Sliding sports

Sliding sports

The Landes, a privileged location for international firms in the sliding sports sector

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Surf has been practised on the waves crashing onto the beaches of the Landes since the 1960s. The département boasts some of the best spots in the world, such as the legendary “la Gravière”.
Every year, the Landes département hosts one of the two European stages of the surfing World Championship: the Quiksilver Pro.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, this sport has become an economic sector in its own right, with most of the major Australian and American “sliding” brands based in the Landes. Some, like Billabong and Rip Curl, have even built their European registered office here in the Pédebert area of Soorts-Hossegor.

Initially a “cottage industry”, the sector now accounts for some 1,000 direct jobs in the département.

While the textiles (75%) are not produced in France, the marketing, design and logistics departments are for the most part based in the Landes.