retail buyer’s guide
RETAIL BUYER’S GUIDE
B OA R D S H O RT S S S 21
Photo Hurley
At the time of writing this edition of Boardsport SOURCE, a heatwave is sweeping across Europe, an increasingly common occurrence in recent years. In fact the climate is an “opportunity” for the boardshort category but one that’s not about unscrupulously exploiting the planet as it burns. A peek at 2021 collections by David Bianic.
The English expression “the elephant in the room” depicts issues that we can all see but no one dares to confront. In this case, the boardshort category is somewhat biased in the sense that “shorts for boards” only represents a marginal proportion of overall bathing shorts sales. “The demand for technical boardshorts
“The demand for technical boardshorts is always slightly lower that the one for our wide range of walk shorts and beach shorts”. Joffrey Delfgaauw, Design Manager at O’Neill is always slightly lower that the one for our wide range of walk shorts and beach shorts”, confirms Joffrey Delfgaauw, Design Manager at O’Neill Europe. At Rhythm, Marie Azam also asserts that 51
“beachshorts are enjoying big success and sales are increasing more in this category than in fixed waist boardshorts.” Amongst these bathing short sub categories, beachshorts are losing ground to the benefit of volley shorts, explains Tom Purbrick, Global Design Director at Quiksilver and this is the consequence of a more general trend from the wider public textiles industry for versatile shorts with elastic waists and drawstrings. Behind this trend hides a desire for multi-use shorts, as embodied by Dewerstone’s Life Shorts, shorts that are “built to be the short that you travel in, the short you train in, the same short you dive in, surf in, climb in, adventure in, live day to day in”, assures the brand’s founder Rory Atton. It’s not surprising then that the beachshort is also gaining ground from the walkshort or bermuda, getting away from the beach and invading all corners, outdoor to urban.
