![]() Mickey Dora, one of the more well-known surfers of the ‘60s, reacted so adversely to the overexposure of the sport that he quit the circuit after a hostile farewell: He mooned the judges at the 1967 Malibu International Surfing Contest. He is its first marketable champion, whereas in the past, many have been too eccentric and media wary. Which explains why the industry views Slater as heroic. Surfing drives a $1.2-billion industry, nearly half of it fashion: baggy trunks, hooded flannel shirts, jeans and skater shoes, all mostly bought by surfer wanna-bes, many of them living thousands of miles from either coast. “Kelly sells clothes like no one in this sport ever has,” McKnight says. And as his sponsor, Quiksilver knows the only thing that Slater does better than master the sport is market it. The Florida surfer was on People magazine’s list of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1991. There are rails of muscles along his chest and back. Most surfers tend to be on the small side. Slater is just under six feet tall and compact, with a low center of gravity that helps ground him on his surfboard despite his height. “Surfing is hard, groovy environmentally, and there’s Kelly Slater.” “All eyes are on these kids,” says Bob McKnight, co-founder and chairman of Quiksilver, the world’s largest surf-wear company. And the sport may even get some respectability-the International Olympic Committee has tentatively approved surfing for a future Summer Games. To a greater extent than in the past, mainstream advertisers, including record, car and telephone companies, are buying commercial spots on surfing broadcasts. ![]() Snowboarding is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and surfing is everywhere-in ads for trucks and soft drinks, fashion spreads in Rolling Stone and MTV videos. ![]() After a few disastrous years, board sports are again on the cutting edge of youth culture. This is the Action Sports Retailers Trade Expo, and world-champion surfer Kelly Slater reigns supreme. ![]() Again he hesitates, then smiles and deferentially shakes hands all around, signing more autographs and answering questions. There, a dozen buyers, sellers, executives, PR agents, reporters, photographers and fans are waiting for him. He makes his way into the building and winds through the crowded aisles until he arrives at a Tahitian-style hut. As she and her friends stampede in his direction, the man flinches, then smiles nervously, dutifully signing photos and posters and posing for snapshots. Suddenly, one girl squeals and points in the direction of a young man not much older than she is. Outside, teen-age girls wearing halter tops and boys balancing on skateboards beg passersby for passes into the hall, as if this were a rock concert, not the trade show it is. A retailer with a parrot on his shoulder haggles with an apparel-company rep, who is topless under her clear plastic raincoat. A CEO in striped shorts is negotiating with a buyer who has a pierced tongue and tattoos on his bald head. There’s nothing conventional about the group milling around in the San Diego Convention Center.
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