LIKE: NEED ESSENTIALS

BOARDS & BIKES — 11/02/2016 — by Anders Krischan

You surf, dive, boogey or SUP? You like being out in the water for hours? Good fun isn’t it! But boy, do I hate buying wetsuits. I know my size by now. Consistent Large. But this is only a start. Avoiding the senseless application of fluo color neopren panels usually goes along with upgrading price-points to a degree where you could also simply have traveled to a warm water destination. Cost wise that is. Still, you need these cold water skins since they are essentials to your lifestyle. What a dilemma…

How about those prices anyways?! Do 400 plus bucks in the shop rightfully reflect the cost of this wetsuits production? The cost of creation, the cost of sourcing material, of testing, the estimated cost of warranty cases, the cost of the company’s overhead, workforce, taxes and social spendings, logisitics, distribution, the cost of advertising and endorsing, the margin shop-keepers are asking for and of course the producers rent – meaning the amount of money the producer wants to claim as his stake? Is this alright?

Yes! Says the board-sport industry since it, like most consumer good industries, is an industry built on the sales of semi-innovative product – and on heavy marketing. Means crazy color and a lot of advertising cost and thus me paying the equal of a trip to somewhere warm for a wetsuit. I literally buy in on this system. Have to, … No options?

NEEDessentials provides innovative product without the marketing spendings. No warranty, no sponsorships, very little advertising, no hangtags and expensive logos, no mega movie projects, no shops but direct online distribution… A lot of the things we deem to be normal at this point of time NEED does not provide. But a slick looking 3/2 at approx. 200 OZ Dollars. Can’t really argue with that. Or can you? We sent Ryan from NEED our brand interview LIKE: in order to learn about his enterprise. He cut our regular LIKE: short too – basically to the point of what his brand does: Wetsuits. No excess.

What does your brand do?

NEEDessentials is a supply network that makes premium surfing wetsuits for a fraction of the price.

What got you started? What is the main purpose of a brand?

We started NEED as an alternative to all the other surf brands in the market. We couldn’t understand why surfers had to pay for advertising, mark ups, branding, packaging and the cost of people to endorse their products when buying a wetsuit. So we created something that we wished existed that didn’t; A non brand! A supply network that only focused on the best product at the best price. Our design ethos is simply – Use the best materials, manufacturers and components and get it to people who need it at the best price.

Can you state a song or a type of music, which reflects the spirit of your brand?

Its more the sound of silence than any song. Its that quite moment in-between songs.

If people were telling you they buy every piece you produce – what were your answer to this?

Thats great if they need it and we are stoked they like our products however NEED is really about inspiring people to not have excess in their own lives. We live in a world where over consumption in many countries has become excessive. I live a live (built on) a very modest lifestyle and NEED was created to cater for other surfers like me that choose to live simple and don’t want to subscribe to excess.

Is there too much hype around brands generally?

Hype is always going to be just that! Creditability is more important than hype I believe. Creditability can only be achieved buy gaining trust from a community over many years. We plan to be here for a long time and we hope that we can continue to build trust with surfers over the coming years by consistently delivering good products without all the hype and noise.

Thank you Ryan.