People - Darren Spurling - Hooked on surfwear.

(From Financial Director)

The UK is not the most obvious country for a surfwear explosion. How do you explain it?

After France, the UK is the second-biggest boardsports market in Europe. The whole lifestyle of surfing is about beautiful beaches, it's very sexy. Anyone would like to be associated with that. The south-west of England is a very important surfing location. I know it's not quite the Maldives but the British National Surfing Championships was held in Tynemouth in Tyne & Wear this year so it's also spreading north too.

When did you realise surfwear was taking off?

The impact of satellite TV has been an enormous influence. Young people are seeing these kind of sports regularly. O'Neill has been in the UK since the late 1980s when brands like Ocean Pacific were doing T-shirts. But, in the mid-1990s, sports stores started trying to get more into fashion, and boardsports brands fit nicely into that niche.

Does everyone in the industry actually do boardsports?

Pretty much everyone does a bit. I'm more of a snowboarder than a surfer, but, since breaking my leg playing football last year, I play more golf.