Not Surf Shops
Hitting the lip will make you a star at the mall.
Tilly’s is a parasitic pseudo surf themed store that opens up near long established existing surf shops and then undercuts their prices. Tilly’s does not sell surfboards or wetsuits, just surf themed fashion that you can purchase so chicks will think you surf.
At least Sun Diego has surfboards, but who wants to buy a board at the Carlsbad outlet mall? (notice Borg like stucco architecture that plagues southern California. This is miles away from the previous Tilly’s photo).
Ambercrombie’s Hollister store at UTC in San Diego. Look away, run for your life.
warm jet
December 28, 2006A shame to say it but the Pattagonia store is right there in design with Abercrombie.
Their saving grace(mabe) is the enviromental good they shoot for!
How does it change?
I suppose surfing has to go full outlaw. (That probably would be marketed as well. Just look at the high fashion of gansta shit and prison garb)
Gotta make surfing uncool, for geeks.
Anonymous
December 28, 2006What’s sad is the Blue Room at the mall has some gorgeous boards (Hobies, Bings, Tudors), but there is no way I could buy and carry one through the mall…
Hollister got sued for using the artwork on a board that they replicated for all their stores (hooray!)
http://www.surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/havassylawsuit/
Anonymous
December 28, 2006http://www.surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/havassylawsuit/
Anonymous
December 28, 2006havassylawsuit/
Eric
December 28, 2006Hollister, Tilly’s, Sun Diego, Jacks, Hansens, Patagonia in Cardiff…
Surf-fashion boutiques.
Blech.
Anonymous
December 28, 2006I could be wrong, but I don’t think Patagonia is trying to make any claims that they opened a core surf shop. It is focused on the surf element related to their company culture. I applaud them for the shop. What they have done is something different. To pair them with these other poser shops is a mistake. Patagonia and a great core shop like Mitch’s are apples/oranges if you ask me. They are both a valid component of our surf spectrum. The Malloys, Devon Howard, icons like Lopez and the Campbells— I don’t think you could put these people into the mix with art/design by people like Geoff McFetridge and compare them to the bullshit that the mall shops propagate. Don’t forget, Patagonia is a clothing company with a strong tie to surfing and surf culture. What they are doing for our culture is very positive. I think one of the saddest parts of the surf life is how closed-minded so many of us are. Knee-jerk reactionary responses are easy, but openness to new ideas is progress.
Eric
December 28, 2006I like Patagonia stuff, applaud their environmental efforts and commitment to quality, and own quite a bit of their products.
But that store is a boutique.
Anonymous
December 28, 2006I applaude them as well.
The store could be better.
It is a boutiQue!!
I hope they survive
I guess it’s personal preferance.
The look is 21st century mall.
The other ideas are great.
Anonymous
December 28, 2006Just so it has been said retail is one of the largest employers in southern California.if you don’t like what they sell don’t shop there but you need to respect the tax and employement benefits these establishments provide
Anonymous
December 28, 2006I’ve seen a few Moonlight glassed CI boards in the Sun Diego at Fashion Valley Mall.
My only beef with Patagonia is their way overpriced and a full on yuppie brand. They made a massive fortune on selling plastic pull-overs over the years.
Count Laszlo
December 29, 2006They”ve taken our lifestyle and marketed it into meanless mulch.. Resist.
Anonymous
December 29, 2006Yes, Patagonia is expensive. You also have to look at some hard facts related to their production. Much of their clothing contains low-impact, recycled, or organic fibers. Organic cotton alone is way more expensive to produce and a HELL of a lot nicer to the environment. And the company has given a ton of money to good causes. If any of you spend time in the water you should be all for a company that has your/our best interest in mind. You don’t have to buy anything from them, ever. But to badmouth them without a real sense of what they’re doing is pointless. Do your research, come back, and then state your case.
On a side note, why are all of the biggest critics the absolute worst with spelling and grammar? I mean, simple mistakes that are obvious. Could it be that they react/speak too quickly?
Anonymous
December 29, 2006Hey Count, do you really think of surfing as a lifestyle? So, would you call it the “surfing lifestyle?” I guess you live the “surfing lifestyle.” Sounds like something you’d buy at the mall.
Anonymous
December 29, 2006So is Patagonia a surfshop or another corporate entity trying add a new line with the “surfer lifestyle”?
Yvon C. has publicy stated that his offerings from Patagonia has had a detrimental impact on its origins in climbing.
Good marketing idea, every baby boomer that makes over $150K a year knows Patagonia, looks like they liked the Quicksilver Silver idea and decided they want in.
Rather see the money go to Pat instead of money going to Tommy Bahama or another Indes Trader boat that shuffles around surf industry holier than thou types which get written off at year end at the tax payers expense.
Where’s the cussing emocaon?
surfnli
December 29, 2006funny how most of these comments are anonymous…
what’s meant by surf boutique anyhow? never been to the patagonia store but seems ludicrous to lump them with pacsun etc. since when are mass market surf clothing stores boutiques?
wonder if any of y’all have ever been to oz? their surf industry seems to have been divided into board shops and surf clothing stores for ages…think surfection. high fashion for anyone is ‘surf fashion’ (ugh, what a term!)…the same sort of ugly crazy print t-shirts and pinlined pants and faux-hawks and whatnot that have recently become popular here were all the rage throughout the mainstream male population when i was there…three, four years ago now?
i dislike surfers that dress like surfers, haha…
Above the City
December 29, 2006It is hilarious and sickening to walk though those stores. But oh well, I just don’t.
Hate, hate, hate the SoCal stucco.
Count Laszlo
December 29, 2006Hey Anonymous # 42;
“Hey Count, do you really think of surfing as a lifestyle? So, would you call it the “surfing lifestyle?” I guess you live the “surfing lifestyle.” Sounds like something you’d buy at the mall.”
1st check what “lifestlye” means:
” a manner of living that refelects the person’s values and attitudes.”
Givin that, I’m proud to say I’ve been living the surfing lifestyle for longer than you’ve been alive and it has never nor will it ever have anything to do with a mall.
“Mall Rat: One who has problems with the word lifestyle”
Anonymous
December 30, 2006Laslo made popcorn
Anonymous
January 2, 2007C’mon – did no one notice Hollister has been making thrusters since 1922????
Anonymous
January 2, 2007hmmm gotta love those anonymous posts — betcha this guy has passed through your doors jp —
does aligning(i.e. paying) with greats make them a core shop?
LTD
January 6, 2007I blame guys like Kooksilver’s Bob McKnight for the current level of commercialism. Im not going to fault someone for trying to make a living off of surfing, and some have really done it properly. But why jam it down every possible throat? I consider myself extremely lucky to be old enough to remember “the before time” when suring was an underground pursuit, and those who surfed did so for very personal reasons, not because it was the cool thing to do.