Sagas of Shred
Greetings, Shredderz! Per the usual Sagas of Shred rules, we’ve got another vintage surf ad for all of you. This one is a stunner of a Body Glove ad from the glory days of 1991. I originally found it on Pinterest here. From left to right: Shane Dorian, Matty Liu, Vinnie De La…
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Greetings, Shredderz! For better or for worse, we live in a time when brands are hellbent on collaborating with one another. Far too often it seems like the emphasis is on the partnership itself, and not the end product. Decades before the term “collab” started showing up in marketing meetings, legendary big wave…
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Greetings, Shredderz! As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I don’t have much in the way of handyman skills anyway, so I guess it’s a good thing that Occy and Billabong is still as classic as it ever was. I found the ad below on Pinterest. According to the…
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Greetings, Shredderz! Yesterday was John Van Hamersveld’s 80th birthday. If you don’t know Van Hamserveld’s name, you are almost certainly familiar with his work, as he designed the iconic poster for Bruce Brown’s “The Endless Summer”. It’s no exaggeration to say this is probably the single most influential piece of artwork in the…
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Greetings, Shredderz! One of the things I love best about vintage surf ads is that they often provide some sort of information or context that is otherwise hard to find. I’ve been fascinated with the career of shaper Max McDonald. There isn’t much available about him online, other than the articles I’ve written,…
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Greetings, Shredderz! As some of you probably know, the Sagas of Shred series features a different vintage surf ad every Thursday. Today we’ve got more of the usual fare, but with some additional history that I’m stoked to share with you all. A little over a year ago I featured what is one…
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Greetings, Shredderz! As some of you might have noticed, this blog mostly covers American surfboards, shapers and brands. I am American, after all, but I also love Aussie surf culture. I recently stumbled across Reg Mombassa’s artwork for Aussie surf brand Mambo. I am vaguely aware of Mambo’s status as a cult label,…
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Greetings, Shredderz! Today we’ve got an advertisement from an all-time classic 60s surfboard model: the Morey-Pope Blue Machine, designed by Bob Cooper. Morey-Pope’s advertisements have made a few appearances on Sagas of Shred. Love them or hate them, Morey-Pope’s marketing was nothing if not original. The Blue Machine ad is pretty buttoned up…
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Greetings, Shredderz! Today we’ve got a poster for Bud Browne’s “Spinning Boards” film that was designed by the one and only Rick Griffin. I recently wrote up Rick Griffin’s equally cool poster for John Severson’s “Pacific Vibrations.” To me, these two posters illustrate Griffin’s range. Griffin might be best known for his psychedelic…
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Greetings, Shredderz! As the surf world collectively celebrates the life of Rich Harbour, I thought it was fitting to shed the light on one other chapter of the Harbour Surfboards story: the label’s incredible advertisements. There is an awesome ad archive on the Harbour Surfboards website, and I promise you there’s way more…
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