Best of 2021
What another wild year! We tweaked levers, crossed borders, made changes, won awards, built our team, revamped our brand and dared to try doing things differently. Here's a wrap up of how 2021 shaped up.
Surf & Boardsport Industry Association Awards
We won some awards woopwoop
Our women's surfboard range has been a hit with female surfers and board dealers across regions and resulted in our board brand being placed as joint-Winner in the SBIA Awards 2021! Our top selling Mid Tide board model also came Runner Up in the Surfboard of the Year category and on top of all that, we were a finalist in the Swimwear Brand of the Year category giving the legacy global surf brands a wee nudge being the ONLY independent, female surfer-owned women's surfwear brand. After nearly 10 years in the biz, we think that's pretty choice.
Clean + Conscious Awards 2021
We won Silver
The Clean + Conscious Awards are independently run by a team of women who believe that educating people to consume mindfully, at the same time as motivating brands to manufacture responsibly, will affect change on a large scale. Founded by Emily Fletcher who identified the need to celebrate safe and socially responsible products, our Maven Surfsuit won Silver in the Activewear category of the 2021 Awards.
We donated $1760 AUD to SurfAid
With your support of our SurfAid x SG surfwear range and surfboard purchases, we successfully donated a total of $1760 AUD to SurfAid's Mother & Child Health Programmes. $1260 donation was generated from the product sales of our collab and $500 was distributed by $50 donations to 10 female surfers participating in SurfAid's 'Make A Wave' Campaign in September 2021.
Read moreA Chilly Bin Full of Bevvies
We shot over the Tasman to visit family & friends in Aotearoa, NZ, and gathered together a bunch of rad oceanwomen in business for chats and beer o'clock while we were at it. Chur.
READ MOREWe grew rapidly and...
hired a team!
After tweaking backend levers and trying a bold new approach with our surfwear, the last 6 months of 2021 saw us grow over 300%. With growth comes a helluva lot of change and admin to keep up with. I headhunted some legends I know and welcomed in Bridget (top left) and Jasmine (center bottom) to the SG fam. All of us are Kiwi surfers, two of us are working mums and one ex-competitive athlete (that would be Jas!). We work remotely from the shores of Byron Bay, Gold Coast and Mount Maunganui balancing family and work commitments and I'm stoked to partner with these talented and awesome women as we keep working towards our vision of a thriving women's surf industry and culture. Kia ora!
We continue to be Australian-made
Like most industries globally, our domestic Australian supply chain has not been immune from ongoing disruptions. Our boutique production team face further localised challenges: an ageing and retiring Australian workforce being one of the most immediate issues we are facing. Fast outgrowing the capacity of our current manufacturer, our main goal for 2022 is to source an alternative and reliable supplier while keeping an open mind to offshore manufacturing, specifically: the capacity and advanced machinery that larger garment manufacturers have outside of Australia. Ultimately, we want to find a balance between maintaining our current manufacturing partnership while easing the pressure they currently face. Watch this space.
The Femeconomy
Supporting women
We continued to hire, outsource and work with these talented women from our local and global community:
Haley Bugelli - Designer
Joanna Gibbs - Event Manager and Stylist
Ming Nomchong - Photographer
Clementine Bourke - Videographer, Photographer
Alice Roberts - Stylist
Phoebe Fever - H&M
Sammy Mather - Model, Surfer, Photographer
Jessica Vander Leahy - Model, Writer & Feminist Activist
Isabella Gilchrist - Photographer
Charlotte Beers - Surfer
Shani Ayson - Surfer
Mia Francis - Surfer