As winter 22/23 draws to a close, we complete another chapter in the boardsports biz annals. A recent history that’s been plagued by one major world or economic crisis followed by another. First Covid and then the outbreak of war in Ukraine has set the tone for business in the past three years with myriad knock-on factors impacting how business is done. We saw a surge in demand, shortage in supply, clogged harbours, meteoric rises in shipping costs and now the word on everyone’s lips... overstock.
Wilco Prins sums it up perfectly in this issue’s Big Wig, “the combination of pushy sales reps, shops that based their future purchasing on unrealistic Covid sales and the late arrival of outstanding orders created the high levels of inventory in surfboards and wetsuits we see today in a lot of stores.” We also speak with new Db CEO Eric Bascle about the company’s re-the company’s re-brand, their rapidly growing staff numbers and how they’re using ambassadors and social media to foster a community approach.
