SIMA Boot Camp tackles women's market

Right now, Foam Magazine Editor Kristina Dechter, says surf brands have a lot of opportunity because the intersection of the sport into music, art and pop culture, is trendy right now. “I think we are here in a phase much like where grunge was to the 90s,” she said.

As for retail, Tamara Chamberlain from PacSun said the California beach lifestyle is something teen girls aspire to have across the country. She also said teen girls aren’t as loyal as to what store they will shop at, as much as they are to their own style. “Girls will shop wherever they can buy clothes that fit their style, and allow them to express themselves,” she said. She also said PacSun has had the best sell through on products from surf brands that girls expect surf brands to produce and were truly authentic to that brand.

While talking about retail, there was a discussion about the lack of girls’ surf and lifestyle imagery at core shops. Candy said she was shocked by how little female surf brand imagery exists on core retail floors these days.

They discussed the need to help core retailers freshen up stores with imagery more often. “Fast fashion stores look different every week,” said Gayle Jarrett from Volcom. “Girls want to see something different in the store every time they go there whether it is imagery that talks to the industry or new clothes,” she added.

Another suggestion that was offered was to help make stores more experiential for female customers. Shops like Mollusk Surf Shop, which has a lot of imagery and harder to find products, also offers customers books, posters and movies. “Teens want that Aha! moment and feeling of self-discovery while shopping,” added Foam’s Kristina Dechter.

The last big discussion centered on the timing of girl’s fashion product to market. There seems to be a disconnect between surf brands, trade shows and retailers in regards to which brand releases product first. Instead of trying to be the first brand out the door to show their line, they agreed they all need to focus on producing products closer to market.

Tamara Chamberlain from PacSun said it would help her if retailers like PacSun could see images of products on models, rather than cad drawings. It would help them make decisions faster, she said.

Surf Diva was one of the few retailers in the audience other than Tamara from PacSun. Co-owner Izzy Tihanyi spoke up saying brands could help core specialty shops like hers if they offered them special products and margin builders not available to the other mainstream or mall-based shops.

Women’s Pro Surfing Panel with Chris Cote of Transworld Surf, Travis Ferre from Surfing, Joel Patterson of Surfer, and Scott Paridon of Fuel TV

The final panel discussed the state of women’s surfing and the media. There was a big discussion on the ASP and disappointment expressed from the media and brands as to how it was run. Women’s heats are usually run in poor surf conditions, some events are difficult to get to, and many of the events are not marketed well. Fuel TV’s Scott Paridon said the biggest problem with the tour is that there is no title sponsor. He said there are a lot of opportunities for the tour to bring in more money so they could do a better job marketing it.

As for the endemic surf magazines, over 70% of their readers are male. There was a lot of discussion about showing more females surfing in the magazines rather than sexy photos of girls. Someone in the audience mentioned that Snowboarder Magazine has done a good job showcasing girls and guys alongside each other without calling out a gender difference.

Joel Patterson of Surfer said right now it’s “the golden generation for women’s surfing,” with girls like Carissa Moore, Stephanie Gilmore and even big wave female riders pushing the envelope more than ever. Chris Cote of Transworld said one of his challenges with including more female photos is that it’s hard to get good shots of girls right now.

“When they come in, we run it,” he said. They discussed a need for more female photographers and writers. It would also help if more brands came to them with the stories behind their athletes, rather than just the fact that they can surf well.

Lastly, the editors thought it would be a good idea for more brands to run surf trips with girls and guys at the same time and to showcase them doing other things like humanitarian efforts.

Overall, the event brought up some good discussions and questions -- ones that will not be solved in a day -- but are getting brands to talk about issues and challenges in an honest and open environment.