Interestingly enough Mark with you car example. Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyota are about 2 minutes drive from the Cobra factory in the same industrial estate. In the middle is a top 5 in the world golf course.... It's no secret that Japanese executives like Golf! Hilux, CRV and Civic all bound for Australia come from here.
One of the key actions and common goals of GSI and the Australian manufacturers is Country of Origin labelling. Given the media (and now govt) interest in an election year this will now come to a head. Please remember that I warned people on this forum in the SUP room many moons ago. If people are hurt financially on this matter it's a terrible outcome. This was also on Facebook, tabled in parliament, in local and national media already.
Surfing is a sexy media topic, in an election year bank on this one goin much further.
Nice to meet you also Mark.
What was the warning then - that these cheaper products will soon have to be labelled so make sure you are not left holding the can?
I hope that they go down this route - although given the abuse by retailers on this in relation to food I struggle to see how this can be policed and implemented. Regulations are always good (well in most cases when they are designed for the bettermeant of society and not politically motivated) but there needs to be an enforcement mechanisum. Despite food and safety standards and many years in operation the big boys still try and pull the wool over peoples eyes. Now you do not have to be a rocket scientist to think that some in the surf industry (generalising here not pointing at anyone specific) would be flaunt this. Its sadly just human nature.
Yeah good point CMC re the the country of origin issue. From what i understand, it is a legal requirement to state the country of manufacture on all goods sold in Australia.
GSI do this by having it glassed into all their boards - they used to just have stickers but these would eventually come off. From what we were told, a lot of the poor quality Chinese boards simply do not have this, or in some cases have a large Australian flag logo and in very small print have "made in China". Very cheeky but legal!
There were a few other issues involving ACCC compliance that i can't quite recall.
rolex with your flied lice anyone
my chinese mates family own a massive manufacturing company in china.. he said from what he has heard,there is more money in counterfeit nappies than anything else profit wise they are a clever bunch
I've got so much to say on this topic but will wait and talk face to face with anyone interested,hint Australian Made V Government.
hahahahaha,quality over quantity,as fine poet named snoop dog once said...give me the quality
So many people called me today.
Very interesting....... It sounds like the media are running with pictures of boards from some well known imported labels that are not labelling correctly.
Trial by media!!
Hey Doggie - I am not having a shot at you BUT "real surfers" are their own worst enemy. How many "real surfers" pay full retail for a board - they all want a deal/discount and they have a mate or a mate of a mate who will do em a board cheaper blah blah blah. I dont believe the future of the industry rests on "real surfers" but instead in the hands of the as yet uneducated average punter thinking about taking up surfing or just getting into it. If we don't educate these people then they will start out with a cheap ars chinese ** box board and will never know any different, and then one day when they actually look at getting a real board made for them, they will begrudge the poor bloody shaper the reasonable price he asks for his product. The shaper then is left with the options of, either losing a potential customer that doesnt know the value of a good board OR even worse having to discount his board in order to get some $ in the door - no matter how much it eats into his profit margins.
In my opinion, the majority of people in the surf arent "real surfers" and yet the industry still seems to only cater for the minority and are neglecting the uneducated majority. The local industry has to be more pro-active and not so re-active to the problem and I personally am going to get involved in some way to start this education process, primarily with SUP, because thats where my current commercial interest lay but certainly with the general surfboard industry as a whole also.
Quantity and Quality that's a great post Billboard something that supfox could never come close too
Doggie over here there are two shops who stock these boards and both have received some serious warnings.
I have way too much to say on this it would take me weeks to post.
Years of experience on this matter in another industry with Government,hell I sat on the board of directors for seven years fighting the same thing this thread is all about.
Mt Woodgie was my first even custom up the hill under the house which is still on the logo today,thanks to Lacey and his gang we would ride dirt bikes up there that's when I first met Nick.
The one thing that always gets missed in these discussions is that everyone assumes its purely about Aussie VS Import.
It's actually not, what it's really about is encouraging and developing ways for the industry to become better. By understanding the full situation from input of the major players from all sides hopefully initiatives become clear to benefit the whole legitimate industry whether that be locally made or not.
Doggie, I'm not sure if you know or not but I actually work with the Cobra Factory. I visit there regularly. I also speak to people all around the world. Some members of the local industry have piled crap on me for this but I feel that a free market is a good one. We also live in a global economy, if there's no money in Australia to develop new technologies for surfing to progress than why not utilise places like Cobra that are at least 20 years ahead??
I ride custom boards as I love the process. I think I'm just gonna make my own though from now on.... I enjoy that even more.
BTW Im not one to haggle over board price, I generally get looked after regardless.
Mac do you get good priced from Mct because you are a good customer that promotes the brand?
And btw BB Ive seen you haggle on board price 
Yes it is but its hard after such good service/deals over 10 years to go back and start a new relationship without any BS and that's where I'm at.To be honest here I don't get upset or disappointed but their closing did both.I still keep in contact with Mike who now works in WA in the mines his home state but still fly's home here on the GC on his weeks off.
i buy custom hand shaped from an aussie who for one not only rides longboards but has done his time under midget farrelly and this guy has won many state titles and age divisions.He has the right to do the midget replica,so i'm happy with his service and price of a board also when you go to longboard comps which i enter yearly for the support of longboarding you'd be surprised who rides what brand and one that gets mentioned here regularly doesn't cut the numbers.Figure that out
Here you go
www.watoday.com.au/lifestyle/len-dibben-puts-the-sander-to-his-last-surfboard-20120223-1tpy9.html
