Surf ethos soaked up globally

Andrew Edwards

Teenagers in Shanghai can dig Orange County surf culture as much as

California dudes, Quiksilver, Inc. chairman Robert McKnight Jr. said

of the local surfwear business.

McKnight spoke to a full room recently at the Sutton Place Hotel

in Newport Beach. During his address, McKnight touched on the

potential for the teenager-centered boardsports industry to use the

allure of beach culture to enhance its worldwide appeal.

“Half of the world’s population lives at or near the beach and the

other half can’t wait to get there,” McKnight said.

Quiksilver, based in Huntington Beach, is one of many surfwear

companies that call Orange County home.

Local clothing companies in and around the boardsports scene

include Costa Mesa’s Volcom, Inc. and Hurley International.

In his introduction to McKnight’s address, Orange County Forum

chairman Bryan Murphy credited McKnight as a driving force behind the

exportation of the local beach image.

“You, as an individual, have taken our Orange County beach

lifestyle and culture and have brought it and taken it to more people

on the globe than any other individual,” Murphy said.

The Orange County Forum hosts monthly events featuring speakers

from the worlds of politics, business and academia.

Since 1999, McKnight said the number of people who surf,

skateboard or snowboard has doubled. Though he is “absolutely amazed

at the growth of our industry,” McKnight asserted Quiksilver and

other surf brands can do more to promote the boardsports world in a

positive light.

“We really want to set an example to the rest of the world that

we’re legitimate companies,” McKnight said. “We make clothes for kids

that are sometimes misunderstood.”

In the youth-driven surfwear market, McKnight conceded Quiksilver

can take pot shots from teenagers for being too old or too big.

Companies trying to market clothing to often iconoclastic boardsports

enthusiasts are constantly challenged to prove their authenticity.

“You put an ad in front of them and they can smell a phony a mile

away,” McKnight said.

Local beaches are not the only reason surf companies have

clustered in Orange County, McKnight said. Other key factors aiding

the industry were access to John Wayne Airport and the presence of

surf magazines in the county.

Quiksilver was founded in Australia in 1970. In the 1970s McKnight

and friend Jeff Hakman obtained a license to sell Quiksilver

boardshorts in the United States.

The company went public in 1986 and Quiksilver has since grown to

include multiple clothing lines. McKnight expects his firm’s buy of

French winter sports company Rossignal Group SA to close in July.

When he started out with Quiksilver, McKnight drove along the

coast marketing clothing to California surf shops.

He said he predicts the company’s 2005 sales will total about $2

billion after the Rossignal deal closes.

“I think the moral of the story is, if you have a kid graduating

from college and they say they want to spend a year at the beach

selling T-shirts, you might want to give that a second thought,”

forum president Jane Samson said.