Caution Is Watchword for Makers of Surfwear : Fashion: Firms such as O.C.-based Quiksilver and Mossimo are expanding their lines, but they’re aware of potential problems.
Tom Campion had a simple concept when he opened the first of his Above The Belt apparel stores in 1978. True to its name, the retail chain sold little more than surfer shirts and caps.
In the ‘80s, when other surf apparel manufacturers began expanding into shorts, shoes, wristwatches and accessories, Campion did the same--and also changed the name of his Everett, Wash.-based company to Zumiez. Today, though, with Quiksilver, Mossimo and a handful of other surf apparel manufacturers branching out even further into women’s clothing and bathing suits, Campion is cautious. “You start trying to be all things to all people,” he said, “and pretty soon nobody knows what you are.”
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Retail experts agree. Success in the surfwear industry, they say, which has historically marketed itself to teen-age boys, doesn’t necessarily ensure acceptance on the distaff side of the aisle.
“Very few menswear companies have been able to make it in the women’s biz,” said Alan G. Millstein, editor of the New York-based Fashion Network Report.
Michael W. Marsak, president of Effective Marketing Strategies Inc. in Marina del Rey, said companies that “carefully take the time to understand the wants and needs of their new target audience” are the most likely to succeed. “They don’t take it for granted that the line has equity with the new segment. The new customer might say, ‘It’s a brand I know nothing about and care nothing about.’ ”
During the late 1980s, many surf apparel companies learned the painful lesson that unrestrained growth can be deadly. Despite its OP label being one of the nation’s best-known, Ocean Pacific Sunwear filed for bankruptcy court protection in May, 1992. The company cited $11 million in debt, most of that related to its ill-fated 1985 effort to start its own manufacturing plant. The company, based in Irvine, subsequently sold most of its assets.
Quiksilver, then, was “very cautious, very careful and very scared at first about expanding” into women’s lines, said Robert B. McKnight Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of the publicly traded Costa Mesa company. “We didn’t want to hurt our existing business.”
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Quiksilver is confident, though, that its venture into women’s fashions will succeed, for 20% of its clothing sales are already being made to girls and young women who like the fit and feel of the company’s menswear. Quiksilver is building on that momentum with Roxy, a junior line it created a year ago. It also added $11 million in annual revenue in 1993 when it purchased Raisins Inc., a Laguna Beach bikini maker, from founders Pat and Tom Lingo.
McKnight plans to leverage Raisins’ design capabilities as Quiksilver expands into the women’s swimwear business. “To do women’s clothing correctly, you have to employ a small army,” McKnight said. “You merchandise differently, you cut, produce and market differently.”
Companies typically venture beyond their core business only after exhausting growth potential, said Kurt Barnard, publisher of Barnard’s Weekly Retail Marketing Report in New York. “They have to find a way to broaden their consumer base to continue to do well.”
A well-known brand name such as Quiksilver that has appealed primarily to young men isn’t necessarily going to be a hit with women, Barnard said. “You really have to do your market research.”
Some of the biggest names in menswear have done well with diversity. Levi’s jeans for men, for example, are a staple among female shoppers, and menswear giants Fruit of the Loom and Jockey International both have thriving lines of woman’s underwear. And surfwear pioneer Hang 10 licensed its logo successfully to women’s-wear manufacturers.
Those in the industry say that, when companies opt to license their names for new lines, they have to select the right licensee.
O’Neill Inc., for example, is a leading wet-suit manufacturer. But the company, based in Santa Cruz, failed in past attempts to develop a successful apparel line. O’Neill hasn’t given up, though. It recently announced a new licensing agreement to produce a clothing line for the domestic market.
The key to success is to proceed cautiously, said Howie Greller, executive vice president of Beach Patrol Swimwear in Carson. The company, which has designed women’s swimwear since 1987, recently introduced a new line called Baja Men’s.
“Everything’s evolutionary,” Greller said. “You’ve got to walk before you can run. We were asked to do men’s suits three years ago, but our plan calls for controlled but healthy growth.”
Mossimo Inc., which has its roots in the surf industry, has also expanded its popular collection to include menswear, footwear, sunglasses and women’s swimwear, watches and accessories. On tap for next year: a fragrance line and women’s sportswear.
Mossimo Giannulli, founder of the Irvine-based company, said he always viewed surf and volleyball apparel as a springboard to a broader market, but he is not forgetting his roots. Buyers of surf
apparel, he said, are “not a group I want to alienate.”
“People were less receptive in the past to some of the diversifications,” he said. “But they’re now welcoming us with open arms because we’ve been successful.”
Having a well-known name, however, has proved to be a liability for some companies.
Eight months ago, Rusty Apparel in Irvine stopped promoting itself as a provider of surf-related clothing and equipment. Instead, the company shifted the emphasis to all types of board sports.
The move was a “fundamental marketing change,” said marketing director Peter Townend. “We have no waves in our (new) logo, which I think is an advantage. We’ve had great growth in our snowboard sales.”
That, in turn, has boosted sales of the company’s surfwear inland. The new market, he said, “is pulling our beach apparel to distribution places we’d never been before.”
Rusty Apparel also is rethinking who its potential customers are. “Back in the ‘80s,” Townend said, “the people you sold stuff to were white kids who were going to the beach.” Now, he said, “it’s not necessarily a white kid that you’re selling to. . . . The question is, ‘How do I reach these kids?’ It might not be through traditional ways and means.”
For a role model, many apparel companies are turning to Nike, which has been highly successful in marketing its athletic shoes across virtually all demographic lines. “Their distribution is as broad as anyone’s,” Townend said. “If I could do anything with Rusty, I’d like to follow in Nike’s footsteps.”
Marketing expert Marsak advises that companies “not take for granted that the new line is going to have equity with a different group. . . . You can never make the assumption that what sells to men will be popular with women.”
Mossimo founder Giannulli said, “You never expand just to expand. . . . It has to be something that rounds out the collection. If you lose that connection, then you’re gone.”
