City Beat: Noosa’s Thomas Surfboards rides $3m wave

A Queensland surfboard business started by a teenager in his mother’s garage is now a $3m success story riding a wave of global success.

A surfboard business started by a teenager in his mother’s garage has transformed into a $3m operation that is set to take on the biggest waves around the world.

Thomas Bexon “shaped" his first Malibu surfboard as a 14-year-old, going on to start Noosa-based Thomas Surfboards that now produces 2000 boards each year.

Bexon, now 39, and business partner Jake Bowrey will open a retail outlet in Pererenan, Bali, over the next couple of weeks as the business builds its international reputation among the surfing elite and expands manufacturing capacity.

The brand got a huge boost earlier this month after one of its surfboards was used by Harrison “Harry” Roach to secure the 2022 Longboard World Championship in Malibu.

Bexon tells City Beat that Roach’s win comes at an opportune time for Thomas Surfboards as it expands into Japan, the US, Taiwan, Europe and Israel. Revenue has risen from $500,000 five years ago to $3m.

Since Roach’s victory, Bexon says he has been fielding dozens of calls about the $2190 Noserider used by the champion.

Roach and Bexon met more than 15 years ago through their shared love of surfing. Roach took up a sponsorship with the brand and they have been collaborating ever since.

“It is pretty rare to find a surfer who really understands designs and principles and for a board designer like me it’s a dream because you really get detailed feedback and can keep applying it through to final design,” he says.

Thomas Bexon

He says he was stoked to have made the trek to Malibu to see his friend take the world title in early October. “The relationship definitely has paid off,” Bexon says. “Harry was the only surfer to show up to the world championship with only one board.

“Different conditions mean riders could opt for different boards and that can be a hindrance mentally but if you only have one then it’s less mental guess work on the big day.

“The board was designed specifically to slow Harry’s momentum on the Malibu swell so he could spend more time on the nose of the wave and hang ten.

“We know the judges in this competition score highly for those manoeuvres. He’s given everything to surfing and had a really good crack over the last couple of years so to make it at the world title made this win so much sweeter.”

Bexon says that while the actual shape and design of surfboards have not changed much over the decades, the same does not apply to manufacturing techniques. “I started off hand shaping with a plane,” he says.

“Now a lot of work is done using CAD (computer-assisted design) which allows you to be more accurate and make small design changes.”

He says the Covid-19 pandemic spurred major growth in surfing as it became one of the few activities allowed during lockdowns.

“The whole Covid thing really accelerated the popularity of surfing across all age groups,” Bexon says.

“Everyone from seven-year-olds to people in their 70s or 80s are taking it up.”

He adds there also has been a surge in women and girls surfing.

“When I started out, there were very few girls but now most of the people I see on long boards are girls,” he says.

Continued customer demand has led Thomas Surfboards to recently expand their Noosa factory by half, allowing them to boost capacity to 3000 boards per annum.

The business also has hired an Indonesian general manager who will source factory options for up to 600 boards to be sold at the Bali retail outlet.

Harrison Roach on his longboard