About company
In 1973, surfers Rich Novak, Jay Shuirman, and Doug Haut had a dream to start a surfboard company. It was the ultimate business, they thought–surf in the morning, answer calls and shape boards in the afternoon, and surf again until dark. They opened a shop, called it Santa Cruz Surfboards, and manufactured in the back. It was a dream come true, except that the dream wasn’t turning much of a profit. That’s when the partnership, incorporated as NHS Inc., began to falter. Novak and Shuirman decided to make skateboards out of the excess fiberglass from their surfboard manufacturing, but Haut wasn’t interested. He sold his shares and went on to establish his own surfboard brand. As their skateboard operation picked up, Novak and Shuirman were selling their skateboards across the US, with department stores as far away as Hawaii eager to stock Santa Cruz skateboards. Nowadays, Santa Cruz produces also snowboarding and surfing equipment.
