Tavarua Surf Co. owner and founder Mark Price recently purchased partner Mike Savage’s stake in the company named for a small island resort in Fiji.
Savage, who left three weeks ago to head up surfwear maker O’Neill’s merchandising and design department in Irvine, held the same position at Gotcha International in 1995 before he left to became Price’s partner in San Clemente-based Tavarua.
Tavarua’s sales have grown from $450,000 in 1994 to roughly $4 million projected for this year. Savage decided to sell his stake because he wanted to pursue other interests, Price said.
“Mike and I had a pay-out clause in our contract that we honored and agreed to it,” Price said. “We’ve been friends for 25 years and there’s no danger of it going bad. The island resort’s operators still own their combined minority stake.”
Savage takes the position held for more than a year by Cindi Carper. She becomes director of design and merchandise for O’Neill’s-growing juniors division. Price and Savage are natives of South Africa, where they were both professional surfers in the early 1980s before moving to the United States.
Price, who was vice president of international marketing for Gotcha Sportswear for 11 years before he formed Tavarua Surf Co. in 1993, now owns a 65% stake in the surfwear operation as well as a 10% stake in the island that is leased from the government of Fiji and operated as a resort, drawing top surf industry execs. The resort generates revenues of roughly $1.2 million annually.
Dino Sakelliou was hired to head up merchandising and design for Tavarua. Sakelliou had been a designer for The Realm, an edgy surfwear company that recently was purchased by Ocean Pacific Apparel Corp. Sakelliou remains a designer for Airwalk’s snowboard apparel and previously was a designer for Rusty Apparel’s men’s sportswear division.
“Dino had a lot to do with putting the Realm on the map,” Price said.
The changes come at a time of transition for the Tavarua brand. A year ago Tavarua launched its juniors’ line and this year it plans to take on a new “post-modern surf” look for its spring 2001 line being introduced to buyers at this year’s Action Sports Retailer Trade Show.
“We have come up with a graphic and a product that is a perfect blend of what’s good about surf and blended it with a trendier, edgier and hipper style. It’s still all about surf, but it will really set us apart from others who are blended as they cross over to new markets.”
The company’s advertising will move away from its usual surf imagery to “surf-inspired” captions and artwork.
“We have freed ourselves up from running shots of waves on T-shirts, but the copy will make the surfer wear it,” Price said. “It’s a feeling throughout the line, but some items will be pushed further than others.” n
