Shaped By She
Hand-shaped longboards that led to user friendly easy-to-get-on board bags (surf socks), and branded t-shirts too.
The quest for a longboard surfboard cover (or commonly known as a surf sock) that was easy to get on and off started when Gillian Grove moved from shortboarding to longboarding and began her longboard shaping journey.
As an artist, she struggled with finding a cover for her longboard that was ‘pretty’. But the frustrations had only just begun.
Used to using a standard board sock for her shortboards and throwing them in and out of car without thought, the game changed when Gill moved to trying put her 9.6ft longboard in and out of a cover in the same manner.
Like so many of you, Gill realized very quickly that getting a wet 9.6ft longboard in and out of a surf sock was a nightmare tug of war resulting in a 20 min battle that brought up memories of trying to get into jeans 2 sizes too small.
Frustrated, Gill forked out more cash on a super padded silver cover. But her problems only compounded.
Surfing daily meant that her precious longboard was rarely dry, so the next time she went to pull it out of the silver cover, the moisture acted like a kind of glue holding the board in pace.
This led to a bizarre ritual of back and forth movement from nose to tail to try and nudge the board out, or she resorted to begging the nearest passer by to stand on one end while she tugged the board out of the other end.
Already obsessed with longboard design from her budding shaping career, Gill put her thinking cap on and roped in local mother and super sewer Abby to help her bring her new idea to life.
Abby grew up on the mid North Coast NSW Australia and has surfed for many years. Last year Abby had baby Flora.
No one wants to go back to work when they have a little one at home and so when Gill reached out to Abby to make use of her mad design and sewing skills it was the perfect match.
The result is a new range of board covers designed by women for women (and their men) that are:
- easy to get on and off
- provide maximum protection for your precious slide
- come in a range of beautiful colours
- are wax and waterproof
- can be shipped anywhere in the world
- are locally and therefore sustainably made
- support women in surfing (and their men!)