Boardsport Source, Issue 88, FallWinter 17
HELLO #88
A real mixed bag of trading conditions took hold this summer, from the record breaking heat waves of August, the continuing refugee crisis in Italy through to the ongoing Brexit saga, European boardsport retailers are, now more than ever before, having to make hay while the sun shines.
Finding one single topic for this issue’s editorial was a tough one, and also a sign of the times. There’s no main trend sweeping through European boardsports, everything is becoming more and more fragmented, the parameters of consumer habits and interests forever blurring and adapting. And it’s plain to see just what’s led us here; the internet – breaking down barriers, supplying everyone with information (overload) and generally making the consumer much more connected. Our daily news website is a constantly evolving beast, forever needing to be fed with up to date news, and our distribution strategy is constantly being tinkered with to make our content appears in the news feeds/inboxes of our audience at a time most likely to be read. It’s something we’ve invested heavily into here at SOURCE, and it’s been an interesting and beneficial process. But it’s with this age of information overload, this glut of information, that we here at SOURCE take greater pride than ever in producing this printed magazine. Something tangible, something finite, full of information, but not too much.
This issue marks my sixth year at the magazine, and is the 34th issue I’ve had the pleasure of working on and I can safely say that producing a printed magazine every other month is the most rewarding (and stressful!) part of my job. August’s always a tough month to pull together a magazine as most people are on holiday. I hope you’ve managed to disconnect, put your phone and laptop down and enjoy a printed magazine or two.
New for this issue we take our first look at wakeboarding – a sport with strong ties to surf, snow and skate and a market, which thanks to the advent of ‘wake parks’, is seeing strong growth.
Another hot topic in boardsports right now is the rise of the ‘Wave Park’, and with many different technologies and companies looking to get in before the gold rush, Dave Mailman (former Quiksilver Europe Marketing Director, Epic TV Surf Report presenter & ASP Europe President) delivers his first in a series of articles examining just what’s on offer, how viable the business model is and what the future holds.
Always Sideways,
Harry Mitchell Thompson
Editor in Chief