Surfers helping surfers

In an effort to “share the feeling” and assist local surfing outreach programs in underprivileged areas, Billabong South Africa have launched the Surfers Helping Surfers initiative that encourages all surfers to donate their old wetsuits and in exchange, qualify for a discount on a new Billabong suit.

Surfers Helping Surfers has collection bins set up in all coastal Billabong stores across South Africa where surfers can drop off their old wetsuits. In return they qualify for a 20% discount off any new Billabong suit.

The old wetsuits are then collected, sorted and distributed to a number of recognized surf outreach programs that Billabong currently supports; these include Surf Shack, Aleph and Christian Surfers.

Chad D’Arcy, Marketing Manager for Billabong said: “This is the first year we’re running this campaign and so far the response has been fantastic. We launched the initiative at our first Billabong Junior Series event in Mossel Bay in April and to-date we have had over 50 wetsuits donated through our stores. It is a great way for surfers to give back and to help less fortunate kids share in the stoke of riding waves. We are aiming to do our first handover in July and keep the campaign running through our stores indefinitely.”

Rehgert Van Zyl, Founder and Director of Aleph Surfing Foundation, said: “‘A wetsuit can tell many epic stories of surf sessions that have been spent with its owner, but once a surfer gets a new suit, the old one is quickly forgotten and ends up discarded. Billabong is taking initiative to continue the life of a wetsuit by creating avenues for people to donate their old suits to some amazing surf related causes – and get some reward for it!“

“It’s great to see a company connecting the dots and channeling wetsuits to people who do not have the same access to resources. As an organization we can then share and send wetsuits where they are very needed and appreciated. What a way to make surfers from either ends of the scale be part of the same process of sharing in the stoke. I would encourage people to make use of this opportunity presented by Billabong and be intentional with giving and receiving. Aleph Surf International is honored to steward these suits and make a lot of surfers and other projects very happy.”

Below are the Billabong Stores in the Eastern Cape running the Surfers Helping Surfers initiative, where you can drop off your old suit:

 ·      Billabong Boardwalk Port Elizabeth
 ·      Billabong Moffet Park Port Elizabeth
 ·      Billabong Concept Store J-Bay
 ·      Billabong Magna’s Surf Store J-Bay