Flashback to the 1970s and early 1980s.
The surf craze was booming.
Ocean Pacific was the surfwear brand.
Flash forward to the 1990s. Quiksilver, Billabong, Hurley and others dropped in on Op’s wave, leaving the granddaddy of Orange County’s surfwear industry struggling to get the sand out of its trunks.
For the past few years, Op has been riding a comeback bid, based partly on nostalgia for its glory days.
At the helm has been Dick Baker, president of Irvine-based Op who left a New York post at Tommy Hilfiger Corp. and signed on to reprise the brand in 1998.
Last year, Baker and a group of investors sold Ocean Pacific Apparel Corp. for $40 million to New York-based Warnaco Group Inc., a major marketer of bras, underwear and swimsuits.
Warnaco saw Op as a tidy fit within its Commerce-based swimwear group, which makes some of the segment’s top brands, such as Speedo, Cole of California, Catalina and Nautica.
Now with Warnaco behind it, Op wants what it used to have,credibility with the industry’s hip set.
Op has held its own in recent years selling to those who knew the brand back when. The company’s “old school” multicolored striped shirts and polos are sold at mainstream retailers such as J.C. Penney Co.
Not exactly surfwear’s cutting edge.
“They’ve lost a bit of relevance in the Southern California market,” said Mike Sheldon, store manager of Huntington Surf & Sport in Huntington Beach.
Getting back in the graces of surfwear’s youth culture won’t be easy. Op long has been sidelined by a flood of OC rivals, including Quiksilver Inc., Nike Inc.’s Hurley Inter-national LLC, Billabong International Ltd., Volcom and up and comers such as Costa Mesa-based Rvca Corp.
Op has about $200 million in yearly sales, making it a sizable second-tier player after industry leaders Quiksilver and Billabong.
The company counts 23 workers in Irvine at its marketing and design office. Op has its name on an array of items, from shoes and T-shirts to sunglasses and hats. It even has its own perfume and cologne.
But you won’t find Op at many local surf shops or at bigger surfwear retailers such as Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc.
Think Costco, Kohl’s, J.C. Penney.
Surfshop operators,incubators for what’s hip,say Op is cool in a vintage way but isn’t in demand.
Even so, many don’t talk about Op without first offering respect, like paying homage to a forefather: “Personally, I have the utmost respect for Op,” said Scott Baldwin, general manger of Surfside Sports in Newport Beach. “I wish it would become relevant.”
A couple of years ago Op launched a brand called Seven2.
“It was aimed directly at our market,” Baldwin said.
But Surfside didn’t see it as a fit and didn’t carry it, he said.
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Baker: credited with reviving Op |
Op since has put the brand on hold. It also stopped selling under the Op Classics brand and is back to selling simply under the Op label.
Surfside carries Quiksilver, Hurley, Billabong and Volcom. It also sells Rvca, the industry’s current buzz brand. In the past three seasons, Rvca (pronounced roo-ca) grew from T-shirts and hats to a whole section, Baldwin said.
Rvca also is big at Huntington Surf & Sport, store manager Sheldon said. The line is edgy and arty, he said.
The kids aren’t coming in asking for Op, he said.
“Here it’s not the most popular thing right now,” Sheldon said.
Huntington Surf & Sport does carry some of Op’s retro shirts for people who grew up with the brand, he said. There’s also the thrift-store shopper kid who’s interested in Op’s vintage cachet, he said.
“Their name carries a lot of nostalgia,” he said. “They don’t really have to build their name.”
These days, smaller companies are creating the popular brands, Sheldon said.
“You gotta start grass roots,” he said. “Start locally, create a vibe with some key people and have it spread. You have to sponsor surfers.”
Op has taken steps to get back to its roots, according to Baker.
A few years ago, Op started sponsoring surfers again. The company also has full-page ads in the surf, skate and teen magazines and is going after the growing girl market, Baker said.
About 65% of Op’s sales are to guys, he said.
Op is the title sponsor for the popular Girls Learn to Ride, a Laguna Beach-based company that teaches girls how to do action sports such as skateboarding and surfing.
“There’s a perfect example of doing something that’s really connecting to girls,” Baker said. “The number of new young females getting into those sports is staggering.”
In a few years, there may be Op stores, he said.
“You need your own stores,” Baker said.
But clothes and other products are the first priority, according to Baker. Op is targeting an ambitious $500 million in sales in the next three to five years, he said.
Op plans to take back some control of its products, Baker said. All Op products now are made under license with design input from the company. Baker said he sees things shifting to a mix of company and licensed products.
As licensing deals end, Op plans to start making some products itself, he said.
Op plans to work with Warnaco’s Commerce office on design, said Nat Norfleet, the company’s vice president of design.
“They will be making a lot of our products,” he said.
Op puts out four junior lines a year and two young mens, Norfleet said.
Some of the new looks include tribal wear with a Hawaiian flavor, and “left coast prep,” a version of the preppy look.
Op is working on adding more clothes for girls and young women, Norfleet said.
“Our big business is our swimwear,” he said.
Warnaco doesn’t seem worried about Op’s cachet,or lack thereof,with surfwear’s hip set.
“They have been successful at reinventing themselves,” said Deborah Abraham, who heads investor relations for Warnaco.
Warnaco has no plans to fold Op’s Irvine office into Commerce, she said.
“It’s the surf capital of the U.S.,” Abraham said of OC.
Warnaco has other plans for Op.
Aside from enhancing Warnaco’s swimwear line, the company also could easily pop the Op label on underwear and lingerie, Abraham said.
That’s Warnaco’s strength. Warnaco markets the Warner’s brand of bras and Calvin Klein underwear.
Warnaco’s swimwear, lingerie and sportswear are sold at stores such as J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, Sears, Target and Wal-Mart.
Analysts have called Warnaco’s Op buy a “double Cinderella story.” Both companies have emerged from bankruptcies.
Op filed for reorganization in 1992. Baker is credited with reviving the brand.
Warnaco filed in 1991 and emerged in 1993.
Op, Warnaco’s first buy after emerging from reorganization, is credited with helping Warnaco’s sales.
For the quarter ended Oct. 2, Warnaco’s sales were up 10.5% to $324.4 million.
The company reported net income of $1.6 million, versus a $7.2 million loss a year earlier.
Analysts say Warnaco was missing junior swimwear.
Op’s junior swim line is a big seller. Warnaco’s swimwear sales make up about a quarter of its $1.3 billion in yearly sales.
