Costa Mesa-based Factor54 is about to get some big time exposure.
The company, which makes clothes for the surf and skate crowd, is a favorite of two stars on the new MTV reality show, “Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County,” which premieres Wednesday.
You can already spot Factor54’s shorts and shirts on the show’s trailer, said Ted Wueste, co-owner and vice president of sales and marketing.
“It’s stunning for a company like us,” Wueste said. “It’s all shot at Newport Harbor. That’s our grounds.”
Factor54 already gets a lot of buzz.
The edgy surfwear maker’s “F54” stickers are plastered all over Orange County, on surfboards, stop signs, in some restaurants and freeway overpasses.
Seventy percent of the kids that go to Newport Harbor High School wear Factor54 “religiously,” Wueste said.
“The F54 logo is always out there and that seems to be what our buyer wants,” he said.
The company is getting ready to ramp things up.
Wueste came on board last year to help founder Todd Miller, a former professional surfer, with operations and growth.
Miller launched Factor54 in 2003, after a stint in the marketing department at Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc.
Miller said he was good at design, but needed help with sales, strategy, administration and capital.
“That’s where Ted came in,” Miller said. “Ted built sales teams, comp plans, go-to-market strategies and so on.”
Miller said he and Wueste “jelled off the bat.”
“Sharing your baby with someone is a scary proposition,” he said.
In the past year, Factor54 hired seven workers and now counts nine.
The company could look to bring on at least 10 more in the next four to six months in design, sales and marketing, Miller said.
“Lots of people want to work here, who wouldn’t? We have a blast doing our job,” he said. “But at the end of the day you need to bring something to the table. The name of the game is quality.”
Factor54 started out with a small line, mostly T-shirts and a few sweatshirts that were mainly sold by word-of-mouth.
Miller organized things from his house, using a spare bedroom to store inventory.
“The objective all along has been to establish the brand rather than just stamp out silkscreen tees with no real identity,” Miller said.
Retailer Take
Duke Edukas, co-owner of Surfside Sports in Costa Mesa, said Factor54 is one of his newest brands and “holds its own.”
“I thought it had a lot of potential based on the people behind the company,” Edukas said. “It had a very good local energy because it’s named after one of the top breaks in Newport.”
Factor54 also shows the same potential that Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc. did when it was just starting out, Edukas said.
Volcom, an edgy clothing maker, is one of Orange County’s hottest brands and is huge with teens and twentysomethings.
Like Factor54, Volcom also was started by a surfer, Richard Woolcott, who spent the early days of his career in Quiksilver’s marketing department after a neck injury cut his surfing career short.
Factor54 has watched the big brands closely and kept good notes, Miller said.
“We have a ton of respect for the big guys in the industry and we have taken notice to see how they did it,” Miller said. “We just put our own spin on it.”
Factor54 now offers T-shirts, hats, socks, hooded sweatshirts, board shorts and shirts for men and women.
The plan is to expand the line with one or two additional pieces each season, Miller said.
Factor54’s artwork is a big part of its buzz.
The company considers some 100 design submissions from artists each season and picks 15 to 20 that make it into the line, Miller said.
T-shirts with graphics are the biggest sellers, Edukas said.
“The sale of (our) T-shirts really shows there’s an interest in the brand,” he said. “There’s no bigger billboard.”
Factor54 is sold in more than 60 surf and skate stores and got orders from another 20 accounts for next season.
Other local shops that carry the garb include Huntington Surf and Sport and Identity Skate Shop. Online shops include Costa Mesa-based AntiApparel.com.
“The large retail shops like Zumiez and PacSun are always the target and those folks are watching us very closely,” Wueste said. “But until we are saturating our core shops we will continue to build out that market.”
Factor54 is being cautious. So far, the brand has pushed “for the right stores (and) been successful in those stores, which has caused other stores to take notice,” Miller said.
“We are about smart growth, not growth at all costs,” he said.
Getting shelf space isn’t always easy for up-and-coming companies like Factor54.
Surf shops are crammed with garb, particularly from industry leaders, such as Quiksilver and Irvine-based Billabong USA, which have swanky marketing displays.
A lot of times that actually works in Factor54’s favor, Miller said. Large brands bring exposure to the market, which helps shoppers “stumble across our brand,” he said.
“In some cases we do better than some of the bigger guys,” Miller said. “The market is begging for new brands that have a fresh vibe. The kid in the shop is who ultimately calls the shots and the buyers seem to be listening.”
Sticker Marketing
Factor54 continually gets its name out. The company sponsors riders in skateboarding and surfing.
Stickers with its “F54” logo are coveted by teens and twentysomethings, who like to brag about what crazy place they’ve stuck them.
About 2,000 are passed out every season by team riders or company sales reps.
But they’re not sold, Wueste said.
“We make it difficult to get our stickers,” he said. “You have to know somebody.”
The stickers have found their way from California to New York and Hawaii.
“It is our calling card,” Wueste said. “If you don’t know our F54 logo you obviously don’t spend time on highways.”
The company is ramping up its offering.
In the next three to five years, Factor54 wants to have its garb sold in some 500 to 700 stores and offer more clothes for men and women while launching garb for kids and new accessories.
The company’s also on the hunt for more space and will likely double its size.
“We’re blowing out of our current location,” Wueste said.
Factor54 plans to stay in Costa Mesa, he said.
“Despite even our best projections, we did not think this thing would go like this and we are barely out of the gate,” Miller said. “It’s a little like riding on the outside of the space shuttle just trying to hang on.”
