Global surf wear giant Quiksilver today announced a new and exciting project in design innovation.

Refining and applying the latest advances in biomechanics to its board-riding equipment is the philosophy. Optimizing and enhancing performance in (surf, snow and skate) board-riding is the goal.

It’s a collaborative and ongoing project that sees Malcolm Brown - a celebrated Australian physiotherapist (ex-Wallabies and NSW Rugby) and biomechanics expert with an intimate knowledge of surfing – working closely with Quiksilver’s design teams and board-riders. In doing so the design process is being informed by and developed through the anatomical insights from sports science and the critical performance testing of elite board-riding. And significant results have already emerged as Brown explains:

"Taking performance based elements from other sports and reshaping them into garments that are both highly surf specific as well as revolutionary in their ability to improve the surfers potential is a very exciting and challenging concept. And after meeting and working with the design team and board-riders from Quiksilver, it is obvious that this level of professionalism, expertise and enthusiasm has created a boardshort that will have significant and long-lasting impact on surf-wear design."

The unique (Patent Pending) combination of compression internal and performance banding has been created with a clear vision of where surfing can go if elite performance is enhanced not hindered by a boardshort. By maximizing core strength, muscle efficiency and leg power, it enhances performance whilst you surf. And by reducing muscle damage and fatigue, the boardshort provides for improved recovery when you’re not. It’s the first dividend from a design project that is for the long-term and the future.

For over 40 years now style, function and (most importantly) performance have been the bedrocks of Quiksilver design.

Materials have got stronger, lighter and more flexible. Designs have reflected and often anticipated the technological and cultural zeitgeist: Snaps and Velcro Flies, Yoked Waist, Scalloped Legs, ST Comp Range, Gen X, Air Core, The Cell.

And this new design project is underpinned by those same core principles. But it’s also framed by a clear understanding that as elite board-riders continue to aggressively and rapidly push the boundaries of the possible, surf, snow and skate equipment must do likewise.

Quiksilvers Research and Development is a design blueprint and a way ahead. A project that will innovate board-riding through performance enhancing design. And the first quantum leap has now been made. But it’s just the beginning.

QSR+D: QUIKSILVER RESEARCH + DEVELOPMENT