Today the Australian Financial Review ran an extensive article on Kelly Slater and Outerknown. Written by British fashion journalist Marion Hume, the two first met at the London College of Fashion and later at Kering's London headquarters.

During the conversation Slater opens up about OK's launch ("a big FU"), why he walked away from Quiksilver, and why despite ethical overtones OK still make clothes in China.

*******

"He was doing radical manoeuvres. I thought, 'this guy is going to wreak a fair bit of havoc' . . . that, and he had the lethal competitive attitude of a great white shark."

How well these words sum up the guy who has me in an eye-lock, a disrupter who wants to shake up the murkiest corners of the clothing business, the ones in which dirt-cheap sweatshirts are piled high. A guy who's not afraid to question why garments should be so cheap as to ignore the dignity of their makers, or why they must be individually wrapped in plastic. That wrapping tends to end up in the ocean, where plastic will outnumber fish by 2050 unless we change our ways. Here's a revolutionary who won't just suck it up and shut up about an international supply chain that's broken at pretty much every stage.

But honestly, are you bored already? Because let's be frank, the least welcome fashion accessory is a halo. For all the chatter about ethical fashion, there's a reason it remains niche: most consumers just don't care. Which suits the multi-trillion-dollar global apparel industry just fine. The fate of those who try to do things differently? The business usually sucks them into its swell, then pummels their principles out of them as they strive to make a buck. Or it rolls right over them, spitting them out like flotsam. Exceptions are rare.

That said, maybe the guy opposite me is the one to win in such a hostile environment. He's just dipped his toe into the fashion world, but he is an 11-time world surfing champion, after all.

Click to read the rest of the article.