Haydenshapes Surfboards 2026 Preview

Retail Buyers Guide: Surfboards 2026 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Haydenshapes
Interviewee: Hayden Cox, Shaper

The latest market studies show a 25% growth in worldwide participation between 2018 and 2024? Does this translate in your sales pattern?
Having the participation continuing to grow is proving to be great for the hardware category within our industry. Our retail partners are seeing their communities grow, and we are seeing great growth across all surfboard categories from High Performance to entry level softboards. Having a full eco-system of board designs and technologies has been great for our retailers to have boards to grow with the surfing levels of their customers.

Can you share the sales ratio between stock boards, custom orders, online D2C vs brick and mortar shops?
We are doing about 80% via our Retail Partners, and 20% through DTC, but find that the DTC is only stronger in locations where the product selection is limited and customers are wanting a deeper offering with the brand. This was the main motivation to make the decision to run our own distribution in Europe, widen the product offering, have more boards available in stock, and continue to grow our retail and distribution relationships across the region.

How can we lure back the newcomers into hardboards while softboards are their go-to choice?
Surfers will naturally evolve with their level of surfing through the styles of boards and end up riding more performance designs whether they be shortboards, grovellers or mid length boards.

Which are the most sought after designs in 2026? (Mids, fish, grovelers, hi-perf, logs…)
In the Haydenshapes catalog, the Nova FutureFlex model has been our best seller for everyday fun waves, and our Darkside / DarkNoiz performance shortboards in PU construction have been really sought after.
In comparison, which designs tend to fall back?
I haven’t really seen any category of board drop in demand, it is just the evolution of the models on offer for that category, and the newer designs superseding some models that they replace. In saying that, our Hypto Krypto model still continues to be our best selling board and is continuing to grow in volume as a brand as the community of surfers grows.

Construction wise, EPS/Epoxy+carbon is gaining momentum. Do you think the fancy tech constructions are all smoke and mirrors, and PU boards won’t disappear shortly?
Technology and design of constructions have always been a big part of the Haydenshapes board lineup. We innovated the Parabolic Carbon Fiber rail surfboard, FutureFlex, back in 2007 and it is the longest standing alternative construction to PU in the market. The custom design of all the different materials that went into the FutureFlex construction have influenced many of the EPS/Carbon constructions in the market today. The feeling of riding a FutureFlex design is lively and drivey, giving you the fastest rail line flex in the market.

Organic grown and eco-blanks are available for mass production nowadays: what is your take on those?
It’s great to see these initiatives becoming more available in different areas of the world. I’m always open to testing out different materials and seeing how they feel.

Any tips for retailers trying to sort out their order sheets with more designs available than they can actually stock?
For sure, we are now stocking our best selling models, as well as different colourways, in the south of France and doing weekly deliveries across the EU region. Jamie Willems our Global Sales director is heading up our sales program so reach out to him – [email protected]

Key Products:

Nova FutureFlex:
The Nova is a high-speed small wave driver built for everyday conditions – easy to paddle, fast acceleration, and responsive underfoot. Its wider outline maintains speed through flat sections, while refined rocker and contours keep it controlled in the pocket. Designed for wave count, flow, and that electric HS feel, it delivers reliable performance across a wide range of conditions and loves the wave pool.

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Hypto Krypto FutureFlex:
The Hypto Krypto balances tradition with modern performance, earning its reputation as the ultimate one-board quiver. Designed for all skill levels, it delivers effortless speed, paddle power, and control across a wide range of conditions – from small beach breaks to overhead barrels. A versatile shape that adapts to any wave type or region.

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Darkside PU:
The Darkside squash tail is our most refined, most responsive and most highly tuned performance shortboard, built for surfers who want to push harder and surf faster. Designed for quality waves, it delivers speed, drive and controlled release, with a balanced rocker and clean contours creating fast acceleration, fluid rail-to-rail flow and a precise, connected feel underfoot.

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DarkNoiz PU:
The DarkNoiz round pin is the latest addition to the Haydenshapes performance library, combining curves and contours drawn from the Darkside and Black Noiz. Refined alongside some of the world’s leading surfers, it has been tuned to create one of our most precise, responsive and high-performance shortboards to date.

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