Editor’s Note: Shaheen Sadeghi, who won a Business Journal Family-Owned Business Award in May, is the founder and chief executive of Costa Mesa-based LAB Holding LLC, which has become known for creating some of Orange County’s trendiest retail spots, including Costa Mesa’s Camp and the Anaheim Packing District food hall. He wrote this Leader Board about Walter Hoffman, who died July 9 at the age of 92. The Business Journal’s annual special report on the Innovator of the Year Awards begins on page 13.
When I was in my 20s during the early 1970s, I was the apprentice for the great American couturier Charles James. We worked late at night in The Chelsea Hotel in New York where he lived. Charles James told me something that has stayed with me all my life:
• Have a secret passion and create for yourself like no one else matters or is watching.
• Find a role model who inspires you, who you admire and learn as much as you can from their lives.
Walter Hoffman was that person for many of us. He defined what it meant to be a role model in the Action Sports industry. As the Ojibwe Tribe would say, he was a “dream catcher,” a symbol of protection and comfort of the tribe, the Surf Tribe.
The Hoffman Trendsetter
Walter and his brother Flippy grew up surfing San Onofre as well as the highly popular Malibu.
Walter enlisted in the Navy, which stationed him at Pearl Harbor. Hawaii’s surfing impressed him so much that he sent video footage back to Flippy, who immediately booked a trip out there. They were the first to rent a house at the North Shore’s Sunset Point, which would become legendary in the surfing industry. He and his brother Flippy were two of California’s first big wave pioneers. Walter’s daughter Joyce Hoffman was arguably the best female surfer in the 1960s, including being the first female to ride Hawaii’s infamous Banzai Pipeline.
Walter’s parents in 1924 opened a textile business in Southern California. By the late 1950s, the Hoffman brothers were running the family business of Hoffman California Fabrics, which they eventually moved to the Dana Point area. Walter became known as the father of the surf wear industry by producing aloha shirts and board shorts. A Hoffman shirt worn by Tom Selleck on “Magnum PI” is now in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
What is utterly captivating is how this legend touched so many people during the 50s, then the 60s and into the 70s and even continuing into the modern day. He was like the Frank Sinatra of surf, where he inspired so many people.
Hoffman experimented with new surfboard production methods and passed on much of his knowledge to Hobart “Hobie” Alter, who in the 1950s started Hobie Surfboards shops. Hobie was the first manufacturer to develop polyurethane foam surfboard blanks, which overnight transformed surfing from heavy redwood boards to lighter boards that could be easily carried. Hobie went on to develop skateboards, beachwear and one of the world’s most popular sailing boats – “the Hobie Cat.”
Another was Dick Metz, who opened Hobie Surfboards in Hawaii, where it became the state’s first-ever surf shop in 1960. Metz was known for discovering South Africa’s Cape St. Francis. Metz suggested to Bruce Brown, a Dana Point filmmaker who was preparing an around-the-world movie project, that his crew visit Cape St. Francis. The result was “the perfect wave” – a scene that became iconic in a movie that made surfing famous worldwide – “Endless Summer.”
Hoffman was there at the beginning of the surfing industry, helping others who would go on to become legends like John Severson, founder of Surfer magazine, Bob McKnight, co-founder of Quiksilver, and Gordon “Grubby” Clark, founder of Clark Foam.
“When they weren’t partying, the members of what became known as the ‘Dana Point Mafia’ were building surfing related businesses that planted the seeds of the surfing industry,” the Wall Street Journal reported in its obituary last month on Walter.
The Hoffman Authenticity
I bumped into the Hoffman family back in the 1970s, when I was the head of men’s product for Jantzen Sports Wear. We were the number one swim company on the planet at the time. Our season would not be complete without a journey to the Hoffman library and a soul conversation with Walter and his team.
Hoffman and his extended family were a huge part of the industry for decades, not only as fabric suppliers, but mentors to so many of us. The Hoffmans would literally put people in business and cover their bills just to help grow the pond and get more people turned on to surfing and surfing culture. Their generosity was felt across the industry and the globe.
During the 1980s, I became the head of product and executive vice president of Gotcha Sports Wear. Once again, our collection would never be complete without the Hoffman touch of authenticity. As surf expanded and became more international, trends changed, but we never compromised and always presented a collection that had the Hoffman energy all over it and that signature stamp of authenticity.
The Hoffman Bali Experience
My finest memory of this time during my career was when I traveled to Bali in the 1980s to tour Walter’s facility. I went with one of my surf trunk designers, Jack Denny, a great surfer and a “mad man” about Bali. An American named Tim, who lived in Bali at the time, picked us up at the airport in Kuta. He drove us deep into the jungles of Bali where he and Walter had set up a local fabric printing factory, supporting the local art of Batik.
It was amazing to witness how Tim and the Hoffmans had transported their touch from California and Hawaii surf into the local Balinese artform. His style was never invasive; they were sure to make the locals feel proud of their art while also creating many jobs on the island for the locals.
On the other side of the planet, we could not wait to get our hand on the Hoffman Indo Batik fabrics. We loved the handmade nature of the textiles and the imperfections that told the story of truly handmade designs. All the perfect print techniques went out the window. The tribal vibe has always been a big part of surf, and we began using Batiks for everything: board shorts, shirts, jackets and bags. It was such an exciting time and shift in the industry.
We spent the next few weeks visiting the island. We found secret local surf spots, and we fished to make fresh sushi. We embraced the culture, breaking bread with the locals and becoming hooked on Gado-gado, the local food. I shipped back a container full of Balinese furniture.
We officially had the full Hoffman experience.
Later as president of Quiksilver and into the 1990s, the same patterns emerged. We never completed a collection without the Hoffmans, who were an essential part of Quiksilver.
In the surf industry, we always say authenticity cannot be bought – it must be earned. I think Walter Hoffman earned it many times over. Only a handful of people were the “mothers of invention” in the surf industry here in California. Walter and his family were among them. The man was truly a legend who left a huge mark on the surfing world. As Frank Sinatra would say, “I did it my way.” Walter in fact did it his way.
