Nineplus was started in 1996 in the small town of St. Agnes on the North Coast of Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Richard Balding when he was 19 years old although due to his sponsorship commitments it was kept as a side project until 2000 aged 23.
Between 2000 & 2002 the years were spent driving around the Country and into Europe while attending surfing events in the pursuit of both customers and suppliers in equal effort. Trying to establish a business based around the sport of longboarding, something Richard had fallen in love with over the past 10 years. Richard would drive an old VW Passat full of products and literally not take no for an answer, his relentlessness paid off & Nineplus was soon making deliveries to the numerous surfing shops scattered up and down the coasts of the UK whilst employing youngsters back in St Agnes after school to fold and pack the orders as they rolled in.
Since 1993, age 16 Richard has a been a frequent visitor to California's West Coast and from his relationships with numerous industry people he continued to learn from the Golden's state affiliation with the sport of kings and started to bring it home to Europe. Working with his friend Chris Barker whom lived at Cardiff By the Sea, close to San Diego they would spend hours working on branding and the subtle differences that distinguished the emerging alternative trends that were appearing in the surfing market representing the ‘all good’ mentality.
By 2003 the company was operating from a 5000sq ft warehouse in Cornwall, another warehouse in Hossegor, SW France and a retail shop in the centre of Truro, Cornwall. Richard was spending time working alongside factories all over the world in such locations as India, Morrocco, Portugal, China, Hong Kong as well as the USA. The company also had a surfboard program with professional surfer 'Kevin Connelly' who represented the company. The home based team of employees included Emma Skinner, Gordon Blake, Sam Starkie, Simon Scales, Paul Chapman & Tori Hainey - all of whom shared a passion to make growing Nineplus a reality and shared many memories.
Over the course of 2004 & 2005 the company although growing in popularity suffered a series of setbacks which affected its organisation as well as the product offering and this resulted in a lack of momentum. During what was a hard personal time Richard had made the difficult decisions to close the French operation, he also did not renew the lease on the store in Truro and instead focused on his creative energies taking the company back to its roots where he had intended it to be and stripping it of the design team and rebuilding the foundations. Nineplus sought investment from Equity Partners and with thanks to both David Blake and Finance Cornwall the company continued on its path.
Upon a renewed decision to focus on surfboards and building a wetsuit line that focused on the emerging post modern surfing movement - complimenting the already, now established alternative market, Richard worked single handily for 12 months on the company through this difficult period, taking the company back to scratch and re-building the brand introducing the 'lotus flower' logo that is now used today, a symbol of re-generation and beauty. He invited key people whom he felt added to the kudos of the brand starting with Dan Streeter who has; through the website build upon and communicated the values that lie within the brand. Luke Dymond who joined in late 2006 managed sales for the company and oversaw the international distributors and wholesale business. Over the period of 2006 & 2007 the company continued to grow offering products across all categories including textiles, wetsuits, surfing accessories and of course surfboards.
In 2008 the company was purchased in full by Richard and his family and with this he started implementing the changes to the company that would make it operate as a small company concentrating on offering beautiful, well designed products into a busy market place making it relevant and attractive. It focuses on the alternative surfing market using only the highest quality materials and workmanship and utilising global manufacturing arrangements. In 2009 the company created its own subsidiaries in both California, USA and on the Gold Coast, Australia where it delivers products out into the surrounding areas. In 2009 Nineplus also created a new brand ‘Hasu’ which means ‘Lotus’ in its Japanese mother tongue. This is will operate alongside ‘Nineplus’ and widen its approach to the vision of being a leading supplier to the hearts of open minded surfers the world over.
Richard is 32 years old and continues lead the brands, ‘Nineplus’ ‘Hasu’ and ‘Lotus’ and works with countries as diverse as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Morocco and Japan. The company is committed to quality, originality & ethical working relationships in their quest to create solid, dependable and unique products.
The Nineplus Group contributes to an organisation called ‘First Fruits’ and this provides financial assistance to people less fortunate. It currently supports the support a child organisation ‘compassion’ along with various other charities. It has a program where for each new employee they take on - they also sponsor a child through the Christian aid organisation 'Compassion' making it the employees responsibility to maintain a relationship with the child.
We trust you enjoy the company and thank you for your time in reading this. As it says in our book 'all you need in this life is ignorance & confidence; then success is sure'.
We thank you for taking the time to come and read about our company that is now based in San Clemente, California. We offer some of the warmest wetsuits on the market, apparel that is made in the highest quality accessories that are built to last. Our products communicate our vision for originality and style combined with function and performance
- something the last 12 years have taught us never go out of fashion.
The company is built on service, sometimes that can be difficult when there is a lot going on or something unexpected happens but we do operate in a manner that serves our customers rather than sells to them. We try to use correct information, an honest approach and a dedication to quality in order to take care of the people that chose to come to the Nineplus Group for their own journey towards becoming closer to the sport they enjoy.
Any products bought will be shipped from our CA address we look forward to serving you.
