Surf Wear Maker Sticks a Toe in New Waters

Costa Mesa surf wear maker Toes on the Nose is venturing into new territory, moving to larger headquarters and launching both a national advertising campaign and a home furnishings line.

At 12,000 square feet, the new site is more than twice the size of the company’s former Irvine offices. The move reflects owner Richard Allred’s expectation that the privately held company’s sales will double this year to about $10 million.

Toes, which has 30 employees, makes clothing and accessories for men, women and children, including board shorts, T-shirts, sundresses, Hawaiian shirts, jackets, beach bags and backpacks.

A budding national advertising campaign--which will intensify next year--calls for Toes ads to appear for the first time in publications that are not surf-related, such as Jump and Teen magazines. With sales increasing on the East Coast, Allred said Toes will also begin advertising in Eastern Surf magazine.

Home furnishings--a territory that other surf wear companies have entered--opens a wide range of opportunities. Toes’ line of bed linens, which includes Hawaiian-printed pillow shams and duvet covers, will be in surf shops next month.

The summer line, which will ship next spring, will include slipcovers for chairs and couches. Allred sees nothing strange about selling duvet covers to surfers.

“People surround themselves with their hobbies and tastes, and surfers are like that also,” he said. “We could do drapes, we could do a complete line of furniture.”

Allred, a former fraternity brother of clothing designer Mossimo Giannulli, started the company with partners in 1993 and later took it over himself. Toes initially made men’s clothing and later launched women’s and children’s lines.