From the Floor at Surf Expo: 7 Unique Trends for 2025

If you have any questions about the surf industry — from new brands to new products, the state of the industry and more — you’ll find it on the floor at Surf Expo. 

Since 1976, Surf Expo is the longest-running (and best) industry event dedicated to surfing and the beach lifestyle.

By gathering together the sector's brands and its collective community, you can get a pulse on what's happening, why it's happening, and what's next.

Here are a few trends we saw during during Surf Expo's 49th show held September 4-6 in Orlando.

A banner welcome for the industry's premier show. Photo courtesy American Surf Magazine

#1: Industry sentiment was noticeably positive.

The last few years has seemed like a hold down for the industry, due to an unprecedented double up of Covid-19 and the global tariff situation. At recent Surf Expos, this was the primary topic of conversation on the floor.

But at this show, it seemed as though the industry was finally coming up for air. While the tariff situation is still impacting several brands (including surfboard makers and dealers) there was an overall positive sentiment about the economy, customer's increasing spending habits, the growth of the sport and the upcoming year.

#2: Legacy brands are alive and well.

Rip Curl had a thought provoking booth at Surf Expo. Photo courtesy American Surf Magazine

Some of the eye-catching booths at Surf Expo came from the legacy brands, such as Rip Curl, Quiksilver, and more. By talking with them, we learned that business has seemed to recover from the fallout from the Liberated Brands bankruptcy (which held the retail and wholesale licenses for the likes of Quiksilver, Billabong, Volcom in North America).

Business for many of these legacy brands is alive and well — and while we don't want to spill the beans just yet, we did hear that one of them is doing well enough to bring back a long-awaited campaign for 2026. More to come on this!

#3: New brands have entered the industry.

Though the show included legacy brands like Quiksilver and RipCurl, there were many other new brands born out of voids in the marketplace.

One of those was Steko, the brainchild of Kolohe Andino, which represents his transition from being the face of big-name sponsorship to becoming a brand owner himself.

Not only did Kolohe and co showcase their rad t-shirts and shorts; they premiered their latest surf flick that drew a crowd.

Don't be fooled: although Steko's booth looks empty in this early morning photo, it was busy throughout the show. Photo courtesy American Surf Magazine

Another new brand that was on the floor at the 49th Surf Expo: Surf Stick, started by two college guys out of the Carolina's reinventing the surf wax market. Their wax is housed in a deodorant-like container, making it easy to apply. This can prevent all those tiny pieces of surf wax in your boardshorts and in your house. Best of all, the container is heat resistant, meaning no more melted wax in your car. They sold us in under 5 minutes!

The Surf Stick team. Photo courtesy American Surf Magazine

You might think Surf Expo is all about surfboards and boardshorts, and while this is true, there were many other lifestyle brands, including the team at Guy Fox with some of the best smelling cologne for surfers.

We tested it ourselves and approve: Guy Fox has the best scent for surfers. Photo courtesy American Surf Magazine

#4: Live demos drew big crowds.

Due to the latest surf-focused technology advances, Surf Expo isn't just an event where you talk about surfing — you can actually surf in between meetings, thanks to the SurfDays team who brought their own standing wave.

SurfDays' impressive live demo. Photo courtesy American Surf Magazine

There were so many amazing live demos that we wrote a separate article about it — check it out here.

#5: Conservation remains a large part of the surf industry.

Those who are most passionate about the ocean are surfers, and conservation has a large footprint at Surf Expo. This included non profits helping sea animals to organizations providing digital tracking for plastic cleanups and much more.

The only place you can get a whale this large indoors is Surf Expo. Photo courtesy American Surf Mag

#6: Check out these interesting industry statistics…

To kick off Day 2 at Surf Expo, we attended SIMA's industry breakfast that provided a handful of stats on the surf industry in 2025, including:

• Youth dominate surfing: the 18-24 age group holds the highest participation rate in the sport.

• Surfing isn't a poor man's sport: Nearly 40% of surfers come from households earning $100k+.

• In general, business has been up for the past 4 months, though recovery is uneven and slow.

• Apparel and surf-related hardgoods are products leading this performance.

• Women's categories are up 2.3% this year, while men's categories are down by 1.5% .

#7: Surf Expo's commitment to education is a powerful tool for brands.

Surf Expo exists to bring the surf and beach community together under one (very large) roof — and what we love is that it also acts as an education platform for new and current business owners.

Because we spent all day walking the floor, we were often looking for a chair to sit in — and we found a great place to sit and listen at the Surf Expo main stage, where they hosted seminars on data, how to adapt to the ongoing tariff situation, how to integrate AI into your business, how to cultivate a high performing team for your shop, and more.

If you sat in for any of these seminars, there's no doubt that you learned something and, best of all, your business can improve because of it.

Looking ahead to the 50th Anniversary of Surf Expo in 2026

At the September 2025 Surf Expo, sentiment was positive, excitement was high, and there were new and legacy brands alike showcasing both their products and their stories.

If you missed this show, the good news is that the next Surf Expo is right around the corner: January 7-9, 2026, which will be their 50th anniversary. It’s a show you won't want to miss!

Stay tuned to the Surf Expo website for more as the date gets closer.

See you January 7-9th! Photo courtesy American Surf Magazine