SIMA has launched an Emerging Brands Committee with an all-star cast of mentors and advisors with the goal of supporting newness in the marketplace and a healthy industry overall.
Stance President John Wilson is Chairman of the new group and filled me in on the details.
“SIMA felt like we needed to create resources for these emerging companies and help them be successful,” John said. “Right now, if you started a boardshort company, there’s no central place to call to say, ‘I need a rep force, do you have any recommendations,’ or ‘I need to get my corporate documents in order,’ or ‘I need advice on international distribution agreements,’ “ John said.
“Most young companies in general don’t have a ton of business experience or a formal business education,” he added. “What they do have is street smarts, hustle, creative energy and passion. We hope to help them with the rest.”
RAEN’s Justin Heit, Jeremy Heit and Chris Smith. RAEN is one of five emerging brands in the program’s first class. Justin: “We’re getting great feedback on how to run certain aspects of the business and also certain pitfalls to look out for.” RAEN Optics, The People’s Movement, Captain Fin Co., AMBSN and Roark are the first group of brands involved in the committee.
The role of industry mentors
There are two main pieces to the program. A group of mentors makes themselves available to the brands for one-on-one conversations when asked.
The mentors include some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the industry: Hurley Founder Bob Hurley, RVCA Founder Pat Tenore, Gotcha Founder Michael Tomson, Sanuk Founder Jeff Kelley, Reef Co-founder Fernando Aguerre, Electric Founder Bruce Beach, L*Space Founder Monica Wise, and Stance Founder Jeff Kearl, who has also started and sold technology companies.
“Our industry has some amazing entrepreneurs,” John said. “Some have sold and are still working at companies, some have had exits, some have brought on investors – there is a big range of people who can offer different kinds of advice.”
The Advisory Board
In addition, there is a larger Advisory Board that includes experts in their respective disciplines including product, retail, marketing, sales, funding, media and finance.
An example of someone who is part of the Advisory Board is Eric Crane, who is now at Electric and was at Nixon before that. “Eric is one of the product experts who can help new brands as they tackle different product decisions,” John said. (See a complete list of Advisory Board members on Page 3.)
The brands involved in the program meet quarterly to discuss a particular topic of business.
The first meeting in February covered legal issues, and attorneys covered areas such as corporate formation, trademark, athlete contracts, labor and employment.
In the future, open enrollment will be held each year for brands that want to apply for the program. In December, the SIMA board will vote on the next class of brands.
“Hopefully, the brands involved will become successful and become mentors and advisors in the future,” John said.
Roark founder Ryan Hitzel said being part of the program has been beneficial so far.
“As a young brand it’s insightful to hear how other leaders navigated the waters of a highly competitive industry. SIMA has done a great job lining up a diverse group of people that we don’t rub shoulders with every day,” he said.
SIMA President Doug Palladini. Shop-eat-surf file photo.
“But really, it’s a surf-grade fraternity of dudes that wouldn’t normally be in a fraternity,” Ryan said. “All of our businesses are at similar states of growth so there’s plenty of parking lot conversations about the synergies, challenges and trivialities that bond us.”
SIMA offers support for small brands, too
With this new committee, SIMA hopes to reinforce the idea that it is a trade group for large and small brands. It also hopes to keep the industry healthy at the same time, SIMA President Doug Palladini said.
“There has been a prevailing misconception among some that SIMA is the surf industry trade group for only the large brands,” he said. “John Wilson’s work building the emerging brands platform dispels that myth while adding tremendous value to our entire membership.
“When new brands grow and prosper, our whole industry benefits,” Doug said.
See Page 2 for comments from mentors involved in the program
Mentors involved in the Emerging Brands Committee include some of the industry’s most successful entrepreneurs. Here are some comments from some of the mentors about why they are involved.
Hurley Founder Bob Hurley
Hurley Founder Bob Hurley. Shop-eat-surf file photo.
“I’m always excited to help friends with their dreams. If we can encourage and help, why wouldn’t we?”
Reef Co-founder Fernando Aguerre
“When I was 14, my grandmother, a lady of very limited means, saved to buy a present for me – the jacket I badly wanted, but I could not afford. Shocked by her generosity, since she could have used the money to buy some of the things she needed instead, I asked her why she spent her savings on me, and not on her. Her answer changed the way l live my life.
She said, ‘Fernando, I’m not sure you will understand what I’m going to tell you now, but I’m sure one day you will understand it … It’s much better to give than to receive. Receiving is always nice, but by giving you have a real chance of becoming a better human being.’
Reef Co-founder and ISA President Fernando Aguerre. Shop-eat-surf file photo.Sure enough, I did not understand her then, but her inspiration has pushed me to always reach out for those below, younger, newer, less experienced. I’ve done it in many ways all my life.
The brilliant idea of the Emerging Brands Committee formalizes something that many in this wonderful surfing industry have been doing for years and years: Reaching out to help the underdogs.
I’m honored and thrilled for the chance to be a part of this group led by the inspirational John Wilson, a person that I had the fortune to hire as my National Sales Director for Reef almost 15 years ago. The guy is smart, full of love and passion, and a trustworthy person with values and a real life direction in his personal and business life.
And of course, I’m totally honored to be teaming up with a such a line up of surf industry stars.”
L*Space Founder Monica Wise
“The support and knowledge that the SIMA functions and meetings gave me as a business owner were crucial to my development within the industry. It’s an incredible honor to be able to provide that same level of support to up-and-coming designers.
L*Space Founder Monica Wise. Shop-eat-surf file photo.As the only female mentor, I love being able to offer a woman’s perspective on success within the surf industry. I firmly believe that time can always be made for something that’s important to you, and mentoring young entrepreneurs is one of the most rewarding aspects of my career.”
Electric Co-Founder Bruce Beach
“Dick was always pushing for me to get involved with SIMA, which as you know was one of his main passions. In 2006, I was voted to the SIMA Advisory Board, and in 2007 to the Board of Directors. Before Dick passed away he asked me to become Chairman of the Membership Committee. I now sit on the Executive Board of SIMA as the Secretary and am still Chairman of the Membership Committee.
One of my main concerns was that SIMA was not attracting the younger upstart brands and their energy and creativity was important to a healthy SIMA Membership. We also had some new brands that dropped out after only a year or two because they did not understand the benefits of being a SIMA Member. I thought this was a real bummer as there was a wealth of knowledge and expertise within the SIMA Membership that was available to them.
Electric Co-Founder Bruce Beach. Shop-eat-surf file photo.Being a start-up brand is exciting and extremely difficult at the same time, but as every retailer will tell you new brands and new categories are critical to keeping things fresh at retail. I am also a firm believer that competition is healthy and helps push everyone to greater levels.
I don’t remember exactly who came up with the concept of forming the Emerging Brands Committee, but we knew that John Wilson would be a great Chairman as he had been with established brands like Oakley and Reef and was doing a great job with his own emerging brand, Stance.
Sean Smith and I met with him about 18 months ago and pitched him on the idea and having him be the Chairman. John has done an amazing job of planning and putting together an awesome committee that will be a great benefit to new SIMA members.
Being a mentor simply means that I can make the time to take a phone call, have a coffee, or go for a surf with someone that wants to talk business. Being involved with SIMA doesn’t take much time, but is an important way of giving something back to an amazing industry.”
See Page 3 for a list of experts who are part of Advisory Board
The Advisory Board includes experts in their respective disciplines including product, retail, marketing, sales, funding, media and finance.
Those experts will provide advice on different areas of business to the emerging brands in the program. Here is the most recent list of experts provided by SIMA.
Ryan Mangan of Hurley is one of the product experts on the Advisory Board. Shop-eat-surf file photo.Emerging Brands Committee Advisory Board
Product
Ryan Mangan, Hurley
Eric Crane, Electric
Ryan Quinn, Stance
Marketing
Ryan Kingman, Stance
Candy Harris, Creative Seed Society
Lindy Williams, Reef
Sarah Crockett, Vans
Domestic Sales
Candy Harris of Creative Seed Society and Ryan Kingman of Stance are two of the marketing experts on the Advisory Board. Shop-eat-surf file photo.Marty Mathiesen, Oakley
Dominique Kiernan, Nixon
Brent Lantz, Analog
International Sales
Frank Messman, Black Box
Nick Denambride, Nixon
Alex Messmer, Hurley
Fabrice Le Det, Arnette
Media
Tony Perez, Grind Media
Charlie Anderson, Transworld
Tony Perez of Grind Media was a key proponent of forming the Emerging Brand Committee. Shop-eat-surf file photo.
Robin Walker, Surfline
Retail
Tom Brown, 17th Street
Dave Nash, Sun Diego
Duke Edukas, Surfside Sports
Bobby Abdel, Jack’s
Kevin Morris, Heritage
Nick Cocores, Thalia Street
Funding
Lisa Freedman, SDSI
Frank Kaufman of Moss Adams, left, and RVCA Founder Pat Tenore. Moss Adams has worked closely with many emerging brands over the years and has lots of industry clients.Aaron DeRose, Mercato Partners
Finance
Frank Kaufman, Moss Adams
Sourcing
Taylor Shupe, Stance
For more information about the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, see the SIMA website.
Emerging Brands are also likely to be a topic of conversation at the upcoming Surf Summit in Mexico.
