Wednesday 28th March 2012 saw Australia’s Surf Industry celebrate in style at the gala Surf Industry Awards dinner held at Sydney’s Novotel Manly Pacific. Hosted by Australia’s Surf Retailers Federation the Awards night was held on a picture perfect autumn evening overlooking Australia’s spiritual home of Surfing, Manly Beach. The awards celebrated the Australian surf industry’s best Product, Brands and Retailers and were hailed an overwhelming success.
“There were a lot of memorable moments throughout the night, the big ones were naturally the Brand of the Year awards with Hurley taking out the coveted Mens Brand of the Year, Rusty winning the Ladies Brand of the Year and Havainas the Footwear Brand of the Year” enthused Surf Retailers Federation President, Anthony Wilson “a really special moment was Billabong’s Andrew Flitton receiving a standing ovation as he collected both Mens and Ladies Marketing Campaign Awards”
Bragging rights were settled with a tag team surfing event held barely an hour before the Awards night kicked off. Western Australia Retailer Ian Macpherson dominated with the highest score leading his “Retail Allstars” team to victory over the “Brands United” team.
Quiksilver took out the judged category for Online Channel Brand of the Year and the hotly contested Sales Rep of the Year went to an excited James Lanyon from Volcom Victoria while the Sales Office of the Year went to the team at Billabong New South Wales office.
Product awards saw Ocean & Earth win the Product Innovation of the Year with their ONE Piece Leash and Go Pro pick up the Surfing Accessory of the Year award. Hurley took out the coveted Boardshort of the Year, Rip Curl dominated the Wetsuit of the Year and Channel Island’s “Fred Rubble” model, which Kelly Slater rode to a World Title last Year, was crowned Surfboard of the Year.
“What a fantastic night to bring our industry together, we are really honoured winning Sunglass of the Year” said Oakley Australia’s Damian Campbell.
The Retail categories kicked off with Surfection Co Op Manly judged as the Shop Fitout of the Year. The Retailer of the Year categories saw Star Surf + Skate taking out Western Australia Retailer of the Year, Coolum Surf won Queensland Retailer of the Year and JT Surf with South Australian Retailer of the Year. The big retail winners were Saltwater Wine taking out NSW Retailer of the Year and Online Channel Retailer of the Year and Strapper Surf taking out the Victorian/Tasmanian Retailer of the Year and the hotly contested Core Boardstore of the Year.
A stoked Michael Di Sciascio, owner of Strapper Surf, accepting the awards said “I am blown away to receive these. This is a credit to my fantastic staff and their shared passion for surfing. We are committed to our Surfboard Factory behind our Torquay shop and always strive to do our best for our customers”.
Surf Retailers Federation President and Founder, Anthony Wilson was honoured with the award for Outstanding Service to the Surf Industry. “I’m speechless” said Wilson who also acknowledged his family and team “this is totally unexpected, and while the recognition is obviously nice, it’s not the motivation. If the Surf Retailers Federation and these Awards end up being the glue that binds the Australian surf industry together then I’ll be stoked”.
2012 Finalists