making of a model

THE MAKING OF A NEW SURFBOARD MODEL

An awful lot goes into developing a new board model for the Howie Shapes range.

It starts as an idea or a customer enquiry - It also undergoes countless hours of refinement from Howie and after rigorous R&D, testing and plenty of feedback from our Team Riders, a new model is born into the Howie Shapes' range.


The concave isn’t 'U' shaped going from edge to edge
it’s more 'V' shaped - breaking that sticky feeling you get with a deep 'U' shaped concave.

The Lions Mane is our latest high-performance all-rounder.

After months of testing from our team riders, with a lot of positive feedback, we felt it was time to let-loose the Lions Mane on the general public.

But what goes into the making of a model?
...how much of it is pure marketing Vs actual research and development?

The honest answer is about 50/50.
We aren't reinventing the wheel here folks, but what we are able to do is refine the process with thanks to considered feedback from our Team Riders and the advent of technological advancement through computerisation.

Our aim when releasing a new board model is not to rehash the same old thing for new dollars, it's more about offering a product that will out perform (even if only slightly) the equipment you are currently riding.

Is it important to market this process and drive sales? ...absolutely.
Is it the reason why we do this... absolutely not.

To give you some idea of what goes into this process, we have taken you into the shaping bay and behind the scenes so you can see for yourself what truly goes into the 'making of a model'.