FORUM DES MÉTIERS DE LA GLISSE 2025 - AN EDITION THAT REAFFIRMS THE STRENGTH OF OUR CULTURE

 

Wednesday, March 26 - Salles du Trinquet, Hossegor

This Wednesday, March 26, France Travail Saint Vincent de Tyrosse and EuroSIMA, in partnership with the Ville d'Hossegor, Communauté de Communes MACS and Wave Radio, organized the 6ᵉ edition of the Forum des Métiers de la Glisse. With over 200 participants, 18 company and training center stands, and nearly 60 job and internship offers on offer, the event confirmed its central role in the board sports professional landscape.

Beyond the meetings, job offers and stands, a strong message emerged this year: to progress in our Action Sports sector, it's not enough to "work in snow sports" - you have to understand it, live it and embody it. Throughout the round-table discussions and discussions with recruiters, one word came up again and again: culture. The kind that gives meaning, coherence and authenticity to our companies' projects.

 

 

A ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION: THE DNA OF OUR BRANDS AT THE HEART OF THE MATTER

Hosted by Élise Laven (Wave Radio), the round-table discussion featured four professionals sharing their experiences, backgrounds and advice.

Fanny Duhamel, ESG Coordinator at Rip Curl Europe (KMD), presented a job at the crossroads of strategy, environmental commitment and teamwork. She holds a position created two years ago, the only one dedicated to these issues in Europe at Rip Curl. The brand is part of the KMD Brands group, certified B Corp™ since 2019, and has itself obtained this certification in 2023. A team of eight people is dedicated to CSR at the Australian headquarters; Fanny is now the main relay for these commitments for Europe.

Her role? As a specialist in environmental, social and governance issues, she coordinates Rip Curl Europe's CSR initiatives. Her tasks particularly concern waste reduction, eco-design and recycling programs. Her role is to integrate these issues into the company's global strategy and support its sustainable transition. She is also behind the Sustainable Club, an internal committee bringing together a representative from each department to co-construct a CSR roadmap for the coming seasons.

"My job touches on everything: regulatory, logistics, HR, product... You have to know how to adapt, listen and get teams on board."

With a background in international trade, Fanny built up her CSR expertise on her own, through monitoring, webinars, reading and meetings. Today, she is constantly on the lookout for traceability, sourcing and regulatory issues.

"Our industry is attractive because it allows you to mix personal values with your passion and the professional world. It's a real luxury to be able to align your convictions with your job."

 

 

Pierre Frechou, a freelance film-maker specializing in the outdoors, gave a candid account of his unusual career path and the reality of his profession. A former hotelier, he changed direction nine years ago, driven by his passion for nature and the need to create. Self-taught, he taught himself video and editing, then rounded out his profile with water photography, drone piloting and directing. Today, he makes his living as a freelance filmmaker, between documentaries in extreme conditions (surfing, mountains, expeditions), various projects for brands such as Oxbow, Picture, [...] but also for more institutional structures.

"What I like is to tell a story that sticks to the customer's universe. You have to immerse yourself in who they are, and what they want to convey."

His approach is highly personal, far removed from standardized formats: he often starts from visual briefs or moodboards, and enjoys great creative freedom in many projects. But he makes no secret of the challenges associated with his freelance status:

"Being self-employed means having to manage everything: customer management, prospecting, communication - even Instagram, which I don't love, but which I think is a must - and administration, especially flight declarations for the drone. It's a status that offers a lot of freedom, but not only that..."

He also insists on the strength of the message, in a world saturated with videos:

"Culture and heritage have become very important for brands lately. The message is increasingly important at a time when we consume videos in abundance.é."

Marie Aurélie Cazaux, Head of Merchanding & Design at Liberated Brands (Volcom), described her job as that of an orchestra conductor. Heading up the product team, she manages the collections of several brands: Volcom, Electric, Spyder and Captain Fin. Trained at Montpellier Sup de Co, with a stint in Argentina and then at Rip Curl on a sandwich course, she has built up a solid profile combining management, product vision and knowledge of services.

"In general, a product manager is immersed in the world of this profession, but does not necessarily come from a design background. I'd advise having had a varied career, because a product manager has to work with virtually every department. It's a fairly cross-functional job, so it's important to have had a variety of experiences to understand what's at stake. In addition, a product manager needs to have a keen eye for trends. And finally, of course, you have to love your brand's DNA and values.

She emphasized the cross-functional nature of her job: bridging the gap between design, purchasing, logistics, sales... while remaining aligned with the brand's DNA.

"There are a lot of fantasies surrounding our jobs. Yes, it's exciting, but we also have deadlines, rushes and reporting. The sector sometimes suffers from its 'cool' reputation, but the reality is that we work a lot."

 

Valentin Bourgeon, Brand Marketing Director, Billabong (Boardriders), shared his vision of marketing in the board sports world, with humor and lucidity.

"I wasn't good enough to have a sticker on my board, so I wanted to be the guy who gave them away."

Trained in the field, he started out managing events and teams at Dakine, then Nixon, before joining Boardriders, where he helped create the regional marketing department for Roxy Europe. He is now head of marketing for Billabong Europe, with a small dedicated team and constant interaction with the group's other brands. He describes a job where you have to tell the brand story, manage campaigns, digital strategy, athletes, media plans, shops... but also understand the identity of a product or collection to reach the right targets.

"Marketing is a false dream job," he confided with a smile. "The aim is to give visibility to the collection, but above all to make it exist beyond the product, through the brand's universe. We work closely with the product managers, draw up the media plan, manage social networks, sport marketing, athletes, events... it's all part of bringing the brand to life. Of course, there are numerical targets to meet, but you always have to stay connected to the story you want to tell."

What counts for him is not just technique or numbers, but the ability to understand the codes of gliding, to appropriate the references, to capture what makes riders tick.

"I'm convinced that passion and culture take precedence over technical skills, which can be acquired. Challenging yourself, staying on top of things, getting to know the brands in depth: for me, these are the real keys to evolving in this industry."

 

COMPANIES IN SEARCH OF MEANING, CURIOUS PROFILES CONNECTED TO THE FIELD

The afternoon continued with job dating, bringing together a wide range of industry players. The recruiters all emphasized the one thing they had in common: in addition to a diploma or CV, they were looking for people who understood the codes and realities of snow sports.

This year's forum welcomed some twenty companies: Rip Curl / KMD Brands, Meent, Boost, Liberated Brands / Volcom, Pyrénéance, Oxbow, Aspom, Pyrenex, Boardriders (shops), Pull-In, Vans, Cool Shoe and MC Box Events. Training: EMS - École des Métiers du Surf, EKLORE-ed, Sport Project / Modula, Inspire Academy and Talis.

The exchanges were rich, often very direct, between young people in orientation, candidates in reconversion, curious people, and companies looking for profiles who share their values.

 

 

MORE THAN A PROFESSION, A SHARED CULTURE

Forum 2025 will have highlighted what makes our industry so strong: a close link between passion, professionalism and belonging to a universe "A community driven by passion

With more than 4,000 jobs in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and sales of 2.1 billion euros, the boardsports industry continues to recruit, but above all, it's looking for aligned, curious, creative profiles, capable of understanding the story a brand wants to tell.

See you in 2026 to continue inspiring and promoting our culture! In the meantime, find out more about the industry at www.eurosima.com/emplois 

 

>> Click here to see photos of the event