Below, Kelly talks about how Slater Designs will work in conjunction with Firewire, his faith in the revamped banana board and what he looks for in a collaborator. Interview taken from Tracks Magazine – http://www.tracksmag.com/kelly-unveils-the-new-slater-designs-logo/
If you didn’t know, Kelly Slater has since parted ways with Channel Islands Surfboards and has been riding blank boards since Snapper. Kelly has unoffically launched his new Brand Logo – Slater Designs. Kelly’s been working with a lot of people in the shaping industry including: Greg Webber, Dan Thompson, Travis Lee and Rob Machado. Kelly has been unleashing all kinds of secret projects recently including his eco-friendly apparel company – Outerknown, his incredible new man made wave, and now Slater Designs surfboards. One things for sure, he doesn’t seem to be slowing down within the surf industry. The Slater Designs surfboards are expected to start making an appearance in shops around Apri. Stay tuned!
Check out the below interview with the Champ from Tracks Magazine.
Is this the unofficial launch of the new logo on your boards ? Is that the first time you’ve pulled it out?
Kelly: Yeah it is, I guess so.
Did you come up with the logo?
Yeah, I made the logo myself.
Do you have a name for the line of boards?
Just Slater Designs.
How will that line differ from your Firewire range?
My boards will also be available in Firewire technology.
Obviously you brought a Greg Webber board with you to the beach today but who else might we see make boards under the Slater Designs tag?
Ah, it could be anybody really. Webber and I have been working on boards for the last year and a half and I’ve been working on boards with Tomo (Dan Thompson) all year this year, so we’re doing a couple of designs.
What’s a shaper got to do to impress you enough to get a board under Kelly Slater’s feet and possibly become part of the Slater Designs camp.
(Chuckles) Ahh, I don’t know. I just work with the people that I have a history with or someone that’s done something that’s sort of different and appeals to where I want to go on a wave.
The Webber boards – some people totally get Greg and some people don’t get him. He’s kind of one of those guys who’s a polarising figure in a way because he’s always been really extreme and he’s not afraid to think out of the box. Greg and I; often we won’t see eye to eye, but I really appreciate where he goes with design. I sort of feel that with the banana boards … I think maybe it was ’93 that Rommelse won the Triple Crown on those things. Richie Lovett told me that they were the best boards that he ever rode in Hawaii. I’ve ridden them in some waves that I couldn’t imagine a board being better. Unfortunately they faded away real quick after about ‘93 ’94. So we’ve kind of returned to that rocker and bottom curve and modified it a little bit. There’s different foils these days and they’re more easily repeatable. And then Tomo and I, we’ve been surfing and shaping together all year. There’s no secret or anything, I’m not against working with anybody. It’s just whoever I end up hanging out with or designing with … You know I’ve worked with Simon (Anderson) and Maurice (Cole) and obviously Al (Merrick) forever.
It also looks like you’ve taken some of your pit crew from Channel Islands over to Firewire and Slater Designs. For example Travis Lee was pretty instrumental overt at CI and he’s now working with you.
Yeah Trav’s been working with us almost all year now. Trav probably knows what I like maybe more than I do. You know he’s ordered every board I’ve had pretty much for the last ten years …
It was really tough to leave CI. Personally it was really hard and a lot of that difficulty was associated with not having Travis there. Besides the personal feelings, just on the business side of things. But Trav and I are best buddies and he’s so easy to work with; I don’t even have to explain much to him you know. It’s nice to have someone around you that you don’t have to explain everything to.
He’s like the ultimate caddy in a way?
Pretty much, yeah. Don’t tell Belly that though…
Kelly driving through Pipeline on his ‘Slater Designs’ models. Photo: Joli
