Salts and Suits is the amazing true story of how a group of young beach bums turned their passion for riding big waves into the world's fastest growing leisure industry, surviving wipe-outs, drug busts, rip-offs, recessions and the constant pressure to act and dress like grown-ups. Still the darlings of Wall Street despite recent downturns, surfing's biggest brands have crossed the billion dollar threshold by thinking big and staying cool … and that's a hell of a balancing act. Drawing on more than 200 interviews with industry figures and the idiosyncratic founders of the leading brands, Phil Jarratt details the long and bloody battle between the ‘salts' and the ‘suits' to control the industry as it hit the radar screens of the broader youth market. Tracing the development of surf's biggest brands as they emerged from sleepy beach towns on both sides of the Pacific, he paints a compelling picture of the free-wheeling, hedonistic lifestyle that gave birth to a multi-billion dollar industry almost in spite of itself. Salts and Suits is an inspiring and often hilarious account of surfing's long ride from Beach Boulevard to Wall Street. The beach bum entrepreneurs who started it all - characters like ‘Claw' Warbrick, Brian Singer, Duke Boyd, Jeff Hakman, Bob McKnight, Jim Jenks, Alan Green, ‘Greasy' Merchant and Jack O'Neill - are still involved, some are mega-millionaires, some just struggling by while others milk their creations. This book tells their stories, but more importantly, it tells the story of how, in business, passion can sometimes trump conventional wisdom, and the heart can overrule the head.
A
Hardie Grant Books
book
Salts and Suits The Amazing True Story of How a Group of Young Surfers Became Industry Giants
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ISBN:
9781740667401
Format:
Paperback
Pages:
266
Dimensions:
23cm x 15cm
RRP:
$35.00
Category:
Fiction , Non-Fiction , Sport , Biography and Memoir
Publisher:
Hardie Grant Books
Published:
01 April 2010
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Phil Jarratt
Phil Jarratt is a journalist, author and publisher. A former editor of Tracks, Surfer and Australian Surf Journal, he is regarded as one of the foremost authorities on surfing and has worked in surf publishing for over 40 years. He has written over 20 books covering largely sport-related biography, surfing, and surf history including Salts and Suits, Kelly Slater: For the Love, Hottest 100 Surf legends, Surfing Australia: A Complete History of