By Vipe Desai, Executive Director

For years, I’ve had the same conversation with brand leaders, retailers, and investors across the surf industry.

Everyone’s trying to grow. Everyone’s working hard. But most are doing it without a complete picture of the market.

They know their numbers. They know their customers. But they don’t always know how that fits into the bigger landscape of surfing today.

That’s exactly why we built the SIMA Surf Industry Growth Report.

A Shift Is Happening. Can You See It?

The surf industry isn’t standing still. Participation is changing. Access is expanding. Consumer behavior is shifting in ways that don’t always match how our industry has traditionally operated.

If you’re only looking at your internal sales reports, you’re looking in the rearview mirror. This report gives you the windshield to help you look at what’s ahead. 

It pulls together insights from specialty retailers across the country, national participation data, and direct industry input, all run through a solid analytical model to give you a grounded, honest look at where things are headed. Just a clearer picture of reality.

Why This Matters for Your Business

Right now, every brand is making decisions about products, pricing, distribution, and marketing. The question is whether those decisions are made in a vacuum or with real context.

The SIMA Surf Industry Growth Report helps you:

• Understand where growth is actually happening across the market

• Spot shifts in consumer behavior before they show up in your numbers

• Measure your business against broader industry trends

• Make smarter bets on where to put your time and money

It helps you stop reacting and start planning ahead.

It’s Not Just a Report. It’s a Tool.

We didn’t build this for it to collect dust.

The best way to use it is to bring it into your organization:

• Share the key takeaways with your leadership team

• Use it to shape your seasonal planning conversations

• Check your current strategy against what’s actually happening in the market

The brands that treat this as a working document, not a one-time read, will get the most out of it.

Built by the Industry, for the Industry

One thing I’m really proud of is how this report comes together.

It’s built on real data from specialty retailers, backed by industry partners, and shaped by people who genuinely care about the future of surfing.

That matters. Because if we want a stronger industry, we need a shared understanding of where we are and where we’re going.

The Bottom Line

Surfing has always been driven by culture first. That hasn’t changed.

But if we want to support that culture with a healthy, growing industry, we need better tools to navigate what’s ahead.

This report is one of them.

If you’re serious about growth, it’s worth having on your desk and in your decision-making process.

Order your copy here >> https://surfindustry.org/products/2026-sima-surf-industry-report