O.P

History
Originating in the '60s as a surfboard label, Ocean Pacific (Op) Founder Jim Jenks created an apparel line in 1972 that met the demands of surfers in and out of the water, and the brand quickly became the definitive name in the surf/beach culture. As the original "action sports" company and creator of the "West Coast lifestyle," Op was the first brand of its kind—uniting the entire youth culture by connecting surfing with music, skateboarding, motocross, BMX and snowboarding
That’s the short story: Here’s the long one…
By 1968, with four years of retailing tutelage from Don Hansen of Hansen Surfboards under his belt, Jenks decided to branch out on his own. He started an independent sales company, California Surfing Products, which catered strictly to surf shops. Representing Mike Doyle’s Wax Research, surf racks by Bay Standard, and surfboards by Hansen and Surfboards Hawaii, Jenks began building a relationship with retailers from coast to coast. Loading up his battered surf van, he would hit the road, hand-delivering his products up and down the East and Gulf coasts, gaining credibility as he went.
As surfing's popularity continued to explode, the demand for surf-related products was increasing exponentially. Out in the shops every day, Jenks could see there was a need for surf clothing that was functional, as well as stylish. He began working on a trunk design that would work better for surfers. The result was shorts that didn’t ride up, and Jenks made them in soft comfortable material, triple-stitched to withstand stress… In other words, a performance board short made specifically for surfers.
Continue on to "The Rise"History
Jenks could see he was onto something, but he needed funding. And he needed a name. His first choice was "Sunset", but Ed Wright, the owner of Sunset Surfboards, didn't want to give up the name. There was, however, another brand, one Hansen owned called "Ocean Pacific." Hansen had acquired it from Fred Ryan of Wax Research, who had purchased it from its original owner, John Smith. An underground surfboard shaper from North County, San Diego, Smith had opened a storefront in 1967 where he became part of the shortboard revolution that was sweeping the coast. John Wade, Ocean Pacific Surfboards’ first team rider, recalls: "One of my first Ocean Pacific’s was a beautiful 6'11" diamond tail shaped by Gerry Lopez. I went to Hawaii with Gerry that winter and it worked great."
Jenks began looking at the Ocean Pacific name from different perspectives and came to an epiphany. "I was staring at this board that some of the guys had made and put in my office as a lark," says Jenks. "I kept staring at the logo and, all of a sudden, I realized how incredibly easy that little Op would be to embroider on a pair of trunks." It was then that the seed of Ocean Pacific germinated. Jenks had a good name. He had a surfboard company. And he had a product he knew would sell. All he needed now was the money to get started.
"And all of a sudden I realized how incredibly easy that little Op would be to embroider on a pair of trunks."
He went to his mentor, Hansen, to ask for help. Hansen introduced him to the man he himself had used as a backer, Bob Driver. Driver, a businessman who owned his own insurance company, had invested in Hansen when surfboards had become the rage, and it had paid-off. Now he could see that clothing could be the next big thing and that there was a hole in the market for an authentic surf line. Hansen convinced him that Jenks was the man to fill it. By 1972, Driver was ready to put up the investment money, but he wanted two things: Hansen's involvement, and a salesman to move the product while Jenks oversaw the design and production. Hansen agreed to be a silent partner, and Jenks enlisted his childhood buddy, Chuck Buttner, to handle his sales. It was a rare and incredibly effective match-up. Ocean Pacific had just taken-off and they were in for the ride of their life.
The first product line consisted of three surf trunks and two walk shorts. It was an instant hit, but they knew they needed something more. What they needed was a garment to set them apart and make their name synonymous with surf. Hawaiian shirts, then called silkies, were the rage in the thrift stores, snapped up by surfers coming back from their Island surf sojourns. Jenks and company knew if they could make new ones as good as the old, they would "own" the surf market. But Op had no clue how to put a program like that together. To do so, Jenks pulled a pair of aces out of his sleeve: Walter and Flippy Hoffman, the only two surfers in the entire garment business.
"Op would never have been anything without Hoffman Fabrics," Jenks states flatly. "(Walter) Hoffman was instrumental in getting the whole silky shirt program going. That's what got us started. That's what put us on the map."
Op's silky Hawaiian prints and functional board shorts were a phenomenon with no precedent. At the Men's Apparel Guild In California (MAGIC) show, they were a sensation, creating a near-mob-scene of buyers wanting to get their hands on the product. Everywhere, board-riders were suddenly wearing Op silkies, and the effect was like having billboards splashed across every beach in America. "At the time I just wanted to make surf clothes that really worked for surfers," says Jenks. "I had no clue it would become what it did." The way Op did it was to change surfing business forever. "I think what was really unique about Ocean Pacific," reflects Jenks, "Was that we were the first brand to successfully educate and convince surfboard makers to carry apparel in their shops."
Continue on to "The Boom"History
"Ocean Pacific had three things that were really special--authenticity, great salesmen, and terrific promotion," says Duke Boyd, founder of Lightning Bolt and Hang-Ten. "Jenks was a surfer, he'd worked at Hansen's so he knew the scene. At that point in time, none of the other companies who were trying to cater to surfers had anyone with real roots in surfing. So that gave him authenticity."
By the mid-‘70s, Op was tripling its sales every year. The company was about to introduce the all-time hit of surf wear – the Op Cord walk short. When the first cords hit the stores, the boom was deafening. The short went on to sell millions of pairs and become the standard for nearly a decade.
"By the mid-Seventies, Op was tripling its sales every year."
But cord walk shorts weren't the only thing Op had going for them. As Boyd observed: authenticity, sales power and marketing was beginning to hit full stride. In 1977, Op's marketing director underwrote the fledgling Association of Professional Surfers (ASP) organization, igniting the professional surfing circuit that still presides today. "We backed the ASP heavily," remembers Jenks. "We felt we had to support the surfers who were all making it happen." The move made Op the major American player in the professional surfing world and gained them a head start with the Pros.
While the ‘60s faded with longboards, Op was recruiting young hotshots from the shortboard revolution. Op was the first to recognize that if the East Coast was a huge portion of their sales, then perhaps they should support the surfers who were living there. They began to sponsor young upcoming riders from New Jersey and Florida: one of them was a little grom named Kelly Slater, another one was Frieda Zamba, both to become future world champs. But it was the Hawaiian contingency that made the big push for Op: Ben Aipa, Mark Liddel and a young kid named Larry Bertlemannn. Bertlemann was a prodigy whose time had come. Already acclaimed as "the Rubberman" for his radically dexterous maneuvers, Larry's flamboyant, new-wave act added Hawaiian credibility to Op's California roots. And his legion of followers was the new customer Op wanted.
In just a few short years, Op had become the biggest name in surf wear. By 1978, Op's sales crew had brought screen-printed t-shirts back into the retail shops, and they were unable to keep up with the demand. Then came another monster hit, the Op Pro in Huntington Beach.
"The Op Pro was the biggest, richest, most colorful event in surfing," says Peter Townend, Surfing magazine's former publisher, who as a pro, won the first ASP World Championship. "It was one of the key events that brought the leadership back to California."
Hundreds of thousands lined the pier and grandstands every Labor Day, to watch 32 of the best competitors in the world compete for prize money purses that had previously been reserved for professions like golf and tennis.
Continue on to "Legends of the Fall"History
By the end of the ‘70s, the youth market had come of age. No longer the counter-culture, young people in America were the dominant power behind music, film, sports and entertainment. They had the disposable income to make a company like Op a major player, and over the next 10 years they did just that. Almost without effort, Op saw the match between its West Coast lifestyle, casual clothing, and the entire youth market. Like a seamless rayon fabric, Op slipped into every facet of action sports.
“It was a classic case of a company losing its roots.”
Skateboarding was a no-brainer; after all, at the time, it was actually named "sidewalk surfing." Bertlemann brought skate moves into the surf lexicon, creating a whole new vocabulary of spectacular maneuvers to wave riding. Legendary skater Gregg Weaver immortalized his drop-knee wingspan turns on the back covers of magazines, and sales inland went through the roof.
By the mid-‘80s, snowboarding, just in its infant stage, was hungry for product that wasn't from a ski corporation, and riders were appreciative of a lifestyle company that was willing to support contests and sponsor pros. Damian Saunders, arguably the most dominant snowboarder of his era, rode for Op.
Motocross, the next power-trend to hit the coast, was right up Jenk's alley. "He used to race bikes with Walter (Hoffman)," remembers John Bernards. "He was always out on the racetrack, down at the pits, all around the best dirt trails."
Op had achieved a variety of triumphs that only a decade before weren’t imaginable. They had connected surfing, skateboarding, motocross and snowboarding under one brand; produced giant action sports events like the Op Pro; created a massive, new fashion market and taken surf culture to the mainstream. Op was a worldwide, household name.
But success came at a price. In the late ’80s, the proud progenitor of surf was engulfed by a sea of fast-growing new brands that sprung-up and burgeoned in its wake. Ironically, on the eve of Op posterboy Tom Curren bringing surfing’s World Championship crown back to the United States, Op, itself, was on its way to a decade-long doldrum.
Continue on to "The Mojo Rises Again"History
Enter mojo man Dick Baker, a California-grown veteran of the apparel business who had worked for Esprit and then for Tommy Hilfiger.
With a group of serious investors, Baker had been looking for a company that had the brand name and innate potential to flourish globally. He was convinced Op was it. A brilliant strategist and an experienced apparel executive, Baker could see the bright future of the brand. Most importantly though, he was a people person with a passion for the lifestyle and he knew how to surround himself with a talented team, which he initiated with the appointment of a surf industry apparel icon, Hawaiian-born Nat Norfleet, as Op's design director.
Baker and his crew quickly put the "Ocean" back in "Op," inaugurated with a recommitment to the Op Pro Surfing Championship in 1998, and followed with a manufacturing, distribution and branding campaign that connected Op vintage designs with its heritage, but gave it a life that was modern and above all else uniquely "Op."
"In the beginning they built a dynasty. In the end they will leave a legacy"
With top-tier creative and marketing talent flowing through the halls of Op, Duke Boyd's observation about "authenticity, sales power and marketing" appeared to be back in the mix, with a whole new crew ready to prove the brand's validity again. Op also began re-building a team of athletes, musicians and celebrities to help tell the new Op story.
Today, the Op team has expanded from just a couple of athletes in 2001 to more than two dozen, including Pipe Master and two-time World Longboard Champion Joel Tudor, three-time World Longboard Champion Colin McPhillips; former National Surfing Champion Greg Long; Pipe Master and former U.S. Professional Surfing Champion Jesse Merle-Jones; skateboard legends and musicians Ray Barbee and Justin Reynolds; and Austrian snowboard star Steve Gruber. And music icons as diverse as Fu Manchu, Hoobastank, The Crystal Method, Andy Caldwell and DJ Greyboy all fly the Op flag.
Business, as you might expect, is expanding as well. Sales have gotten better and better each year since Baker arrived, with the 2002 through 2004 at the top of those growth years. What is perhaps the greatest achievement however, is the resurrection of the brand itself. Op again stands solid and strong, combining a proud heritage with a renewed position as one of the industry's leading companies. Today Op is one of the largest brands of its kind in the world, serving males and females, infants to grommets to Baby-Boomers.
Through the manufacture of goods ranging from apparel and footwear to fragrances and accessories, sponsorship of world-class sporting events and athletes, and ongoing collaborations with artists and musicians, Op continues to remain true to its mission: to create quality active-lifestyle products with genuine value, authenticity and style. For more information on what Op's doing today and with whom it's getting on, check out Op.com.