Words: Tim Baker. Photos: Jarrason Bitton

Local production, quality materials, workmanship and distribution – Here’s why S-Lab’s mantra is “For the creators”

So, you’re a small to medium surfboard manufacturer who wants to grow your business, but don’t want to deal with the hassle and expense of high-volume manufacturing and distribution.

 If only you could focus on the stuff you enjoy and are good at – developing surfboard designs to maximise your customer’s surfing pleasure, marketing and actually going surfing – and leave the grunt work of production and getting the boards into customers’ hands to someone else.

Enter S-Lab with a new service of end to end, local production with the emphasis on premium materials, quality craftsmanship and guaranteed lead time. 

S-Lab general manager Chris Chamberlain is a 25-year veteran of the surfboard industry, with brands like Nev, Pipedream, Cobra, BASE, Eskimo and FCS.  “We want to help people to do what they do best, and we’ll use our network to help them to do that,” says Chris, who sees the business as a partnership between shaper’s own brands and S-Lab.      

“We have distribution and manufacturing, and they have the research and development and marketing. It’s their brand, we’re providing that ability to grow their brand. It’s a retail solution, manufacturing solution, distribution solution,” says Chris. “It takes the pain points away. That’s why it’s for the creators. It takes the ugly bits that they don’t want to do … We’ll cut it, shape it, glass it, and distribute it when no one else wants to do that.”

If there’s one thing the COVID pandemic has taught us, it’s the importance of local manufacturing. S-Lab is designed to offer surfboard makers the opportunity to have their boards produced on-time and at a high quality without having to go to offshore manufacturing and all its challenges.  Surfboard industry veterans Dave Verrall and Shannon Warner are providing the hands-on expertise to ensure the highest quality in every stage of production.

“This is the dawn of a new age, bringing jobs back to Australia, while ensuring quality,” says Chris. “S-Lab has been made for the creators to extend their reach and production, to enable more surfers to hit the water on leading quality, Australian made designs.”

At the same time, S-Lab is investing in the surfboard workforce of the future, offering traineeships and genuine trade qualifications for young shapers, glassers and sanders to help renew an ageing workforce.

“We’re investing back into Australian production. We’re offering a trade qualification through a two year-traineeship, providing jobs and training. One big difference we can make to the industry is training youth for a long-term future,” says Chris.

The S-Lab manufacturing hub is in Tweed Heads in Northern NSW, with one APS 3000 Shaping machine and another on the way, and their own glassing factory coupled with a national distribution and sales network. With sales reps in WA, NSW, Victoria, SA and Queensland, S-Lab offers a truly end-to-end manufacturing and distribution service.  

“We’ve got retail relationships, we’ve got shaping machines, shapers, glassing and solutions to deliver, but we’re not selling a brand, you are!  If you’re looking to grow your business we’ve got a solution for you,” says Chris. “We’ll grow organically with the focus on premium materials, quality and workmanship, and training up the workforce.”

 Demand is already strong for S-Lab’s services, currently shaping and glassing up to 100 boards a week, but Chris says they’ll build capacity as required. “We’ll scale up steadily as we grow.  We want to focus on quality and also offer short turn around boards for Australian shapers and retailers and work closely with brands who are looking to grow with us. We’re not going to over-promise. We only want to make what we can make well and on time. We’d rather say no than take too much on.”

S-Lab traineeships are offered in collaboration with innovative Gold Coast-based education program CoeeGC, which uses surfing to engage and motivate students and prepare them for the real world after school, with work and training opportunities. 

Among the CoeeGC students taking up a S-Lab traineeship is Keo Bartholomew, son of 1978 world champ Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew. “He’s going really well. I’m just getting great reports,” says a clearly stoked Rabbit. “He’s there to learn. He’s just really keen on the whole thing. They’re really learning from the bottom up … He’s liking every part of it so far, the object being that he learns the whole lot and understands the relationship between each part of it. He’s learnt a lot quickly and he’s really having fun with it and getting a set of skills for life”.

S-Lab understands many of these trainees will move on to work elsewhere but believes renewing the surfboard industry workforce is one way they can give back to the entire industry. “He’s earning an income,  and learning the craft. At some stage he’ll know enough to have his own brand,” says Rabbit. “It’s grass roots, home grown manufacturing. When you look at it, so many people in the industry have been in there for a long, long time, but there are very few young kids who say I want to be a glasser, or I want to sand surfboards.”

 One of the shapers working closely with S-Lab is Adam “Sparrow” Fletcher and his popular Sparrow label. Having learnt his craft under the mentorship of Darren Handley, Sparrow has become one of the most in-demand shapers on the Gold Coast, with a meticulous attention to detail and quality. He also knows well how hard it is to find and retain good, skilled surfboard workers.

“Let’s educate these kids, that was my thing, that was a drawcard for me. No one wants to teach anyone,” says Sparrow. “We need to start getting kids skilled up because everyone’s poaching workers. We can get them skilled up so when they come out, they’ll have a job, and we’re protecting our work force. They all seemed pretty pumped. The kids are stoked.”

For more information on S-Lab’s services contact Chris Chamberlain via email at: chris@coastlinesinternational.com

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