The king of the beach: he is Argentine, he created an empire and transformed surfing into an Olympic sport
MAR DEL PLATA.– This man – who at 63 years old assures that he never knew how to and will never try to put together an Excel spreadsheet – made his way, in the late 1980s, from a small shop in the center of Mar del Plata. He pursued his dream and came to build, with his brother and in a short time, his own company: Reef, a true empire, with more than 200 direct employees and 5,000 jobs around the planet.
He was very young when, together with a small group of daredevils, he challenged the ban on surfing imposed by the military dictatorship. In 1978, to publicly express his rejection of the measure, he organized his first surfing championship. Now, forty-odd years later, he is the president of the International Surf Association, the highest authority in the sport in the world. With his particular style – he never wears a tie and whenever he can he chooses shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and a seashell necklace – he achieved an achievement that fills him with pride: he convinced the International Olympic Committee to bring “for the first time and forever” to the sport who is passionate about the Olympics. His dream debut was in Tokyo 2020.
Fernando Aguerre is now married, has four children and all the glory of being a successful businessman and leader. 37 years ago he settled in California, in one of the most beautiful and imposing mansions in La Jolla, always near the sea. However, every summer he returns to Chapadmalal, the place he chose more than two decades ago, where he has just inaugurated a new branch of Ala Moana, his first brand, the same one he founded more than four decades ago in local 11 of the Gallery Sao, which was "the beginning of everything".
"If what you achieve changes who you are, you lost," Aguerre assures La Nación from the store, which is also a kind of museum where he exhibits part of his life. There are faded posters of those surfers who were the idols of his youth and today, already veterans and in digital quality images, they pose with him as the president that their national associations elect over and over again since 1994. “All life, without realize, I had been preparing myself for this”, admits now.
For this interview he repeats, from head to toe, the outfit he used in Tokyo for the medal ceremony for the first Olympic surfing champions in history.
the first success
In the early 1980s, he traveled a bit in Europe and a bit in the United States. But there were five weeks in California that were definitive, that set the course for him. "There was a beach culture," insists Aguerre. He there he surfs the postman, the builder, the businessman and the public employee. It's hot all year. For me it was going from the picadito that we did here to playing in the Monumental”, he describes in a footballing tone and happy to have rescued the spirit of Eternal Summer (as the title of the first film that reflected surfing as a lifestyle and paved the way for this sport transcended languages, genders, borders and cultures).
When he returned to Mar del Plata, Fernando knew what he wanted. There were two surf shops in the city: one that lasted only a year and another that was owned by people much older than him and Santiago, his brother and his future partner. “Opening Ala Moana was a decision of ignorance, not of veteran entrepreneurs who did market research. But it was a fucking mother to us! ”, He tells and smiles. They were times of 'make and sell'. He remembers that the motorcycles brought garments from the factory and in the gallery they met rows of customers who had marked their shirts. "The stock went hot, with fresh seams," he describes. In Norma's car, the mother of the Aguerres, they went to Once to buy fabrics. They carried all the rolls they could and here they had dressmakers and seamstresses who made and assembled.
What was not there, was made: from the pita to tie the board to the foot to the paraffin to avoid slipping on the board. "My brother had brought the chemical formula from Peru," he confirms.
That huge clientele was also the result of other previous stages in the life of "El Rata", as they insist on calling him in his beloved Mar del Plata. "He had done everything," he says. He had gotten into the student center of the Mariano Moreno National College, organized parties and played music with unreleased vinyl in the city, which he brought from Brazil. “I was the first DJ from Argentina to play Genesis, they asked me what Kiss was,” he recalls.
Ala Moana was school and university for the Aguerre brothers, two small merchants who in a short time became monumental entrepreneurs. Santiago took the first leap and embarked for California, determined to escape the Mar del Plata winter and college. Fernando put his heart into his studies and did not stop until he graduated as a lawyer.
–How did you make the step from the surf shop to the company?
–When I graduated, my brother called me to go to California. "You're going to work as a lawyer and we're never going to see each other again," he told me. That was the first step towards Reef. I was 26 years old and it seemed to me that I was late for everything. Besides, he didn't want to live like a gringo. My brother had opened a surf shop there and we decided to travel around South America in search of merchandise to export to the United States.
–When did you feel that the big business was emerging?
-We went to Rio, but the cariocas don't give you a ball. We spent a whole week waiting for suppliers to buy from them. We had one day left, we went back to São Paulo, connected with factories and found a non-slip material for the boards. We started with 4,000 dollars in an apartment of 20 square meters, nobody knew us… And we sold 250,000 pieces in a year! Suddenly, we had found the “South America-California” connection.
–And then come the famous sandals, icon of the brand?
-With my brother we have flat feet and we cannot use the common flip-flops. We need bow. We design ergonomic sandals and use a new Nike material, ethyl vinyl acetate. Our sandals were light, comfortable, with an arch and a reasonable price. It was a boom, then we discovered the publicity, the riders, the girls.
The story goes that, after visiting different contacts, they came across a very first brand in the world of surfing that only made t-shirts and shorts. The Aguerres asked if they had sandals and showed them their models. "Make them yourselves," they replied. It was the trigger. They bought a factory that produced a very basic model and invested in assembly to achieve the sophisticated product that would later reach beaches around the world. "Ours became the surfer's sandals because there was no competition, when we started there was nothing," he recalls.
While he gladly donned the suit of CEO of Reef, "El Rata" did not leave the waves and, somehow, began to form the leader he is today. Fernando loves planks, longboards. It was at that time that he was incorporated into an Argentine team that participated in a continental competition. Right there, between tests and meetings, he created the Pan American Surf Association. Two days later he set a date for the First Pan American Tournament, on Isla Margarita.
Later he traveled to Rio de Janeiro with an Argentine team commanded by his brother. There, in parallel with the competition, the elections of the ISA, the highest body of surfing, were held. Someone, he doesn't remember who, he encouraged him: "Introduce yourself." Fernando got on that wave and added 16 votes out of a possible 31. "I went from a team player to FIFA president," he says.
–Why did they sell Reef?
-In 2005 we felt it was time to leave. It was a success, the company was growing all over the world, but we were no longer for that. It was big enough to sell and have financial peace of mind.
– Were you prepared to not work anymore?
-It was a depression. Life, for me, was the company. It was all Reef. Those who bought us gave us 30 days to empty offices. “You are Fernando, you are going to do something else”, a friend told me.
– And where did you put the focus?
–I focused on the Olympic surfing campaign that was slow. I started it in 2008 and I put everything into it. What until then seemed impossible, I made it inevitable.
-The Olympic leadership is elite.
–One day I am talking to someone about reaching the Olympic Games with surfing. After a while, a collaborator arrives and tells him: "His Royal Highness, we have to go." It was Frederick, prince and future king of Denmark. Like him, new faces appeared. Those who said no to surfing began to leave and others who said yes arrived.
– How does your profile fit among the solemnity of the Olympic leaders?
I have always been disruptive. The Olympic rings are sacred, you can't mess with that. And I showed up at an IOC meeting in a jacket with the rings stamped on the back. Even the president asked me for a photo!
–For them you are “the crazy surfer”?
–They already know me, they know that I am the character. I used to go to the Games as a guest, now I am the president of a Federation and I am part of the IOC. I put on a suit printed with seaweed and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg (for his Royal Highness Enrique) tells me: “This is incredible”. Being exotic is my brand. It became a benefit. I arrive and they laugh, they laugh. And if they laugh, you're already in. Everyone wears a tie, I bow. And at night I take off the white shirt, I put on the Hawaiian and the jacket, snail pendants, a blue whale tiki that a Maori chief made me...
–Can surfing be a popular sport one day?
-It's nice to see how people take advantage of surfing, but my hope is that they also take advantage of the defense of the sea. Surfing does you good before you hit the beach. Your head changes, the one who starts never leaves. In the world they prescribe surfing for different problems. The Duke (Kahanamoku, creator of modern surfing) was right.