Orange County’s surf industry isn’t what it used to be,a cottage industry where guys peddled trunks and T-shirts from their cars when they weren’t surfing.
Surfwear’s now big business,and it’s turned surf rats into multimillionaires who can afford to indulge their hobbies in ways many never imagined.
The kings of surfwear aren’t the richest of the rich here. But an industry based on Southern California’s laidback beach culture has made many here wealthy.
In some ways, executives at surfwear companies are like any others. They sport bulging bank accounts and sizable stock holdings.
But surfwear executives are anything but traditional. Flip-flops and Hawaiian shirts dominate boardrooms. And when it comes to spending the money they’ve earned, they’ve got their own style.
Take Richard “Wooly” Woolcott, chief executive of Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc. The maker of surf, skate and snow garb recently went public, raising $80 million in its initial public offering.
The deal made an easy multimillionaire of Woolcott, who owns about 20% of the company.
For now, Woolcott plans to keep living in a trailer at El Morro near his favorite Laguna Beach surf spot,at least until he and others are evicted as part of the state’s plan to close the mobile home park next to Crystal Cove State Park.
“I’m pretty basic when it comes to spending money,” Woolcott said.
He said he likes to buy “little things to jazz up” his trailer, enjoys “good dinners around town” and works on his second home on Mount Baker in Bellingham, Wash.
Like other surfwear executives, Woolcott’s a sucker for adventures.
He said he takes trips to Cabo San Lucas, where he surfs with buddies and rents a house for a few weeks. He also goes to more far-off spots, such as surfing paradise Tavarua in Fiji, and takes “last minute trips anywhere to ride powder,” Woolcott said.
Woolcott isn’t alone in his love of Tavarua, which is all of 29 acres when the tide’s out. The South Pacific Island is home to some of the best surfing.
The island is visited by a number of OC surf types, including Bob Hurley, president of Costa Mesa-based Hurley International, which was bought by Nike Inc. a few years back.
The tiny island off the coast of Fiji is often referred to as the “Club Med of surfing.”
The island has a one-year waiting list for peak periods and costs $3,000 per week to visit, including airfare and meals.
The island started out as sort of a surf camp and since has upgraded some of its bungalows, added phones, Internet access and a pool.
Surf executives work hard to make sure their companies are seen as hip and cool,but not too trendy.
Most executives and their workers live the lifestyle they promote. They surf during lunch breaks, skateboard on company “vert” ramps,like the one at Volcom’s headquarters,and blare music in their offices.
In the case of Costa Mesa-based Paul Frank Industries Inc., cofounder and artist Paul Frank jams along with them. He has a music studio in his office.
Surf executives also are collectors. But don’t think wine or fine art.
Joel Cooper, chief executive of Irvine-based Lost Enterprises, decorates his Irvine home with furniture from Bali.
Mike Lesher, former director of sales at Hurley and Irvine-based Billabong USA, has been known to raise and sell palm trees.
Jim Jannard, chief executive of Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc., has a penchant for racecars and airplanes. Jannard, who bought Spieden Island, Wash., for $22 million a few years back, helped design the lobby of the company’s headquarters, which has a 50-foot arched ceiling, actual B-52 bomber seats, an MK-44 torpedo and oversize bolts and rivets.
Then there’s the king of surfwear, Bob “Buzz” McKnight, chief executive and cofounder of Hun-tington Beach’s Quik-silver Inc.
McKnight flies around the world to Bali and other surf spots on a private jet. He has an 8,000-square-foot mansion in Laguna Beach with an ocean view that’s almost diving distance from his bedroom, according to a recent Sports Illustrated profile.
McKnight, who is married and has three children, also has an Aston Martin and land on Hanalei Bay in Kauai.
He’s come a long way since his college days at the University of Southern California, where he made surf films and spent many mornings at the beach.
That all changed when he met surfer Jeff Hakman on a surf trip to Bali and the two hatched a plan to sell boardshorts as the U.S. licensee for Australia’s Quiksilver.
McKnight fastened the snaps onto the shorts and Hakman ironed every new pair.
They started making a few dozen and sold them to a few local surf shops.
Quiksilver since has become the largest surfwear company in the world with yearly sales of $2 billion. McKnight, who recently was inducted into the Surfer Hall of Fame, owns about 4 million shares of Quiksilver, a stake with a market value of about $65 million at recent check.
