Surfing in the third millennium: commodifying the visual argot

Australian Journal of Anthropology, The , Dec, 2002 by David Lanagan

Surf Wear is not only consumed for its use value, in that it may be cooler and more casual to wear, but also for its sign value--that it signifies a particular attachment to a lifestyle and inherent in this lifestyle is the freedom and resistance associated with the surfer and the surf beach. Consumers have an understanding of what constitutes Surf Wear and thereby, sets it apart from other commodities of similar intent. This is evidenced in the survey and interviews; when people were asked if 'genuine' or authentic Surf Wear exists, 65% responded that there is such a category. As such, this knowledge, or 'cultural capital' (Bourdieu 1984), creates two groups of commodities that circulate within this matrix--Surf Wear, and other commodities that are not considered by consumers and surfers as genuine Surf Wear.

This articulation, of Surf Wear versus non-genuine Surf Wear, creates a series of disjunctures. First, it is possible that due to the commodifying (and possibly hegemonic) practices of surfing capital, some of the clothing worn by surfers engaged in the activity is not considered by consumers as Surf Wear, as it does not have the attendant signs that have been invested with the cultural capital of Surf Wear, yet in the final analysis, any clothing worn by a surfer is Surf Wear, regardless of whether it was produced by a Surf Wear company or not. Second, there are clothing labels (3) and styles that may exist as 'marginal' Surf Wear in that they were considered as such in the early commodifying process and have since been shifted aside, or other labels have taken their place, and made a claim to being Surf Wear that is more accepted by consumers. Third, due to surfers being unable to identify other surfers by their mode of dress, identity as a suffer is achieved through a displayed engagement in the physical activity of surfing. This also becomes problematic as the numbers of people surfing increases, and the access to waves decreases, a context is created in which the 'imagined community' of surfers, described by Stedman (1997) as being articulated through media, becomes one in which a sense of identification and community is achieved through an ongoing link with a particular beach. This situation is described by Maffesoli (1996:131) as being when '... location becomes connection ... [by linking] ... space and sociality ...'. This 'tribalism' has created what is commonly referred to as 'localism' among surfers, and in these instances the creation of the social space of Surf Wear has seen the argot of surfing cleaved away from those with whom it began and set adrift within a new web of meanings.

As a result of the identity of suffer being articulated at the local level, surfing capital needs a vehicle to link its produce with surfing that sets it apart from other forms of similar produce, and this is achieved through claims to authenticity which in turn carries the cultural capital of Surf Wear. These claims are evidenced by slogans that in turn are used in the marketing of the surfing lifestyle, rather than the product. These slogans range from: Rip Curl's 'Born at Bells 1969' (Australia's Surfing Life January 1995:11; Rip Curl 1999:34) or 'A Product of The Search' (Australia's Surfing Life November 1999:24); O'Neill's 'Since The Beginning 1952' (Australia's Surfing Life October 1998:28-29); Billabong's 'Since 1973' (Australia's Surfing Life October 1998:122); Quiksilver's 'superfine since '69' (Australia's Surfing Life April 1999:127). Furthermore, these slogans are not the only signifiers of authenticity as there are other manufacturers who are able to make claims to have been manufacturers of surf wear in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Lightning Bolt, Hang Ten, Crystal Cylinders, Golden Breed and Okanui, yet these labels do not have the same status as than those mentioned above. The reason for this is two-fold. First, surfing capital has created a market-place in which Surf Wear is linked closely to the notion of time, in this instance, how long and continuous the manufacturer has been both producing Surf Wear and remained linked with surfing. This 'invented tradition', to use Hobsbawm and Ranger's (1983) term, sees labels which do not have a continuing link to the market place and the activity, as being non-genuine in the perception of the consumer.