Coco Ho On The Business Of Surfing

I have had the pleasure of crossing paths with Coco Ho many times over the years and let me tell you right now that friendly, warm, happy go lucky gal you see on the gram, well she’s as bright as that in real life.

A little cheekier too and always, always down for a good time. After a lifetime on the tour, Coco has stepped into being a full time surf biz entrepreneur, making it look like this gig is a breeze compared to pulling on a jersey. Since launching her female board brand XO COCO SURF alongside shaper Matt Parker, Coco continues to positively impact the future of women’s surfing, from employing women at every stage of brand to catering to the women first in terms of design instead of historically the other way around. Everyone knows Coco is from an iconic surfing bloodline, and this era is proving that to no end.

Coco, how have you been? 

I’ve just been sitting in my house waiting for my eye to heal. 

Oh shit, pterygium? 

Yeah, every story you’ve probably ever heard is horrible but mine was fine. Almost no pain, a bit swollen but I tried to be all healthy and not take ibuprofen and probably delayed healing by two weeks which is why I missed the Nines but it’s only been a month. 

Damn a whole month, that’s gotta be the longest time out of the water for you? 

Yeah, all my friends' stories are pretty tragic with how long they had to be out of the water though so mine isn’t too bad. 

How have you been other than that? 

Good! I was just in Aus for a little weather down on the South Coast and then cruising with the girls up in Burleigh, then straight to Japan. Life is flying by, it’s scary how fast it is going. 

I feel that. Also thanks for chatting today, it’s been a long time coming. 

I know we’ve crossed paths so much. 

It’s nice to finally lock you down to talk because, I mean, you’re an undisputed icon of surfing. Obviously it’s been a few years off the competition train, how are you sitting with life as a pro surfer nowadays? 

Yeah like I said, life is going faster than ever. I thought life on tour was fast because it was just, you know, Snapper, Bellz, Margs, next one, next one, it was hard to ever be fully present anywhere. I don’t know if it’s a universal thing this time going by so quickly but yeah right now I am very much in the business side of surfing, just a lot of learning. Most of it on the fly (laughs), but really enjoying it. 

How has the feedback been since launching XO Coco? I’ve seen a few girlies surfing them around the place. 

Yeah it’s starting to pop up everywhere. We have Avalon running the show in Aus pretty much by herself. We’re in the same boat where we’re just learning everything on the fly. Kudos to her because she is just holding it down. I’ve seen her grow so much just in this last year. I’m sure everyone is saying the same things about me too. At the moment we’re focusing heavily on the US and Australia but we’re also having distribution conversations elsewhere. It’s evolving so much. 

I love to hear that. For those who don’t know much about boards, what are the aspects that make a surfboard more women focused? 

Definitely not colour. 

(Laughs) Oh my god, one more time for the people in the back. 

It's all about foam distribution, where the thickness is, where the width is, where the wide part of the board is. The placement of those factors are the key elements that alter a board for a female. Matt Viola would tweak those aspects for all his female riders but it was never something that was marketed. You don’t walk into a board shop and see a rack of female surfboards. There’s not a specific female surfboard brand and yet there are specific elements that make them more female skewed. That’s what XO COCO is though. 

I just want to say I think it is really true that XO COCO is doubling down on it, specifically being a female board brand. I feel like surfing has been really scared of ostracizing the boys but the fellas have never thought twice when it’s the other way around. It’s just really cool to see. And by you no less. 

It’s funny because all the boys are like, what’s the difference? Like sure if you ride one of these boards and it works for you then it works for you but the dimensions are specifically designed for females. The fins are placed for females. Obviously girls have surfed ‘mens’ boards forever, and we were the mens clothes, that’s just how it has gone but it is cool to have this out there. There is a fun edit coming out with Noah Benchen and HHHHH surfing XO COCO boards so they obviously can be surfed by whoever but..

But you’re just not trying to cater to the boys first and foremost.

Yeah. It’s interesting because in snowboarding and skating there are female boards and it comes down to the width because our feet are naturally smaller. You go onto Burton’s website and there’s a clear womens and mens snowboard section but it has never been that way with surfboards apart from the clothes. And even then everyone knows the females sell more of the clothes. I had never even thought about it like that until Matt Parker mentioned it. 

For sure, to be honest neither had I but it seems so obvious now. On that note, what is your take on women’s surfing right now? 

Oh, it's absolutely incredible. I mean, we knew we'd get here and not discredit anyone, because the boards are better, the wave pools are insane. It's just a time and a place thing.

Totally. 

So many amazing women before me like Lynne Boyer, Rochelle (Ballard), Megan (Abubo) who did their thing. Then Steph came on and did her thing and I was kind of right around there. Now the girls are even gnarlier and better. When I first started seeing that I kind of was like ‘why didn’t we charge harder fifteen years ago?’ but now I understand we all played our part. I’m so stoked. Stoked to see it. Stoked to still be in it. 

For sure. I mean even just the way surf media has changed around females is so fucking good to see. Am I allowed to ask if there’s anything in surfing that still pisses you off though? 

I mean there’s equal pay on tour but everyone knows there’s still not equal pay at the brands. It’s still a really hidden secret as to what everyone gets paid. And I’m certain women buy more than men so we actually sell more products and do more for the brand… 

Doesn’t add up no. On the brand side of things, you obviously do a lot of collabs. I like that you push outside of the mainstream surf brands as well. Is there a certain criteria with a brand they have to hit for you to want to partner with them and have your name associated? 

One hundred percent. More often I’m thinking, when do I say no? For me that’s when I won’t actually use the product. Sure sometimes things haven’t come out exactly as I’ve envisioned, it’s not the colourway I would have preferred or it’s overly floral because floral still sells or my tastes have changed from that point in my life. But the product itself has to be something that I use and can travel with. That’s the inspiration for everything. I’ll be like oh I didn’t have a strong enough suit for the backdoor so let’s make a more sporty one, or I didn’t have a cute bikini to tan with for the Maldives. Real life scenarios inspire my collections and ranges. A good example is with Swatch. I love a dressy watch but you can’t wear that in the water so then we did that. I try to make everything I want or want to see. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they don’t.

And are you hands on with the design process? 

Absolutely, because I’m going to be the one having to shoot it, post it, get behind it. There’s been a couple of times where brands have gone oh well this will sell better but I would never wear it so it doesn’t go ahead or at least not with my name on it. 

I back that. Talking about authenticity, can I just say to anyone that hasn’t met you and sees how you are on your socials that’s actually how you are in real life. You’re easily one of the most authentic, warmest people in surfing. Are there parts of having to be so online that you struggle with even though you’ve managed to do it so well? 

I’ve always had this crazy take that online and social media was always really inspiring to me. I don’t know if I just have a good algorithm but whenever I’m on Instagram I’m getting served really inspiring stuff. It’s just always been really good shit. I also remember watching Beyonce documentaries and she was just so real and authentic. Just the right amount of letting people in and being honest. She schooled me on how to do social media. Sometimes I am oddly honest online and sometimes I don’t tell everyone everything. I think there’s a beauty to that. 

I think there is a skill to that, yeah. I think some people try to fabricate that though but you’re just not at all like that. You’ve obviously been in the spotlight since you were a kid and I know so many young people see you as a role model, especially wrapping up competitive surfing and still being as influential as you are in the surf world, if not more. Do you ever feel like you have a responsibility with the platform you’ve made with yourself? 

One hundred percent. I also feel like my platform extends out to the water too. It’s Bettylou and Zoe out there picking my brain at Rocky’s. The other day both of them were like ‘Oh I’m going to Newcastle, I don’t want to leave’ and I just was like ‘No Newcastle is sick!’ Live coaching them. I had Steph doing that on tour for me. I always wanted to go home and she was always telling me that home would always be there. I had the best influence right from my rookie year. Now if I hear a kid complain that they’re in France and want to go home I’m like nope, you want to be here. Because it eventually slows down. I mean I’m still doing it but not as much and I look back now and I'm like damn that was really the best time ever. 

Are there any other young kids coming up that you think we should have our eye on? 

I think every young girl coming up is going crazy**. I mean it was just the other day that Erin Brooks was twelve and now she’s blowing it up on tour. Milla Coco Brown just seemed to show up out of nowhere last year. She sent me a photo of me and her when she was a grom and I was on tour. And now she’s smoking me at Natural Selection. Then Skai Suitt at Swatch Nines did the best women’s air. So much talent about. Everyone I watch is doing something incredible. 

Are you putting the jersey on for any more events this year? 

I was devastated to miss the Swatch Nines because I love trying to do airs. There’s a few here and there. I’ll be going to the Quik fest in France. Last year they had the J Bay Invitational which was so cool. I hope more events like that pop up. It’s a good time for it. There’s a lot of us that aren’t competing but are still down for it in the right environment. 

And trips planned for the immediate future? 

I think I’ll be coming back down to Australia for the winter. Avoid the Indo crowd for a bit. That’s the usual summer plan for me.