Hayden Cox shaped his first surfboard when he was 15 years old, thinking more about replacing a broken board than the global business it would begin.
“It came about because I broke a board on summer holidays and I thought, why not do work experience at a shop in Mona Vale?"
"After a week of cleaning the factory and doing pretty much any job, I was lucky enough to shape a board on the Friday," says Hayden.
Word of mouth spread about the young shaper, and after spending some time working out of spare space in other board shaping factories, he finally took a step to have his own.
“I got my own factory around the corner and took the responsibility of hiring staff and taking full control," he says.
However, the challenges to come were enormous.
Hayden Cox shaped his first board at only 15 years old. Source: Supplied: Haydenshapes
A year into officially launching in 2007, the global financial crisis hit.
By 2011, he was at the edge of bankruptcy due to distribution challenges.
“I had to make a major change. I didn’t declare bankruptcy, and I decided I was going to pay back those debts."
"I had a great product and feedback but commercially it isn’t profitable. I had to look at it and say, what are my weaknesses? Why haven’t I been successful with that and how can I make that successful. I decided to partner with a global distributor and manufacturer who was capable of taking the technology globally and supplying a global demand.”
In a saturated market, the thing that set the Haydenshapes brand apart from the rest was Hayden's patented carbon fibre rail technology.
It was a carbon fibre frame that replaced the traditional wooden stringer in surfboards. It had never been introduced to the industry before.
The carbon fibre frame not only provided state of the art functionality, but it also introduced a fresh aesthetic to the boards.
“First and foremost was about the performance and the aesthetics came second to that. But a carbon fibre frame around the perimeter of the board created a beautiful silhouette that you can notice on the beach from a mile away.”
The brand's focus on aesthetics has made the customer base evolve from just pro-surfers to design-focused consumers. Source: SBS
It allowed Haydenshapes to not only be a leader in the surfboard space, but to take a seat at the table in the design industry.
Cox has collaborated with fashion luminary Alexander Wang on installations in New York and Tokyo, as well as worked on projects with top-tier brands IWC, Samsung, Audi and Google.
His surfboards regularly find themselves off the waves and in people’s homes as art, which is a testament the multilateral influence of the brand.
With boards ranging from $8,00 to $10,000, the brand has applied patent protections in the United State, Japan and Australia.
The technology innovation Haydenshapes is known for extends beyond the carbon fibre; The brand has also created online customisation tools for customers which can provide 2 million possible surfboard combinations.
The showrooms are fitted out with VR headsets to completely the full high-tech experience.
With boards sold in 70 countries, more than 30 staff in Australia and Asia and growing product collaborations, it’s a lifelong passion that shows no signs of slowing down.
Hayden Cox riding one of his boards. Source: Supplied: Haydenshapes
Hayden says, “I want to take our customer base on a journey – giving them something fresh and new every couple of years throughout the entire journey, and I am probably only a third of the way through. I will still want to build boards when I am 80.”
