Bikini-Maker Raisin Co. Inc. Expands Into Men’s Apparel

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Cross a bikini with a wet suit and what do you get?

A company that is well-built for competition and warming to the challenge. In other words, the newly expanded Raisin Co. Inc.

Raisins--for years one of the hottest bikini labels on the beach--has acquired San Clemente-based Trestles Inc., the manufacturer and marketer of Rip Curl wet suits and beachwear in North America.

The deal marks the first time a maker of women’s beachwear has taken over a manufacturer of men’s apparel. According to several industry sources, it creates a company with combined sales of more than $20 million.

The acquisition, completed Sept. 30, gives Raisin the licensing rights for Rip Curl in North America, Guam, Canada, Mexico and the Virgin Islands. San Juan Capistrano-based Raisin also bought the Rip Curl Surf Center, a San Clemente retail outlet.

As part of the deal, Raisin also purchased from Rip Curl the U.S. distributorships for Ocean & Earth and Balin, two small companies that manufacture surf accessories, and the North American licensing rights to manufacture and distribute Peak, an Australian-based wet-suit maker.

The sale was for an undisclosed amount of cash, said Tom Lingo, chief executive, who owns Raisin along with his wife, president Pat Lingo, and Hugh Blue, the chief operating officer. Lingo declined to reveal the stock price. But he said Australia-based Rip Curl International received a note that is convertible into an equity interest in the combined company, if certain unspecified events occur.

In Orange County, regarded by many as the nation’s swimwear-making capital, Raisin’s styles have been quietly influencing larger companies for years.

Since 1984, Raisin evolved from just a swimsuit maker into a manufacturer of complete beachwear outfits, known in the industry as “active wear,” with a product line that includes rayon pants and knit tops and bottoms. The company quickly emerged as the women’s beachwear market’s largest maker of swimwear for specialty shops--at the same time enjoying phenomenal growth.

Although industry retailers and competitors say that the firm’s influence has declined in recent seasons, the Raisins label--along with a second line of casual sportswear, Leilani Jones--today is sold at 2,700 specialty stores throughout the United States, as well as in Nordstrom.

Rip Curl, on the other hand, started as an Australian surfboard company in the ‘60s. The company gradually began making wet suits and sold its North American license to Trestles in 1979. Trestles, which does business in the United States as Rip Curl, had been owned by its two Australian principals and Rod “Butch” Barr, who heads the San Clemente-based operation.

Today, Rip Curl’s Orange County operations include warehouse and manufacturing facilities for wet suits in Oceanside and executive offices in San Clemente. It is the second-biggest name among hard-core surfers for wet suits and is sold at about 450 small, specialty stores across the country.

Tom Lingo stressed that Rip Curl and Raisin will remain separate, with Rip Curl operating as an autonomous division of the bikini manufacturer. The combined companies have about 150 employees.