Quiksilver Follows Suit in Swimwear : Apparel: Acquisition of bikini maker Raisin Co. makes Costa Mesa company the latest local surf-wear firm to join lucrative women’s swimsuit market.

Quiksilver Inc. has become the latest of Orange County’s surf-wear makers to dive into the women’s swimwear market, announcing Thursday that it has acquired a leading local bikini maker.

In buying Raisin Co. in a deal worth up to $4.7 million, Costa Mesa-based Quiksilver is jumping into the $1.2-billion women’s swimsuit market--one that is roughly six times the size of the market for men’s beach wear.

“Raisins is a great little company,” said Quiksilver Chairman Bob McKnight. “They were a natural candidate for us.”

Investors apparently thought so, too, because Quiksilver’s common stock jumped 75 cents a share Thursday to close at $12.87 in Nasdaq trading.

Raisins will continue operating under its own name as a separate company, McKnight said, and will take over Quiksilver’s existing Roxy brand of women’s casual wear.

Quiksilver has 275 employees and expects to do about $100 million in sales this year. San Juan Capistrano-based Raisins has 33 employees and $10 million in sales under the Raisins, Radio Fiji, Leilani and Raisin Girls labels.

Surf-wear makers have gradually added women’s swimwear to their lines as they began losing sales to competition from makers of so-called “street wear”--the baggy, printed shorts and shirts popularized by rap musicians.

Mossimo Inc. in Irvine, one of the hottest brands of young men’s surf wear, introduced a women’s line that has graced the pages of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue two years running. Stussy, another leading men’s brand, has been importing selected women’s designs from its Australian licensee.

“I think that obviously, women like to buy a lot of clothes,” said John Bernard, president of Spot Inc. in Irvine, a surf-wear maker that has women’s sports and swimwear lines. “The juniors market is ever-changing. (That’s) what makes it such a viable market, it is always fresh.”

Until recently, men’s surf-wear companies have had mixed success in the women’s market. Often they were stymied by having most of their stock in surf-wear shops, which mainly attract male customers.

But Quiksilver and Raisins both have a large presence in department stores, giving them similar distribution channels that should make their alliance work. “There is a natural synergy between Quiksilver and Raisins,” said Alan Millstein, editor of Fashion Network Report, a retailing newsletter based in New York.

Like Quiksilver, Raisins grew from a garage operation. Pat Lingo, the company’s founder and president, began fashioning bikinis at her Laguna Beach home in 1973.

Cash from the acquisition by Quiksilver--about a third of the sales price is contingent on meeting sales goals--will help Raisins pay off debt remaining from its ill-fated purchase of the Rip Curl wet-suit line in 1989. Rip Curl was sold a year later.

“Both Quiksilver and Raisins were born in the early days of the active lifestyle industry and we have lived through the tough times. We are both leaner and more efficient,” said Tom Lingo, who joined his wife’s company as chief executive in 1980.