Gossip Girl: Alternative Milk And An Athletics Brand Stride Into The Surf Industry

Let’s start with Adidas, and their recent signing of Hawaiian sweetheart, Kelia Moniz.

Don’t worry, Kelia won’t be ditching her Roxy attire to be kitted top-to-bottom in Adidas, just flossing some fresh Stan Smiths (we hope), and marking the brand’s first attempt at entering the apparently highly coveted surf space.

Nike (remember the flouro days of six-point-oh?) tried and seriously stumbled in the surf realm before transferring their riders (back) over to Hurley back in 2013.

Now Adidas is going to give what Nike failed at a red hot crack.

Like Nike, Adidas have already established themselves firmly in skateboarding, with names like Mark Gonzales, Dennis Busenitz, Daewon Song, and Tyshawn Jones rocking three-stripes.

Adidas’ skate content is some of the best in the game. Take their most recent film, following 50-year-old Mark Gonzales and 20-year-old Tyshawn Jones around New York City as a prime example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFs1VGstNa0

With the same high-minded and high-production marketing approach, there’s no doubt Adidas could likely convince a few typically barefooted surfers to cover their feet up for once. Surfline Editor in Chief Marcus Sanders was recently spotted sporting Scotch Brite white SS’s, and Jed Smith’s been sporting full-bodied Adidas tracksuits for years, so there’s no worries on the attire front.  

As with most business pursuits, only time will tell of its success. Just don’t be surprised when you see Adi Dassler’s beloved Trefoil and triple stripe parading around your screens and on some of your favourite surfer’s soles in the next few months. 

But wait! It’s not only multi-million dollar clothing companies wanting to dive into the brine.

Almond Breeze almond milk has its eyes honed in on our morning beverage department, and are placing Sally Fitzgibbons as their numero uno nut milk ambassador.

In case you haven’t read Animal Liberation or writhed in guilt watching Cowspiracy, take this as a rude reminder that pouring bovine growth fluid on your cereal’s on the out. 

Plant-based alternatives are all the rage in white, middle-class, inner-city echo chambers, and now their gospel is spreading out amongst the once rebellious and now uber-healthy surf community.

Kelly’s vegan, John’s vegan, Jack and Alana are raising their baby vegan, fuck, there’s even a vegan or two within the walls of Stab! 

And the first step to becoming vegan is ditching your standard flat white for something a little nuttier – in Rick’s case, macadamia milk!

Almond Breeze has decided it’s time to lock down on the health conscious, ethically motivated, and even the lactose intolerant amongst us in the surfing world, and convince the rest of us that alternative milks aren’t all that shitty.

You better all be pouring activated almond milk on your weet-bix in the morning, or whipping up Sally’s go to smoothie bowl as follows, “[The ingredients are] usually banana, almond milk or coconut water, with protein isolate [powder]. Then I get all fancy with the toppings.”

It isn’t just the abnormal throwing coin in surfing right now, industry staples Billabong have also opened up their chequebook to back Jaleesa Vincent.

Billabong’s already got their male division of anti-establishment surfers signed, and now they’re tapping into the relatively sparse market of chicks taking a left-field step in surf.

Jaleesa wasn’t someone you would’ve heard of 12 months ago, but in the past year has gained some serious traction with her surfing, artwork and music. She’s the only surfer without a Y chromosome on Rage and is also atop some eclectic craft courtesy of her board sponsor, Misfit. From now one she’ll be sporting Billabong suits and clothing too.

Who said freesurfing wasn’t lucrative!

This one’s not exactly gossip, because it’s on IG, but we thought we’d throw it in there for you non-scrollers anyway. 

Until next time, 

GG xoxo