Art does not imitate life, life imitates art, what this essentially means that we take influences from the world around us and us ethem in our everyday lives. This is an insight into the inner workings of fashion and is the reason behind surf gear becoming incredibly popular in the 2000s. This correlates with the time that extreme sports really took off the UK and it is not a coincidence that it grew along with extreme sports in film, music and video.
When a sport is so prolific in society, it begins to permeate the public consciousness, filtering down into our everyday lives without us really noticing. There have always been surf shops in costal towns but the extreme sports trend meant that big name brands began to pop up everywhere, even in inner city locations. These shops sell numerous extreme sports related garments and accessories Animal clothing, branded backpacks and were commonly decorated with paraphernalia like surfboards and palm tress.
Many big surf brands managed to gain traction in the UK fashion market including Quicksilver, O’Neil, Animal, Plain Lazy and Mambo. The resort of Newquay has become incredibly pop as a UK holiday destination for young Brits, popularized and made cool by its surf Heritage. The cool image surrounding surfing still exists today with shops like Hollister peddling the American dream all geared around a backdrop of Californian beaches and scantily clad models.
The success of such a brand has proved the surf fashion is not dead, for example board shorts continue to be the most popular item of swimwear among young males who aspire to bum around on beaches all day!
