Surf Industry Leader Says ‘It’s Chaos,’ and That Businesses Are Still Reeling Under Tariffs

February 27, 2026

Despite a recent ruling by the United States Supreme Court that many of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs are illegal, surf industry brands are still struggling to navigate an unstable economic landscape, according to Vipe Desai, executive director of the Surf Industry Members Association (SIMA).

Following the ruling, Trump issued a new 10 percent blanket tariff – at one point threatening to raise it to 15 percent – before ultimately implementing it this week at 10 percent. Even though for some importers, that rate is lower than what they were previously paying, the temporary reduction has done little to ease broader concerns across the surf industry.

“It’s still chaos. The relief is very little,” Desai said.

Desai, who meets monthly with industry executives at SIMA board meetings and maintains a constant pulse on the sector, said uncertainty around when and how tariffs are implemented has been particularly crippling. More than a year after the initial round of tariffs, some of the consequences are still unfolding.

“It’s becoming challenging for brands to operate here,” Desai said. “And I do see brands softening their approach to products in the U.S. – from licensing and distributorships to even wholly owned operations. People are just saying, ‘We’ll bypass the U.S. for now.’”

One clear example of this emerged when Julian Wilson revealed he’d fully removed his brand, Rivvia Projects, from the U.S. market, relocating its headquarters from California to Australia and forgoing a potential return to Championship Tour qualification in the process.

According to Desai, brands are now searching for creative ways to stay profitable – diversifying supply chains to countries hit less hard by tariffs or establishing entirely new manufacturing routes. He describes the industry’s response as unfolding in three phases: first, absorbing costs while trying to understand the situation; second, interrupted budgets and early cost-cutting; and now, a third phase marked by deep cuts.

“Phase three was employees, and we started to see that at the end of last year with layoffs,” Desai said.

He also noted that some companies are still dealing with elevated tariff rates that predate the most recent policy shifts. The Inertia