The article touches on the answer, briefly, about halfway down: The Surf Industry isn't about Surfing.
Most of the things that the big Surf brands make are not useful for the actual act of Surfing. Even boardshorts from the major boardshort companies, about half their range can't be worn surfing. They're made from non-stretch fabric and intended to be worn around on the street.
Google up a "surf shop" in a big coastal town, pick the biggest, most obvious one, and chances are you wouldn't be able to equip yourself to go surfing with the things you can buy there. It'll be wall to wall boardshorts and hoodies, with a hundred pairs of sunglasses along the wall and maybe half a dozen shiny new boards stood up in a corner for decorative purposes. Observe the looks the staff will give each other if you try to ring one of those up.
If you want to go surfing, you need to find the little hole-in-the wall shop off the beach a ways, which will be stuffed full of wetsuits and boards, to the point where you can hardly walk around without knocking half the store down. They'll also have a few hundred pairs of boardshorts there, but surprisingly these ones will all have stretchy fabric and crotches that don't tear apart if you sink to your knees.
The Big Surf Brands know that most of their business comes from selling sunglasses and flip flops to people who want to look like surfers. And they're doing fine.
The trick is that you first get popular among actual surfers. That's a tiny population, the population doesn't like to spend money, it takes expensive R&D, expensive materials, difficult manual assembly for the abusive and difficult environment: not a lot of profit or market cap there.
But the dark pattern that the 'surf industry' have discovered and exploited, is that you then silently pivot to the market of people who wished they looked cool like surfers. That's a much bigger population, they have more money, and they don't care about the materials or performance of the gear.
Starting out as an actual surf business is optional, but encouraged, as it will help you market the story that you make cool surf gear. Skip that step if people will come into your department store anyways, just make the logo look similar to a prominent manufacturer. Similar tactics can be employed effectively in selling just about anything: SUVs and sports cars, ski gear, health food, artistic furniture...
There aren't enough surfers in the world to support the needs of capital at the scale of Wall Street. There aren't enough surfers because it's hard to partake in surfing and partaking involves being cold and wet and many mouthfuls of salt water. Regularly partaking means living somewhere with good surf. That's not most of the world. Regularly partaking means having a lifestyle that affords time for surfing. That's not most lifestyles. Surfing is and has always been mostly aspirational.
"But the best example of all and one of the greatest jobs of marketing that the universe has ever seen is Nike. Remember, Nike sells a commodity. They sell shoes! And yet when you think of Nike you feel something different than a shoe company. In their ads, as you know, they don’t ever talk about the product, they don’t ever tell you about their air soles and why they're better than Reebok’s air soles.
What is Nike doing in their advertising? They honor great athletes and they honor great athletics. That’s who they are, that’s what they are about."
This is identical to every other "hobby as culture". For example, hunting and the cornucopia of camo-patterned clothes and random objects. Camo easy chairs. Pink deer bumper stickers.
Weird that non-surfers don't want clothes with a comfortable range of motion. I buy pants from REI just to be comfortable while sitting at my desk writing code.
Uh they are not doing fine, hence the issues at Hurley apparently, and the fact that all those brands have crashed in value.
This is more the classic “brand X is now bloated and failing because it forgot its roots when going mainstream” argument. Nothing to do with capitalism (author was a bit confused there, or clutching at straws), everything to do with losing view of your core values and value proposition.
Most of the best boards don’t come off factory presses instead they are built by someone with great passion in a small warehouse or garage. These guys are happy just getting by and sharing the stoke with customers they know. Moreover, once you become addicted to surfing that’s all one cares about. True surfers don’t care about the hype around the latest thing, once you buy your board and a wetsuit all you care about is getting that glide. If I didn’t have a family to support I’d make the yearly circuit from Sri Lanka, Peru, etc and just live on the beach for less than $10 a day and would be perfectly satisfied. I feel sorry for my office mates who don’t have any hobbies or escapes and instead are focused on the next bonus or promotion either for their egos or so they can buy more stuff. I just want more time off to travel with my family and surf. After 3 startups and 23 years in tech and many, many 12 hour days I can tell you the whole system is empty. Despite recognition or financial success there’s nothing in the system that brings true long term happiness, but the natural meditation when waiting on the wave or for the next set does.
That's great, but from a capitalist standpoint it doesn't seem surprising that a company would struggle when they have a labor intensive product and their customers are largely cash poor. Worse, they set up shop in expensive coastal cities. It's kind of a miracle the companies survived at all. I get that the guy who runs it is passionate and is willing to also be cash poor, but the city has got to be breathing down his neck about the property taxes in a town where half a duplex goes for over a million dollars.
"Surfers, for the most part, don’t need more stuff, don’t want more surfers, don’t care about grabbing attention, etc."
This is actually completely true. I'm friends with a guy who owns a surf shop in one of the highest grossing areas for surfing equipment/clothing in southern california, his biggest gripe with the industry is that surfers spend no money. They won't pay for parking, won't pay for surf apps, won't buy a new board unless they have to, don't really buy the clothes, etc. It's part of the culture.
Edit:
To add to his perspective, it's not about getting wealthy from surfing. The guy has been surfing his whole life, is a lifelong lifeguard, surfs 20 foot waves.
He just wishes the industry could grow and innovate, but instead sees it stagnate. Sure the vibe and love for surfing is there, but I think he is frustrated that there is no wealth in the industry to foster further growth and investment.
But then again, the way I see it is surfing as a sport is extremely limited, you can only do it on coasts, and only some coasts are actually consistently good for it.
>He just wishes the industry could grow and innovate...
What does that even mean? If all of the surfers are happy, why does the industry need to innovate? Why is constant innovation always seen as a good thing?
When we go to the beach twice a day for a surf - who can afford to pay for parking? Plus the jog to the beach is good for you.
And some people what to look like a surfer. I am a surfer who wants to look like a normal person.
Who buys a new board if they don't have to? Madness. I choose my equipment carefully, it has to match my style. Standing on some clever foam out in the middle of the ocean is tricky and very personal.
I wouldn't say it's part of the culture, it's just being normal. I don't upgrade my PC to stay on trend. I don't upgrade my surfboard to stay on trend. They are tools.
I chuckled at this bit, because I grew up in a surf town and still live nearby. Every surfer I've every known has been an attention hog, and they will find a way let you know they surf within minutes of meeting you.
Waves don't innovate. An app won't mitigate the risk of drowning. Neither will a new board. Serious surfing revolves around risk assessment and mitigation and a flow of opportunities. If you can look out the window and see the waves, there's not much point in an app. In the old days, the surf report was a recorded message over POTS. The local spot doesn't need an app. Serious surfing is local.
Surf apps suck, they're generally asking around $10 a month, and they do little more than provide prettified weather buoy data.
_Decent_ wetsuits are in the $300 - $500 range, new board $600 - $1000. I think it's pretty capitalist to let some kook buy it new and then snag it from them off craigslist for %30 - %50 of retail.
Why is he even in the industry then? It sounds like he set up shop in a high rent area and I doubt he can compete on price with online retailers. It's a dubious choice from a business perspective. Hardcore surfers probably know as much as he does about the products he's selling, or know enough to find them online for cheaper, so what is the value add he offers? I'm sure he chose this line of work bc he wants to be around surfers and near the beach etc, but maybe he should have tried something more boring and profitable if lack of success is going to bother him.
The climbing apparel industry is the same way. Patagonia, North Face, Black Diamond and Arcteryx all began as brands that catered specifically to the needs of climbers and alpinists, but now sell primarily to yuppies.
It used to be that if you were wearing Canada Goose, it was because you were on some kind of expedition to the Arctic. Then movie directors decided Canada Goose was the way to go to stay cozy while on an outdoor movie set. I think it was Sundance 2007 and all of the sudden all the cool kids had Canada Goose parkas.
Now middle class people wear Canada Goose parkas to signal to others their propensity for getting ripped off.
Originally owned by a “core” surfer, Bob Hurley, but was later sold to Nike. They still got a pass with some surfers because they made decent wetsuits and sponsored top surfers. Nike sold off the brand very recently and started cutting staff and sponsorships. The rumor is they’ll now start schilling their stuff in low budget retailers. Surfers have quickly jumped ship now that any semblance of being a “real” surf brand is gone.
This is consistent with most lifestyle brands. Look at rock climbing. The people who spend their lives free climbing don't spend $300 on a hoodie and even if they did, there are diminishingly few of them to sustain a luxury company. Every autumn people in cities dress like they've just stepped off a horse or are on their way to a grouse shoot without the land, means, or skill to do either. Dressing like a rock star doesn't make you one, but that never stopped anyone from paying $200 for a pair of jeans.
It's not capitalism, it's something else. On the consumer side, it's "mimetic desire," which is a whole complex thing.
On the creative side, when you love something, how do you find a way to make enough money at it that you can do it as a way of life? Then once you do, how do you compete with well capitalized people whose interests aren't divided and who specialize in selling empty symbols to rubes? (answer: teaching, performance, and elite competition)
When you are actually good at something, you don't buy symbolic things to represent it because representing it is hollow and absurd. It's not a paradox of capitalism at all. When you are actually good at something you love, you are above the fray. Paradoxes and criticisms are the noisy artifacts of people reconciling symbols, and not meaningful to people who are engaged in the moment.
So, I'd say there is no surf industry, just an industry that sells surf symbols, and to surfers its failure is necessarily meaningless.
> Every autumn people in cities dress like they've just stepped off a horse or are on their way to a grouse shoot without the land, means, or skill to do either.
The (now purely decorative) holes punched in wingtip (U.S.)/brogue (U.K.) shoes were originally there to let water drain out, as they were a sporting/outdoor shoe.
Highly recommend the book "Let My People Go Surfing:The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual" by Yvon Chouinard the founder of Patagonia and the precursor to Black Diamond (he spun BD out and sold it to his employees after losing a frivolous lawsuit).
The man is a legend in the climbing community, and wrote a whole book on balancing professional vs enthusiast gear while following his own moral compass.
It's a fascinating and worthwhile read for anyone who wants to find your own internal balance on being true to yourself and your values, while dealing with the realities of running a business. The discussions on what do we owe ourselves and others is a refreshing take on what it means to be successful.
Personally, I only buy clothes etc that I need. Skateboarding and surfing has had a major positive influence on my life so I tend to buy from brands that sponsor and support riders that I like. I don't buy lots anyway though.
Uhm, what, those brands actually made surfing clothes?
I honestly thought those brands made cool looking extremely casual clothes! Obviously, styles change and things go out of fashion.
Heck, I still own a pair of Volcom board shorts I accidentally bought 15 years ago because I thought they were a cool-looking bathing suit. I even wore them the one time I went surfing in Hawaii. I don't wear them often, because they don't have pockets, but when the occasion calls for them, (like spring skiing,) I love them.
I don’t think of board shorts as surf clothes, they are fast drying swim trunks you can wear around town. Great for all water sports, I usually wear mine under my wetsuit.
Billabong also makes a line of khaki shorts (walk shorts I think they’re called) with the same material that are amazing for hot and humid tropical weather. Dry super quickly if they get wet, very light, and slightly stretchy.
Not a contradiction. Voluntary exchange is central to Capitalism. Option to resist excessive marketing is within the framework. It's a cultural thing which some sub-cultures are better at then others.
I don't think it solves everything but it is why I like the concept of B-Corps. I think the growth at all costs concept is at odds often with other important factors but we can adjust. I think B-Corps are a good start at re-aligning our evolving needs and our existing systems.
Well I can just disagree. I'm surfer, 20 years surfing, and it's just as any other sport. The image of the free surfer, almost hippie, has 0 to do with the reality, if you are over 30s. Grow up!
> Believe it or not, there was once a day when Quik just made great boardshorts, O’Neill made great wetsuits, Oakley made the sunnies, etc. Soon, however, it seemed like all brands were in literally every category, unfortunately, not always doing that with much quality.
I wonder if this is a natural consequence of the drive for "growth"–whether that be in terms of more profit, more features, or anything else. You see it in the big tech companies, which have a tendency to expand into areas like social media, cloud, and self-driving cars, regardless of their original product line. Programming languages, where as a language ecosystem ages, it grows to acquire the features of every other language. Niche communities and countercultures online and off get diluted into meaninglessness once they catch on with too many people. Memes degrade. Information entropy increases monotonically.
I'm reminded of a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins called "God's Grandeur".
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
Because for all this tendency towards monoculture, there is just as much evidence all around us of humanity's seemingly limitless capacity for reinvention and creation. Maybe decay is necessary in order to clear the way for what's to come. Maybe we should celebrate it!
No it doesn't. Surfing had it's boom and bust and now is a normal sport/hobby like skiing or everything else.
In the future one could also argue: tech industry contradicts basic capitalism: nowadays anybody has a smartphone, the phones cannot get any better, and everyone takes care of their smartphone because they don't want to pay alot money for a new one.
Yeah I'm decidedly confused about the author's conception of surfing. They seem to be under an impression that the sport/hobby has inherent philosophical values.
This article shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what capitalism is. Capitalism is not an entity that has its own free will and desires. Capitalism is a projection of what people want. If surfers want what they want, then that is capitalism for them.
There are many books that would dispute your second sentence.
I'll just note that what most people consider capitalism really consists of three components:
1) "free markets" in which what is sold and for how much is not (heavily) regulated
2) an entrepeneurial environment in which starting (and stopping) commercial enterprises is relatively easy and happens often
3) preferentially biasing the distribution of the rewards of commercial enterprises towards those who invest capital, rather than those who invest labor or IP.
There's no rule that says you couldn't have a system with just 1 or 2 of those 3. Either way, they interact to create a social system which does indeed tend to drive a society in certain directions, and inhibit its ability to move in others.
[+] [-] jasonkester|6 years ago|reply
Most of the things that the big Surf brands make are not useful for the actual act of Surfing. Even boardshorts from the major boardshort companies, about half their range can't be worn surfing. They're made from non-stretch fabric and intended to be worn around on the street.
Google up a "surf shop" in a big coastal town, pick the biggest, most obvious one, and chances are you wouldn't be able to equip yourself to go surfing with the things you can buy there. It'll be wall to wall boardshorts and hoodies, with a hundred pairs of sunglasses along the wall and maybe half a dozen shiny new boards stood up in a corner for decorative purposes. Observe the looks the staff will give each other if you try to ring one of those up.
If you want to go surfing, you need to find the little hole-in-the wall shop off the beach a ways, which will be stuffed full of wetsuits and boards, to the point where you can hardly walk around without knocking half the store down. They'll also have a few hundred pairs of boardshorts there, but surprisingly these ones will all have stretchy fabric and crotches that don't tear apart if you sink to your knees.
The Big Surf Brands know that most of their business comes from selling sunglasses and flip flops to people who want to look like surfers. And they're doing fine.
[+] [-] LeifCarrotson|6 years ago|reply
The trick is that you first get popular among actual surfers. That's a tiny population, the population doesn't like to spend money, it takes expensive R&D, expensive materials, difficult manual assembly for the abusive and difficult environment: not a lot of profit or market cap there.
But the dark pattern that the 'surf industry' have discovered and exploited, is that you then silently pivot to the market of people who wished they looked cool like surfers. That's a much bigger population, they have more money, and they don't care about the materials or performance of the gear.
Starting out as an actual surf business is optional, but encouraged, as it will help you market the story that you make cool surf gear. Skip that step if people will come into your department store anyways, just make the logo look similar to a prominent manufacturer. Similar tactics can be employed effectively in selling just about anything: SUVs and sports cars, ski gear, health food, artistic furniture...
[+] [-] brudgers|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Reedx|6 years ago|reply
"But the best example of all and one of the greatest jobs of marketing that the universe has ever seen is Nike. Remember, Nike sells a commodity. They sell shoes! And yet when you think of Nike you feel something different than a shoe company. In their ads, as you know, they don’t ever talk about the product, they don’t ever tell you about their air soles and why they're better than Reebok’s air soles.
What is Nike doing in their advertising? They honor great athletes and they honor great athletics. That’s who they are, that’s what they are about."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz1_tOXfSeM
[+] [-] Causality1|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] euroclydon|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dredmorbius|6 years ago|reply
https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/69wk8y/the_tyr...
[+] [-] kagenouta|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] toyg|6 years ago|reply
This is more the classic “brand X is now bloated and failing because it forgot its roots when going mainstream” argument. Nothing to do with capitalism (author was a bit confused there, or clutching at straws), everything to do with losing view of your core values and value proposition.
[+] [-] pelasaco|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] lowdose|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FlyingSideKick|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brudgers|6 years ago|reply
Consider the statement: "A true surfer would be surfing, not commenting on Hacker News." No True Scotsman is fallacy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
[+] [-] lotsofpulp|6 years ago|reply
Desire to secure their future resource/financial security really throws a wrench in “letting it all go”.
[+] [-] john_cogs|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jandrese|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] codingslave|6 years ago|reply
This is actually completely true. I'm friends with a guy who owns a surf shop in one of the highest grossing areas for surfing equipment/clothing in southern california, his biggest gripe with the industry is that surfers spend no money. They won't pay for parking, won't pay for surf apps, won't buy a new board unless they have to, don't really buy the clothes, etc. It's part of the culture.
Edit:
To add to his perspective, it's not about getting wealthy from surfing. The guy has been surfing his whole life, is a lifelong lifeguard, surfs 20 foot waves.
He just wishes the industry could grow and innovate, but instead sees it stagnate. Sure the vibe and love for surfing is there, but I think he is frustrated that there is no wealth in the industry to foster further growth and investment.
But then again, the way I see it is surfing as a sport is extremely limited, you can only do it on coasts, and only some coasts are actually consistently good for it.
[+] [-] 0xffff2|6 years ago|reply
What does that even mean? If all of the surfers are happy, why does the industry need to innovate? Why is constant innovation always seen as a good thing?
[+] [-] ako|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] monk_e_boy|6 years ago|reply
And some people what to look like a surfer. I am a surfer who wants to look like a normal person.
Who buys a new board if they don't have to? Madness. I choose my equipment carefully, it has to match my style. Standing on some clever foam out in the middle of the ocean is tricky and very personal.
I wouldn't say it's part of the culture, it's just being normal. I don't upgrade my PC to stay on trend. I don't upgrade my surfboard to stay on trend. They are tools.
[+] [-] stronglikedan|6 years ago|reply
I chuckled at this bit, because I grew up in a surf town and still live nearby. Every surfer I've every known has been an attention hog, and they will find a way let you know they surf within minutes of meeting you.
[+] [-] brudgers|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] b5n|6 years ago|reply
Surf apps suck, they're generally asking around $10 a month, and they do little more than provide prettified weather buoy data.
_Decent_ wetsuits are in the $300 - $500 range, new board $600 - $1000. I think it's pretty capitalist to let some kook buy it new and then snag it from them off craigslist for %30 - %50 of retail.
[+] [-] bagacrap|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nradov|6 years ago|reply
https://www.lairdhamilton.com/
[+] [-] turk73|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Fricken|6 years ago|reply
It used to be that if you were wearing Canada Goose, it was because you were on some kind of expedition to the Arctic. Then movie directors decided Canada Goose was the way to go to stay cozy while on an outdoor movie set. I think it was Sundance 2007 and all of the sudden all the cool kids had Canada Goose parkas.
Now middle class people wear Canada Goose parkas to signal to others their propensity for getting ripped off.
[+] [-] GrayTextIsTruth|6 years ago|reply
>...And, of course, we all know about Hurley by now
No I don’t. I even had to search myself and still don’t know. Just tell the reader, we don’t all follow surfer/skate news.
What happened to Hurley? They closing shop?
[+] [-] allsunny|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] motohagiography|6 years ago|reply
It's not capitalism, it's something else. On the consumer side, it's "mimetic desire," which is a whole complex thing.
On the creative side, when you love something, how do you find a way to make enough money at it that you can do it as a way of life? Then once you do, how do you compete with well capitalized people whose interests aren't divided and who specialize in selling empty symbols to rubes? (answer: teaching, performance, and elite competition)
When you are actually good at something, you don't buy symbolic things to represent it because representing it is hollow and absurd. It's not a paradox of capitalism at all. When you are actually good at something you love, you are above the fray. Paradoxes and criticisms are the noisy artifacts of people reconciling symbols, and not meaningful to people who are engaged in the moment.
So, I'd say there is no surf industry, just an industry that sells surf symbols, and to surfers its failure is necessarily meaningless.
[+] [-] Turing_Machine|6 years ago|reply
The (now purely decorative) holes punched in wingtip (U.S.)/brogue (U.K.) shoes were originally there to let water drain out, as they were a sporting/outdoor shoe.
Basically they were the Crocs of their day.
[+] [-] PaulDavisThe1st|6 years ago|reply
Ironic, given the original utterly utilitarian origin of jeans.
[+] [-] anonsivalley652|6 years ago|reply
Don't worry, Gov "King" Cuomo will require a surfing license very soon, that is unless he doesn't outlaw it like e-bikes first.
[+] [-] nataz|6 years ago|reply
The man is a legend in the climbing community, and wrote a whole book on balancing professional vs enthusiast gear while following his own moral compass.
It's a fascinating and worthwhile read for anyone who wants to find your own internal balance on being true to yourself and your values, while dealing with the realities of running a business. The discussions on what do we owe ourselves and others is a refreshing take on what it means to be successful.
[+] [-] ptah|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gwbas1c|6 years ago|reply
I honestly thought those brands made cool looking extremely casual clothes! Obviously, styles change and things go out of fashion.
Heck, I still own a pair of Volcom board shorts I accidentally bought 15 years ago because I thought they were a cool-looking bathing suit. I even wore them the one time I went surfing in Hawaii. I don't wear them often, because they don't have pockets, but when the occasion calls for them, (like spring skiing,) I love them.
[+] [-] dahdum|6 years ago|reply
Billabong also makes a line of khaki shorts (walk shorts I think they’re called) with the same material that are amazing for hot and humid tropical weather. Dry super quickly if they get wet, very light, and slightly stretchy.
[+] [-] stefanix|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] m-watson|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pelasaco|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asdfman123|6 years ago|reply
Start with a brand that has "cool" factor, milk it for all its worth, obliterate the brand, and walk away with your CEO bonuses.
[+] [-] nmyk|6 years ago|reply
I wonder if this is a natural consequence of the drive for "growth"–whether that be in terms of more profit, more features, or anything else. You see it in the big tech companies, which have a tendency to expand into areas like social media, cloud, and self-driving cars, regardless of their original product line. Programming languages, where as a language ecosystem ages, it grows to acquire the features of every other language. Niche communities and countercultures online and off get diluted into meaninglessness once they catch on with too many people. Memes degrade. Information entropy increases monotonically.
I'm reminded of a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins called "God's Grandeur".
Because for all this tendency towards monoculture, there is just as much evidence all around us of humanity's seemingly limitless capacity for reinvention and creation. Maybe decay is necessary in order to clear the way for what's to come. Maybe we should celebrate it![+] [-] surfmike|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mkettn|6 years ago|reply
In the future one could also argue: tech industry contradicts basic capitalism: nowadays anybody has a smartphone, the phones cannot get any better, and everyone takes care of their smartphone because they don't want to pay alot money for a new one.
[+] [-] DanCarvajal|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] loxs|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PaulDavisThe1st|6 years ago|reply
I'll just note that what most people consider capitalism really consists of three components:
1) "free markets" in which what is sold and for how much is not (heavily) regulated 2) an entrepeneurial environment in which starting (and stopping) commercial enterprises is relatively easy and happens often 3) preferentially biasing the distribution of the rewards of commercial enterprises towards those who invest capital, rather than those who invest labor or IP.
There's no rule that says you couldn't have a system with just 1 or 2 of those 3. Either way, they interact to create a social system which does indeed tend to drive a society in certain directions, and inhibit its ability to move in others.