One of the surf-inspired clothing industry’s biggest bashes,the annual Waterman’s Ball,had a subdued tone earlier this month. But not just because of the economy.
The clothing company executives, retailers, surfers and others who gathered Aug. 7 at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point mourned one of their own,Dick Baker, who died in April at 62 after a two-year battle with cancer.
Tom Campion, founder and chairman of Zumiez Inc., an Everett, Wash.-based store chain that sells clothes inspired by surfing and skateboarding, called the evening “bittersweet.”
Baker, a surf apparel business veteran, ran Irvine’s Ocean Pacific Apparel Corp. and worked on its sale to New York-based Warnaco Group Inc. for $40 million in 2004.
Two years later, Baker oversaw the sale of the company to New York-based Iconix Brand Group Inc. for $54 million.
The Waterman’s Ball, the 20th in an annual series, is put on by the Aliso Viejo-based Surf Industry Manufacturing Association, a trade group for clothing makers and others selling surf-related products. Baker served as the association’s president for nine years.
Baker didn’t surf but knew how to promote a brand, according to admirers. Many in the industry considered him a mentor.
Shaheen Sadeghi, owner of The Lab and The Camp shopping centers in Costa Mesa and a former president of Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc., presented Baker’s wife, Una, and his teenage sons, Jack and Ryan, with Baker’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
The event also honored Dave Rastovich, a surfer who rides for Irvine-based Billabong USA’s team. He received the Environmentalist of the Year award.
Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society featured on Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars,” presented the award to Rastovich, cofounder of Surfers for Cetaceans, a marine conservation group.
Surfer Rob Machado received the Waterman of the Year honor. Gerry Lopez, Machado’s childhood surf hero, presented him with the award.
A who’s who of the surf industry was on hand: professional surfers Kelly Slater and Pat O’Connell; Bob Hurley, founder of Costa Mesa-based Hurley International, now part of Nike Inc.; Richard “Wooly” Woolcott, chief executive of Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc.; and Toby Bost, chief executive of Irvine-based La Jolla Group Inc., maker of the O’Neill, Lost, Rusty and Metal Mulisha brands.
Paul Naude, who heads Australia’s Billa-bong Ltd.’s Americas operation, played host. Naude also serves on the association’s senior advisory board.
Charity
The ball raised $400,000 with the sale of 308 auctioned items, including surfboards, signed memorabilia, surf travel packages, sunglasses and surf art.
Will Pennartz, owner of Laguna Beach’s The Surf Gallery, provided the art. The auction items surrounded the Ritz-Carlton’s pool.
In the past 20 years, Naude said the association has raised more than $5 million for causes that protect the ocean.
“Without a clean ocean and without the preservation of surf spots, the industry is really going to have a tough time justifying its existence,” said Naude, a onetime professional surfer.
The money is set to go to 18 ocean conservancy groups including Surfrider, Heal the Bay and Orange County Coast Keeper.
As the association has matured, it has evolved into a philanthropic and educational association, said Doug Palladini, president of the group’s board and vice president of marketing for Cypress-based Vans Inc., part of North Carolina’s VF Corp.
The association also taps industry leaders to teach members how to sharpen their business.
The recession has hurt the industry.
“I think the good news is we’ve seen the bottom,” Naude said. “We’ve adjusted our businesses and dealt with it pretty well. This industry has shown tremendous resilience.”
Billabong, which sells clothes under its own name as well as under the Element, Nixon and Von Zipper brands, among others, is the No. 2 surfwear maker after Quiksilver.
Billabong’s North American sales make up about $500 million of the company’s $1.2 billion in annual sales.
Sales are up at Vans, a maker of shoes and clothes inspired by skateboarding, according to Palladini.
Along with classic lace-ups and slip-ons, Vans now sells pricier shoes at upscale boutiques, such as Fred Segal.
Palladini had on a pair of Vans Chukka Boots, a dressy skate shoe. Others at the ball wore Vans or other skate shoes with suits.
Quiksilver
Quiksilver, the industry’s dominant company, is showing signs of life after a near fatal wipeout that started with 2005’s $560 million buy of French ski maker Skis Rossignol SA.
Despite some gains, Quiksilver was unable to turn around the struggling brand and sold it late last year in a $50 million fire sale.
But $1 billion in debt that remained from the buy and borrowing to keep Rossignol afloat before the sale seemed poised to cripple Quiksilver at its low point amid the fall financial crisis.
This year, the company secured a lifeline investment deal with France’s Rh & #244;ne Group LLC and reworked several lines of credit.
Quiksilver Chief Executive Bob McKnight, the association’s founding president, wasn’t able to make the Waterman’s Ball, though other Quiksilver executives were on hand.
Along with Quiksilver, Anaheim-based surf-inspired retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. has come to symbolize the industry’s downturn in the past year.
Former Vans executive Gary Schoenfeld recently was tapped to turn around the retailer, which runs some 920 stores nationwide.
Surfwear has been through downturns before, as with the neon crash of the late
1980s, when the day-glow styles of the day imploded.
But it has largely held the hearts and minds of young people across the country for decades, despite challenges from hip hop, grunge, alternative and other competing styles.
Now surfwear faces another rival in the form of edgier mixed martial arts clothing makers, which include Seal Beach-based Affliction Inc. and Silver Star Casting Co. of Irvine.
There’s always talk of surf and related clothes losing their luster, Naude said. He dismissed the notion, pointing to the popularity of surf events such as the U.S. Open of Surfing held recently in Huntington Beach.
Naude, a Laguna Beach resident who surfs about four times a week, said he’s still got his pulse on design and product development. Orange County remains the epicenter of the industry, he said.
“At the end of the day, the rest of the world looks to OC for direction as to where the boardsports industry is going,” he said.
