Sagas of Shred
As an anonymous internet commenter once said about Arnold Schwarzenegger, “he’s not a great actor, but he’s an amazing movie star.” Strider Wasilewski is not my favorite sports commentator, but as far as surfing personalities go, few are more compelling than the Dogtown raised Pipe charger turned WSL fixture. Strider grew up in…
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My favorite part of this 1998 Volcom ad is the reprinted fax from Surfer Magazine hounding the Volcom team for some overdue collateral. Rebelliousness definitely was a successful marketing strategy for Volcom, but I get the sense that there was a definite pirate vibe from the clothing label’s formative years. At first, I…
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For the years I’ve been writing Sagas of Shred, I don’t think I’ve ever posted a single ad for Surfer Mag. It’s ironic considering the vast majority of the vintage surf ads I feature here originally ran in Surfer. This time around let’s shine the spotlight on Surfer itself, which for my money…
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If it involves Da Rubberman, I’m in. Here’s an ad from the June 1980 issue of Surfer Magazine (Vol 21, No 6) featuring Bertlemann laying down an insane bottom turn. The part of this photo I keep returning to is that glassy bit of wake off the tail, which helps give an idea…
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Sagas of Shred tends to focus on vintage surf ads, mostly out of necessity. I can’t remember the last time I saw a memorable ad for a surf brand. It’s too bad. Even when brands weren’t doing much more than slapping a logo on a sick shot of the team rider du jour,…
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I really love this series of ads for Chart House. I didn’t grow up in California and now that I think about it, I’ve never even stepped foot in a Chart House. From what I gather it’s an upscale chain of seafood restaurants. These ads harken back to my childhood growing up in…
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Greetings, Shredderz! I’m not sure how long exactly the Christian Fletcher era at Town & Country Surfboards lasted, but it was definitely rad when it did.
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Greetings, Shredderz! Enjoy this killer Bing Surfboards Maui Foil ad — guessing it’s from the late 60s or so.
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Greetings, Shredderz! Here’s a Quiksilver ad featuring Craig Anderson, before he linked up with Dane Reynolds, another former Quik rider, to create Former. Anderson is on my personal short list of style gods, and it’s cool, and a little bit strange, to see this shot of him from the not-too distant past, before…
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Greetings, Shredderz! This is a 1985 ad for Spirit, which is a surf shop / surfboard label based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I don’t know much about the label, but I do know that marketing shots do not get any cooler than posing in front of Rio’s famous Christ the Redeemer statute…
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