History
The Cronulla Surf Design story is one that reflects many from this southern Sydney surf town. The area has had a strong influence on Australian Surfing Culture, from a surfing perspective but also through surf retail and surfboard manufacturing.
This has been acknowledged nationally by the declaration of Cronulla as a National Surfing Reserve; which are ‘iconic’ places of intrinsic environmental, heritage, sporting and cultural value to our nation.
Caption: Mark Aprilovic, surf retail and surf school pioneer Photo: John Veage
In 1979 surfer Mark Aprilovic made the finals of the Cronulla regional eliminations for the NSW State titles - the big event for local Cronulla surfers, finishing behind Ross Marshall, Peter Smith, Craig Naylor, Ant Bourke and Wayne Tyte.
He decided in order to improve his competitive surfing skills he should join the newly formed Cronulla Boardriders Club, and that started a lifetime in the surfing industry.
“I personally didn't fare too well, however, I enjoyed the camaraderie and competition of the club. We also assisted and fostered some of our younger members, to help them compete away from home where we would usually camp out and had some great weekends away.” Mark said
“I'd just purchased a Nat Young surfboard from John Whitfield, at a flat behind Susan's dress shop on the corner of Cronulla Street and Ocean Grove - It had a big sign in the doorway ‘Nat Young Surf Design’.
“John had set up a display with a few boards and T shirts in the front room of a unit with not much else. I'd told John about how good the club was going and left it at that, about three weeks after he called to see if I was interested in buying his stock and taking over his small operation- as it had Nat's name up front I asked him what his deal was.
Mark decided to go over with John and visit Nat and his parter Ti, to see if it was worth a go.
“Nat Young was very open and straight forward, saying everyone came to him to sell their products so he and Ti would point them my way and assist me as much as possible.
“They had a great Surf Shop on Pittwater Rd at Mona Vale which had a huge wave mural on a wall you would see coming down Pittwater Rd and the shop had everything a surfer could want"
“I really loved my surfing and thinking about John's offer I thought nothing ventured nothing gained, so I agreed to give it a go"
Mark's life savings of $1500 was the same value of John's stock, there was no business name registered and the premises had no lease. So Mark decided to put all his funds and wages into building up the stock and hoped for the best.
“I'd visit Nat and Ti once a week and pick their brains about what was going well and try to open good accounts from reputable companies. I didn't know what to call the business so, on one of my visits I asked Nat what it should be called, he said he was Nat Young Surf Design so suggested calling it Cronulla Surf Design"
So in late 1980 with a brand new business and new name, it was time make it official and on the 13th of January 1981 Mark formally registered the name and legally started the business.
After six months in Cronulla, Aprilovic was notified that the building was to be demolished so his Surf Design business was nearly finished before he really got started. Fortunately, a friend, Gary Yealand, who worked at Ne Hi takeaway near the Cronulla Rail Station knew of a small shop for lease at 19 Beach Park Avenue behind the Miami Milk bar on Gerrale Street.
Ken Hanney the landlord was happy to give him a go, so he relocated there with a real shop front opposite Cronulla Beach.
Caption: Mark in store, between surfs at Cronulla Point. Photo: John Veage
“Slowly but surely as I got good accounts from suppliers, I expanded board brands from Nat Young and Hot Buttered, Aloha Surfboards, O'Neil Wetsuits Australia (Barry Bennett's brand that he registered in Australia blocking O'Neil America) and a few other smaller fringe labels.
“As well as getting great support from the local board rider’s we had a constant stream in the summer months of surfers getting off the train and walking down Beach Park Avenue to the beach and we were the first surf shop that they passed- turnover really started to improve.”
One of the young grommets that got off the train from Engadine was Stuart Patterson. He was always hanging around the shop to see if he could help and with an artistic flair, would sit at the end of the shop counter drawing waves and anything surf related.
Mark said he’d been thinking of a distinctive logo to go with his new business name that combined the waves that draw surfers to the beach.
“Seeing Stuart's drawings we discussed making the C in Cronulla into a wave to see how it looked, the concept had merit but was a little rough so Stuart took it home and worked on it overnight, coming back the next day with it cleaned up. We were both pretty excited so I took it to Phantom T-shirts who had a team of graphic designers to put the finishing touches on it. We did our first batch of Cronulla Surf Design t-shirts and the rest is now Cronulla surfing history”.
After many years in the retail game and also pioneering one of Cronulla and the countries first surf schools, Mark decided to take on new challenges. A few sort transitions of the business led to it becoming dissolved.
This provided an opportunity for Mark to transfer his now trade-marked label, to good friends Brad and Fiona Whittaker, who had expressed an interest in ensuring the iconic local brand lived on, in the local surf scene.
Caption: Brad working at Mark's surf school in the 1990s. Photo: John Veage
In 2024 Brad and Fiona modernised the distinctive Cronulla Surf Design logo and have also worked with local photographers to collaborate on a range of retro surf tees, that celebrate the local surf culture and pay tribute to the areas rich surfing history.
Take a trip down memory lane with the Bob Weeks Photo Collection tees, grab a time honoured classic featuring the original CSD wave logo or pick one of the fresh new designs they have created.
"Mark remains a guiding presence and a good friend, I regularly run ideas past him out in the water or over a coffee at a local beachside cafe" said Brad
"Just a Mark did, when he started the business, we are also connecting with the local boardriders clubs and also supporting a number of local surfers, as they embark on their own surfing journeys" said Fiona
Caption: Kye Spencer at North Cronulla. Photo: Brad Whittaker