal for the past 15 years—to create surfboards that remain useful, cherished, and beautiful for decades.
In short, timeless surfboards built in the USA.
What's Next?
