The market for surf wear

Hail summer, and many sports enthusiasts head to the beautiful ocean for enjoying a myriad of water adventure activities. One such sports adventure that has gained traction is surfing, and this, in turn, has given a big boost to the market for surfwear and surf-inspired clothing. The potential for such apparel and garments has immense growth and is beginning to become a lifestyle choice for many.

Today, there are many people buying into the surfing lifestyle, even at places where there is no ocean. The surfwear industry by itself churns out sales worth more than $13 billion every year. What's more, out of the population purchasing surfing clothes, only half indulge in the sport actively. The rest are just getting wooed by what the brands make and are lured by the image and the lifestyle the surfers portray. Moreover, the popularity of long surfing boards makes learning the sport easy, and the growth of surf schools has given an impetus to the "cool" quotient, thereby pulling a large number of youths into the culture.

The staple garment and any surfing fanatic's essential is the wetsuit. It is a body-hugging outfit made up of a stretchy and rubbery synthetic pioneered by DuPont called neoprene. The wetsuit basically works on the idea that the wearer does not need to stay dry to stay warm. Another popular surfwear product is the board shorts, a swimwear product worn in warmer conditions. Technically, board shorts are long and loose-styled shorts, generally made up of materials like nylon or polyester for quick drying.

But the comfort and cool style of board shorts have found fashion fixation among communities outside the surfing enthusiasts too. Board shorts, from time to time in different colors and prints, have become a beach essential in the fashion world. The rise in the number of female surfers has given rise to surfing-inspired fashion, which includes bikinis, swimsuits, shorts, t-shirts, short onesies, and vests made up of waterproof fabrics like polyester.

Surfing-inspired collections have been seen in the past in resort runway shows of fashion designers. Tie and dye shirts, dresses, ombre t-shirts, and board shorts have been all-time favorites among teenagers. The spring-summer collections of 2014 from Mara Hoffman, Cynthia Rowley, J.Crew, and Zara showcased floral boxy crop tops, dresses, and pants along with multi-colored baggy tops and tea-length skirts.

Major brands dominating the surfwear and surf-inspired clothing market are Billabong, O'Neill, Quiksilver, Roxy, and Rip Curl. According to the Global Industry Analyst, the market for surf clothing will reach $13.2 billion by 2017. The makers of surfing equipment, the marketers, and surfing associations are trying to make the sport more approachable and are trying to roll out facilities to surf around the globe and also develop artificial surf turfs. With such expansions planned, the need and popularity of surfwear and surf-inspired fashion are bound to grow.

Until now, the target market and consumers of such garments were teenagers and people in their early twenties. But surfwear companies are now targeting young women and older markets; however, the demographics still are predominantly occupied by the former. The increase in the number of spectators of the sport and the telecast of surfing events on prime channels have also led to the popularity of the trend of surf-inspired clothing.