In an effort to build participation and recognition of the Surfing and Skating lifestyle in China, Wabsono International and Surfing China held the “Surfing China Festival,” “China Action Sports Expo” and the first annual “China Action Sports Retail Summit” in the city of Hangzhou, Zehjiang, China.

Wabsono’s director of business development, Glenn Brumage stated, “China is so large, diverse and unfamiliar with Surfing and Skating that without the passionate participation of specialty retailers promoting the sports and lifestyle at ground level, our action sports lifestyle may never get any traction”.

For this reason Wabsono gathered U.S. retailers, surf and skate Brands as well as Chinese retailers to the three-day Surfing China Tidal Bore Festival in order to start a dialog and share each other’s stoke for what we live.

The summit included panel discussions and Q&A sessions on how surfing and skating grew in the early years, how retail is evolving in China, and how U.S. brands and independent retailers partnered to grow the lifestyle and their businesses in cooperation.

 

“The team from Surfing China and Wabsano are doing the essential work to open up the doors for a real conversation about the development of action sports in China, said Cathey Curtis, GM Quiksilver Asia. “In doing so, they are working hard to show the size and scope of the business opportunity to entrepreneurial Chinese and government officials.  And, at the same time, they are also breaking ground for surfing and skateboarding in China.  By starting this effort at a grassroots level, with the amazing Tidal Bore surfing and skateboarding contest during the surfing festival – they are showing us all a way here in China that feels right in bringing  action sports to China.”