Dean Quinn has spent the past three years building up O’Quinn Clothing during the worst industry downturn in recent memory.
“They’ve been the toughest three years of my life,” he said.
Quinn was one of five people honored at the annual Excellence in Entrepreneurship award luncheon put on by the Business Journal March 17 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
The Huntington Beach maker of upscale and trendy clothing inspired by surf, skate, music and art has landed in some big stores: Macy’s, Nordstrom, Fred Segal, Jack’s Surfboards, Huntington Beach Surf & Sport, PacSun and Tilly’s, to name a few. Annual sales are estimated at $5 million to $7 million.
“As I look around the room, I wonder how many people here I owe money to,” Quinn joked while accepting the award.
He got into the business of surf-inspired clothes after a stint as a struggling and starving professional surfer.
Being a pro surfer was a “dream for most of us,” he said.
But he knew that dream wouldn’t last forever, so he took jobs at big clothing companies to explore his passion for clothes.
“At a young age, I would change my clothes like three times before leaving the house,” said Quinn, 50.
With no formal education, he turned to his surfing sponsors, who suggested he get a job with an apparel company to learn the ropes. He landed a gig with defunct Team Gear back in the 1980s.
“It was the smartest thing I ever did, working for a small company,” Quinn said. “I always had in the back of my mind that I would start my own company. Everything I did back then was a learning experience.”
From there, he went to work for some of the biggest names in the industry: Costa Mesa’s Hurley International LLC, Irvine-based Billabong USA and Rip Curl Inc. in Costa Mesa.
The Beginning
In 2004, he started brainstorming to start his brand. By the time O’Quinn Clothing was started, Quinn had lined up financing and lured his partner and vice president of sales, Dale Rhodes, a former sales executive at Hurley, to help him get the company off the ground.
“I didn’t want to start my company in the garage, work my way out and spend the next 10 years slowly building a brand and name,” Quinn said.
He split with his undisclosed financial partner a year later. The partner was looking to cash out, and Quinn said he needed more from a partner than just money.
During that time, he pitched the company to everyone—stock brokers, investors, other apparel companies.
“When I first started, I had a partnership out of the gate,” Quinn said. “I never knew how hard it was to make payroll, pay all the expenses.”
After working with a boutique factor—a middleman who pays cash upfront for pending sales and then collects payments from retailers—Quinn landed another partner earlier this year. He declined to disclose the name, but said that the new partner has given him the financial security he needed. It also has given him access to T-shirt factories in Central America.
That’s key because it gives him more control over quality and production, he says.
As for sales this year, Quinn expects the company’s revenue to double.
“We’re right on track,” he said. “We’re where we wanted to be.”
The company has a total of 12 workers, including its sales team. It counts three full-time employees in Huntington Beach.
Quinn would like to see his brand be around for a long time.
“I want to have the opportunity to build this brand so it’s big enough to support my community,” he said. “I’m a firm believer in giving back to this community.”
He’d also like to give back to the industry that has given him so much.
Quinn, who has been married to his wife, Shurla, for 14 years, has three kids. And while starting O’Quinn Clothing is a huge accomplishment in his life, it’s not his biggest.
In 2005, he donated a kidney to his father, which saved his father’s life. He’s doing great, Quinn said.
“This is a dream come true,” Quinn said about his business. “Never would I have imagined myself, a grom off the beaches of Huntington Beach with no college education, running my own business—a business I’m proud of.”
Gomez is a former Business Journal editor and freelance writer based in Long Beach.
