One of our favourites Billabong is in trouble. The economic times have hit the surfwear manufacturer and as a company they are having a difficult time.

This week Billabong rebuffed the third takeover bid from US-based private equity firm Trilantic Capital Partners, TPG are a venture capital house made up of ex-Lehman bankers. The buyout company last week offered to buy all of Billabong’s shares for AU$3 each. Billabong said this under-valued their business and their plans.

Billabong earlier this month said it will cut 400 jobs across the world, and will close loss-making stores after reporting a 71 per cent decrease in 6 month earnings, down to AU$16 million ($17.1 million). The company has announced another extensive review of its 677 shops. Between 100 and 150 loss-making stores across Australia, Europe and North America will close and up to 400 full-time jobs will be cut, including 80 in Australia.

This could save Billabong A$30m in rental costs and aid underlying earnings by  A$10m next year. They plan a further $30m in costs to be cut across the business (head office and corporate overheads etc), supply chain and marketing budgets. As the same time it announced a reduced dividend of 3c a share – will it impact the business and the clothes we like?

The long-serving Billabong Chief Exec, Derek O’Neill (oh, the irony), and the board, which has remained pretty much unchanged for the past decade, are under a lot of pressure to turn the company around. Perhaps they need some new faces and new ideas as a company.

Billabong are working towards a deal with Nixon, which sells high-end watches and headphones, made about $US125m in sales last year. Nixon are doing OK, and would make an interesting combination – or at least fresh injection of ideas – with Billabong.

Are there Billabong surfwear bargains to be had? We’ll find the cheapest for you, and keep you posted.

We tried to get more financial opinion, but unfortunately Genevieve Morton was unavailable for comment:

Supposed to be a Quicksilver decal – but how safe this is on a plane we’re not sure, but if it’s still going and not fallen off over the south Pacific perhaps we can borrow it for the VW surf van, would look awesome on the side – applied to a VH-VGZ it features Australian surfer Julian Wilson. His Quiksilver signature board shorts are designed by his mother Nola. Thanks Mum.

Tell us the best or most unusual places you’ve seen surf brands surface / fly / appear / ride … …

Being green and coping with economic recession will be two big pressures on surfwear in this decade. Eco tourism to established surf locations, and the protection of beaches, will be an important part of surfing, in particular its world tour visiting 11 exotic beaches. Many of the tour events have looked to reduce their carbon footprint and to introduce more sustainable practices, like more proactive recycling at the venues and introduction of solar panels to provide power from renewable sources. The whole tour, and the whole sport, will aim to be greener – surfing itself is about health, respect, and enjoyment of the environment. It must also apply the same care to new locations including China (hosts of the Hainan Open), India and the Philippines, each with an increasing population, and large coastline ready for ‘ripping’, with respect. Asian surfing is the next to boom, with many more surfers – and wannbe surfers.

Surf lifestyle is synonymous with green issues, embraced more by manufacturers in their operations and use of materials. Recycled surfwear and green surf clothing are part of the surf range: eco friendly cottons and inks are now garment features; next, surfwear sold with carbon offsets for sustainable surfing and sustainable surfwear will become a must. Quiksilver offer shorts made from recycled polyester, with a mix eco-friendly fabrics (though the details aren’t particularly transparent yet as to their composition and how much is recycled). The Quiksilver Classified boardshorts (shown below) are made from recycled polyester, and have more innovations: the drawstring kept inside the waist to save it dangling outside. Quiksilver also released ‘Diamond Dobby DLX’ stretch fabric, which isn’t flat and has raised diamond shapes in the material meaning 30% less of the boardshort fabric touches the skin, providing for less rash and faster drying times (two times faster than the average boardshort).

Respect for traditional surf values could see a retro feel to style, but only if it makes money and harnesses new fabric innovations. Rip Curl’s 2010 ‘Live The Search’ embodies a desire to embrace what is true and natural about surfing, and being in touch with the environment. Designer swimwear will continue to flourish, as the need to look ‘cool in the pool’ won’t go away. Quiksilver’s Premium Series are a step towards high end ranges. Surfwear and swimwear need to ensure they don’t become ’standard’ but still offer value for money.

In the future the gap will widen between soul-surfers and the marketed-to surfing sub-cultures. Surf fashion being serious business in contrast to surfing’s informality. Real surfwears will continue to distance themselves from the mass, likely not using attitude as they used to but relying more the specialised innovations to surfwear, and its function to the sport.

Without forgetting it’s sporting roots, surfwear will become even more image conscious, as brands adapt to digital life online. And surfwear will be more impact conscious: the water, the beach, and the planet. Surfwear will continue to project life-style qualities of health freedom and fun, but in an increasingly virtual world, in which anyone can live vicariously through surfers at the beach by wearing their clothes.

But then again surfing has always been about freedom, and surfwear about a free lifestyle – so who knows which wave it will ride next.

For updates, competitions, and latest news sign up now to Surfwear.co.uk – you’ll receive alerts on our exclusive free surfwear sales and swimwear giveaways, plus newsletters.

And please do send us your stories, findings and developments in surfing and surfwear, so we can update the story of surfwear.

We’ll end with the wise words of legendary champion surfer Mike Doyle:

“Surfing is fun, and surfwear helps remind people of all ages that life is supposed to be fun.”

Mike Doyle, World Surfing Champion 1970

Thanks Mike, we couldn’t agree more.

Back: The 2000s – Designer Swimwear And Custom Surfwear

In the new millennium surf brands increased their franchising of fashionable lifestyles: from their own DVDs and high street outlets, to music festivals on the beach, the good times lifestyle extended well beyond the beach – surfwear was spreading. In 2000 Tigerlily swimwear appeared in Australia as a brand focused on fashion; later bought by surfwear giant Billabong in 2007.

There were further significant garment improvements, to boardshorts in particular: better fabric comfort came from stretch properties, the use of laser cut materials, and electro-welded stitchless-seams that still maintained high durability. Boardshorts would be lighter and stronger. They did away with Velcro-fastening – that was felt as hard squares of fabric which could entangle pubic hair – replaced with a stretch-fly. Hurley was granted a patent on their ‘EZ Fly’ closure for boardshorts in 2001 (Quiksilver granted their version in 2007), and with front draw strings made the most comfortable boardshort yet. Hurley’s Phantom fabric use of a one piece gusset avoided the need for an inner leg seam, so less chance of rubbing against the inner thigh.

Rip Curl’s STL boardshorts (code for ’stitchless’) came from feedback from top surfers that the most common complaint about boardshorts was the stitched seams being irritating and uncormfortable against the ski. Using laser cut fabric and seams electro-welded together, they did away with friction or irritation from seams, allowing greater comfort. Offered with a lifetime guarantee on the seams, Rip Curl was confident of its 100% stitchless, super light weight, and now very stretchy shorts – they even had a silicon lace for better grip in the wet or dry.

Hurley was bought by Nike in 2002, four years after going alone from, and not renewing its licence with, Billabong. Surfwear companies grew larger, and bought up smaller brands so they could conquer more lifestyles. In 2004 Speedo joined force with Brazilian designer Rosa Cha to give their swimwear a new style and edge. Speedo is owned by sports and fashion brand management company Pentland Group (along with other brands including Ellesse and Ted Baker), illustrating how modern brands are managed as fashion brands.

By the end of the decade the global surfwear industry was worth over £15bn a year. The three leading surfwear brands controlled 70% of the global market: Quiksilver (the first $1b sales surf brand) and Billabong, both based in California, and Rip Curl in Australia (where they ALL originated). Surf brands were corporate companies: Billabong owned other brands including Element Von Zipper Kustom and Nixon watches (and is itself now owned by Nike). Volcom is an example of a lifestyle-brand, purposely managed to appeal across surfing skating and snowboarding. The merging of brands across sports activities means surfwear became difficult to define, but remains characterised by the lifestyle it represents.

During the decade surf companies rushed to get online, with a rise of online surf shops and online commerce, putting pressure on stores and their high costs. In 2009 during the recession UK surf clothing sales suffered as high street stores offered only high prices. O’Neill in the UK (licenced by Blacks) went bust trying to mix shelf-space with outdoors clothes. Surfwear.co.uk innovated the industry, with all leading surf and swimwear brands at their lowest prices for easy comparison of cheap surfwear and surf shop sales.

Surfwear has continued to evolve in clear steps of function, innovation and fashion, under the influence of the media, military and technology – all the time sharing with it’s swimwear sibling. Then online technology and the Internet changed the way surf clothes are marketed and sold, found and bought.

NEXT: The 2010s – Now And The Future

Back: The 1990s – Ladies, Stitching, And The Modern Uniform

Surfing was made cool for ladies in the 1990s with their joining the surfing world tour and by movies like Blue Crush, and women’s surfwear grew on the back of new, more fashion conscious, demand. It presented a marketing dream-mix of sun good looks and action. The Roxy brand was launched by Quiksilver in 1993 with the ‘double heart’ logo to appeal to the growing number of female surfers and surf life-stylers, at the softer feminine end of the market. Reef introduced its first ladies-only shoes line, in addition to new models of sandal and closed shoes (including skate shoes and snow boots). The arrival of the Reef Girls, in skimpy bikinis, exemplified the sexy side of surfwear. There was the inaugural Sports Illustrated Swimwear TV Special in ‘95. Sponsored wave riders were no longer just surfers, but models and sports personalities, and made for great pictures showing off their surfwear and their bodies.

Technology advances in the ’90s led to a number of surf product innovations. Australian swimwear companies established standards for sun protective clothing in 1996, leading to Sun Protection Factor (SPF) fabrics built into many garments. Other swimwear innovations included less surface resistance for speed and chlorine resistance for longer fabric life. Surfwear boardshorts tested mesh lining (distinct from suspended jock lining) to provide modesty when the outer layer got wet (particularly white shorts), and for greater comfort. And in particular new stitching techniques changed the face of shorts and tops. Often triple-stitched for extra durability, modern boardshorts used ultra-light four-way stretch fabrics. Blends of polyester nylon and lycra were light, quick drying, flexible, and durable, even antibacterial.

Rash vests, or rash guards, exploited these properties and benefited from new flat-lock stitching and six-panel construction. Rash vests were athletic shirts made of spandex and nylon or polyester, strong and tight fitting yet mobile, dry or wet. In warm water they prevented chafing against sand while lying and paddling on a surfboard, and provided sun protection. In cooler water they were an option to replace more cumbersome and less flattering wetsuits, being long sleeved as well as short, and came in different thicknesses. Plus more ‘printed billboard space’ meant more branding opportunities and surfwear logos taking pride of place squarely on the chests of wave riders. Surfers now had a full ‘uniform’ in the water of long board shorts and rash vest, or bikini, wetsuit t shirt flip flops and sunglasses – complemented out of the water by branded tops, jeans, jackets, watches, caps, Hawaiian shirts and surf bags.

In the late 90s swimwear brands offered greater ranges. In 1996 Speedo released its range of low resistance swimsuits Aquablade and Fastskin, and 1999 TYR released a body suit that reduced water drag by 6%. Swim jammers and long tight fitting swim shorts, and compressions shorts, were common place in the pool. Other well known brands started, including Zoggs in ‘92 specialising in goggles, Finis and Blue Seventy in ‘93, and Konfidence in the UK in ’98 specialising in children’s swimwear.

To meet the new upper end of swim fashion, designer swimwear collections started. Vix from Brazil, Baku Australia and Ginja were launched in 1998, bringing designer fashion into beachwear. ViX, named after Brazilian beach city Vitoria, was started by Paula Hermanny after she moved to the Southern California. In its first year Vix had four swimsuits featured in the 1998 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. With new detailing and quality, the glamour of Vix swimwear has become the first choice of celebrities on the beach.

NEXT: The 2000s – The Beach Lifestyle And Rise Of Online

Back: The 1980s – More Brands And More Sports

’80s fashion was dominated by vivid colours and styling, memorably luminous colours on wetsuits. Surf brand logos like sports logos could be prominent on clothes, helping increase their exposure and value, and transcend them into general fashion. Maui and Sons based its surf clothes on creativity and nature, symbolised in its cookie logo. Quiksilver launched ‘Echo Beach’, a range of boardshorts featuring radical print designs of polka dots, harlequins, stars and checks, as surfwear rediscovered its wild side; they featured a velcro fly with snaps, and were built bulletproof – here is a grey blue and yellow pair with palms, still available today (contact us!).

In 1980 Jim Jannard’s Oakley made its first sunglasses innovation adding soft ‘grippy’ rubber to the frames, with the Oakley logo highly prevalent. Sunglasses would never be the same.

1984 saw Reef started in CA by Argentinian brothers Fernando and Santiago Aguerre. They moved to La Jolla with $4000 to market active lifestyle sandals (made in Brazil). Plus Mambo in Australia, their t shirts screen-printed with strong humorous religious and political themes, and the infamous farting box-shaped dog.

Through the ’80s surfing fashion spread again as related spin-offs grew into fully-fledged sports: windsurfing, more popular in Europe, brought new brands including F2 Mistral and Neil Pryde; snowboarding snowballed on North America slopes during 70s and 80s, with new brands like Burton and Sims joining their surf brand cousins; kite-surfing developed from the 80s, given a royal-surfing-seal of approval when demonstrated by big-wave-riding Laird Hamilton (in Maui later in the 90s); wakeboarding also at this time grew from waterskiing. Manufacturers of kit and equipment in each sport released surf clothes, and the diversity grew. Water-based sports demanded strong swimwear, a good match with surf brands even if they missed the ‘pure natural heart’ of wave riding. Each sport had hardware-specific manufacturer brands, but surf lifestyle clothing applied readily to each. It was a logical extension for surfwear brands, and for their customers, and gave them wider licence for lifestyle-fashion.

Anything and everything seemed possible in the ’80s. Bikinis got more daring with the introduction sexy swimwear with G-strings and thongs, allowing even more of the body to show. The sexy-side of swimwear was matched by a geeky-side: swimwear companies such as Tyr Sports in 1985, with the TYR (pronounced ‘tier’) brand, began research into high tech materials, with innovations that would increase the functionality of the clothes. Reef’s marketing of ’simple’ sandals with all the surrounding branding and imagery of the beach illustrates how swim and swim wear had exploded along the different dimensions of fashion and function – and surf wear rode the waves.

And whatever direction it went surfwear was determined to make the wave colourful. The decade ended in a spew of colours and shades – with the brand logos more conspicuous, in full view, and even part of the product itself. This was an typical ’80s flourish, dominated by men and their own fashion sense, before the arrival of ladies to surfing officially in the ’90s and the move to more ‘acceptable’ forms of surf uniform.

NEXT: The 1990s – Ladies, Stitching, And The Modern Uniform

Back: The 1970s – The Big Surf Brands

In 1970 Quiksilver, started by Alan Green, and Rip Curl, started by Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer, both began selling wetsuits in Torquay Australia. Exposure on TV’s ‘The Brady Bunch’ made Hang Ten surf clothes part of the 70s’ surge in surf clothing and fashion that began to define the the super-brands of surfwear: we got lots of ‘tropical palms’, lots of hair.

As one of worlds best surfers for a number of years, Mike Doyle won the 1970 World Surfing Championship, but he for one was starting to feel that the modern surfers were forgetting surfing’s spiritual past. Some took a new direction: skateboarding took off at this time in Dogtown at the Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr surf shop, the Z-boys led this renegade sport. Even if some of the soul of surfing was being lost, surfers were happy, bronzed, in good physical shape, and liked to party. They had a lifestyle that others envied and were now able to associate with, through wearing the same clothes and brands, and buying the ‘feel good’ clothes.

There were experiments with early surf leashes, or surf cords, to keep ahold of the board in the water and make surfing more practical. In 1971 Jack O’Neill lost his left eye in a surfing accident involving one of the first surf leashes, ironically invented by his son. More brands started up in the more accessible and growing surf market. Ocean Pacific (Op) began in the US in 1972, just before Billabong was founded on Queensland’s Gold Coast in ‘73, by Gordon and Rena Merchant.

Wetsuits improved dramatically with the use of double-lined neoprene (nylon applied to both sides for protection) and blind-stitching (where the needle doesn’t go all the way through the neoprene so not creating any holes). These more effective wetsuits allowed surfing in any conditions around the world, opening up the sport in more places to more people, who in turn demanded more surf clothes – in the water and off it.

Specialised custom brands like Katin were now being ‘out marketed’ by the new brands with innovations and bigger images. Quiksilver’s 1976 boardshorts used two-snaps and velcro for the fly, and scallop-leg design. In the same year, the professional surfing world tour started, and with it even more opportunity for sponsorship – and surfwear sales. Gotcha joined Quiksilver as style leader with ranges of clothes for the beach and the water, and also in 1978, ‘Big Wednesday’ the mother of all surf movies, reinforced the culture and spirit – and the cult – of surfing to a wider audience.

In 1979 Hurley was launched by boardshaper Bob Hurley; he licensed the US rights to the up-and-coming Australian surf brand Billabong, and formed Billabong USA in 1983. Further competition between the surf brands led to sponsored surfriders on the tour promoting their own signature boardshorts to help differentiate their surf gear.

Designer swimsuit labels Seafolly and Moontide started in the ’70s as swimwear brands fought for their patch of sand, on their way to becoming the recognised swimwear collections we know today. Adidas France dived into competitive swimwear with the release of the Arena swimwear brand in 1973. And Jantzen embraced the divergence of surfwear, away from swimwear, with dedicated surf lines – mixing ’70s fashion with the ‘diving girl’ (as above).

NEXT: The 1980s – The Big Surf Brands

Back: The 1960s – Surf Brands And Manufacturers

In 1960 Surfer Magazine launched, sold out the back of a Volkswagen van. Elvis in the surf movie ‘Hawaii Blue’ in 1961 gav further exposure for surfing and Hawaiian shirts with bold prints; the Aloha dress shirt with floral patterns was in. Surfing went mainstream: print and film media were joined by music, with The Beach Boys, Dick Dale and the Del Tones, and Jan and Dean, all singing about surfing – you could listen to it, so you wanted to wear it.

Swimsuits caught up with bikinis with the introduction of Lycra for better fitting costumes, and cut-outs to show midriff and higher-cut legs for more exposed skin. In 1961 while working at Speedo, Australian Peter Travis designed a new skimpy style of men’s swimming briefs, with a smaller cut, positioned on the hips rather than the waist: the classic ‘budgie-smuggler’, now associated with the Speedo brand, was born – or should we say ‘packaged’.

In 1962 Duke Boyd made the first mass produced and marketed surfwear, Hang Ten. His advert in Surfer Magazine and surf shops promoted the surfer image and competed with homemade canvas versions. Velcro, patented in 1955, was used as fastenings together with double-stitched cotton nylon for strength. Boyd was a great surfer, and knew what he wanted to surf in, and how to make some money. Hang Ten shorts were priced $3.75 and named after the surfing-equivalent of a ‘hole in one’, standing with both feed on the front board, all ten toes hanging over the front. The brand logo was two feet on a yellow background. They sold as ‘cool clothes’, they were ‘California Authentic’.

Hang Ten was first brand popular with non-surfers, the surf brand an important selling tool. Sponsorship of well-known surf riders became a weapon in surfwear promotion: Jantzen sponsored Pat Curren, Ricky Grigg, and Warren Miller (more famous for his later annual ski films), associating themselves with genuine surfers. Strong demand increased the commercialisation of surf clothes into a full blown industry.

Custom trunks made from heavy canvas ‘stood out’, many with a stripe down one or both legs. They had to look used; new or clean wasn’t cool – true soul-surfing style was of ‘no style’! But this was the age of many newly marketed surf brands. In 1963 Hawaii surfer Dave Rochlen (who had dated Marilyn Monroe) wore big brightly coloured ‘jams’ or ‘baggies’ as loose as possible, later sold by his Surf Line Hawaii company as Surf Line Jams. These big brightly coloured floral baggies were also made from comfortable soft cotton, and defined a new expression and a new mood for surf fashion. Rochlen was a colourful character but got the idea for coloured ‘Jams’ from his family’s emigration from the Ukraine: his father told him about the men on the shores of the Black Sea wearing their colorful pajamas, cut off above the knee, because nobody had swim suits in those days. ‘Surf jams’ featured on the cover of Life magazine in June 1965.

Greg Noll’s now iconic black and white striped ‘jail-house’ trunks starred in the movie ‘Ride The Wild Surf’ in 1964, the same year of the first Sports Illustrated swimwear edition. The 1966 movie ‘Endless Summer’, considered to be the original surf movie, shows most ‘trunks’ (as the movie refers to them) were single colour only – as per Greg’s surf buddies in this picture, some with second colour stripes or waistbands but little floral.

During the ’60s many manufacturers sprang up, including ‘Big Gun’ using Dacron-cotton, ‘Sandcombers’ selling their ‘Grapefruit Gs!’, and ‘Sundek’ in Florida on the East Coast; all makers using more modern materials including stronger nylon. New textile suppliers, including Hoffman in Mission Viejo California, led to ranges of surf garments. Philip ‘Flippy’ Hoffman was a local Huntington surfer, and son of a wool salesman who turned to cotton screen-prints with floral surf designs. But by 1965 Catalina was accused of over-commercialising and Laguna of over-processing its surf clothes with matching tops and mass marketed beachwear – surfers rebelled further believing the fashion-image was not authentic.

Magazines and movies helped drive the marketing of lifestyle and fashion. Hollywood stars that had protected their eyes from lighting on set and used shades for privacy, made sunglasses chic. The end of the 60s saw cultural rebellion arising from the music of The Doors to the evolution of skateboarding from Californian surfing, and businesses looked hungrily at the new market. The arrival of shortboards and their hard rails heralded a faster more competitive vain of surfing. More competitions and more professional riders led to greater merchandising – and more competition between brands. The professional era had arrived. For surfing, the cultural rules changed to commercial rules.

NEXT: The 1970s – The Big Surf Brands

Back: The 1950s – Designer Swimwear And Custom Surfwear

’50s surfers were eager to find their own style at a time when mainstream retailers like J C Penny started producing mainstream beach garments. California’s real surfers instead continued on a ‘DIY’ approach, customising cut-offs by virtue of their being more functional and because they were not mainstream. They were surfers, they were different, and were going to play by their own rules. Homemade canvas ‘long boardies’ were what a real surfer wore, riding their long board.

In the 1950s Brigitte Bardot glamorised the bikini into social acceptability in Europe, not to happen in North America until into the 1960s. However designer style did spread to surfing in Hawaii, where in 1952 Mr M. Nii, a Filipino tailor to the rich and famous, also made custom surfing trunks and ‘made to measure’ shorts. He introduced a new ‘cut’: not old-fashioned tailoring, but a ‘young man’s fit’ where the front of the waistband was lower than the back. He fixed torn trunks; then began making new designs, using traditional Hawaiian bright colours. Nii’s shorts were highly prized by surfers, taking them back to the CA mainland for friends – viral sharing of surf fashion had begun before any recognised marketing or commercial activity. Top surfers like Greg Noll took their white cut-offs to Nii to customise, the wilder the better, and with more pockets for wax combs and wallets so they could “live in them”! Also in Hawaii, the Miura General Store sold school gym shorts with stripes down the legs in school colours, considered very cool by new young surfers. Surfwear was also about status.

In the early ’50s, physicist Hugh Bradner from the University of Berkley tested neoprene suits for divers, as the neoprene would significantly slow down the transfer of heat from the body into surrounding water. In 1953 neoprene wetsuits appeared from Body Glove and O’Neill, using the material for flexibility and warmth, though early single layer suits were not hardwearing. Up until then surfers still used wool sweaters for warmth in the water. Jack O’Neill, considered to be the Father of the wetsuit, and his brother Robert, were the first to patent the name ‘Surf Shop’ in ‘52 in San Francisco, before moving down to Santa Cruz (Cowell’s beach, then 41st Ave in Pleasure Point). Wetsuits were functional, to keep you warm yet agile in the cooler Pacific water; it was difficult to look good in a wetsuit, but it was difficult staying warm without one.

By 1959 in CA, shorts were often homemade by surf-Moms, including Nancy Katin; ‘Kanvas by Katin’ were sturdy boat-cover canvas shorts that softened in time and had bright colours and unique designs, strong stitching and a pocket for wax with button down flaps; home-start ‘Birdwell Britches’ still makes surf shorts today. Custom-made trunks with custom-colours, and even embroidered names, were more highly regarded than cut-offs. Various surf clubs between LA and San Diego competed (as well as on the water) in designs for the most fashionable yet hardwearing trunks – and these started selling through independent surf shops along the CA coast. Surf wear became commercial.

Even with the arrival of the bikini, cotton and lastex corset-type one-piece swimsuits were still more common. They helped a women’s body shape, sometimes with pointed breasts and slim waists, often cut straight across the top of the legs with a modesty apron. In Europe more swimwear brands started to meet the growing market: Gottex swimwear started in Hungary in the 50s, and Diana swimwear started in Italy in 1955, using new modern materials and modern fashion.

More mass produced beachwear came from the more established brands. Above is a selection of US beach gear from 1956 (clockwise from top left): black and white printed cotton swim shorts (with expandable waistband) from Ganter, $5.95; cork cushion imprinted crepe sole sandals from, L B Evan’s Son, $4.95; Surrey-stripe cabana set of short sleeved shirt and matching trunks from Catalina, $5.95 each; skin-diver cotton swim shorts with bamboo and dragonfly print from Jantzen, $5.95; and a cotton cabana set of short sleeved shirt and boxer trunks from McGregor, $12.95. The mass produced Aloha-equivalent beach shirts were generally cotton (rather than their more authentic rayon ancestors), short in style ending at the hips, with big wide collars with open necks. Often in 2 piece sets, they even came with elasticated side bottom hems (oh dear), as seen in this example from Jantzen.

Speedo first used nylon in its fabric for competitive swimwear in 1955; the modern swim style debuted on the world stage at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. But meanwhile North American society wasn’t ready for skimpy swim trunks to be worn out, as told by this exert from the Miami News on August 2nd 1956.

“The two policemen approached the epidermis exhibitor and suggested he go find a beach”! But attitudes were changing, and the soon-to-be-recognised surf brands were about to produce surfwear to fit a new surf lifestyle.

NEXT: The 1960s – Surf Brands And Manufacturers

Back: The 1940s – Grunge And Glamour

WW2 changed what was worn at the beach, changing attitudes and what was affordable, or even available. Surfwear changed as surfers adapted. By 1945 long sailor pants, navy surplus in Salvation Army stores after end of the war, were ‘cut-off’ at the knee by Dale Velzy at Manhattan Beach Surf Club in CA. He and his fellow surfers adapted these ‘self-styled’ sturdy garments, along with cut Levi jeans, into cut-offs ‘you could live in’. And different groups of surfers, at different beaches, found their own styles, almost in competition to mark their own identity.

Today’s long boardshorts evolved from these cut-offs; they offered more protection against rash from sand embedded in board-wax when lying prone and paddling on a surfboard, but without covering the knees and affecting the mobility required by surfing. Bigger trunks meant more style and, importantly, they were more customisable. The picture of Velzy here shows him doing what he did best, surfing. But he was also a great board shaper and surf marketing pioneer: in 1949 he opened the world’s first surf shop (along with his shaper buddy Hap Jacobs), ‘Velzy Surfboards’ under the Manhattan Beach Pier, with its own surf team to help test the boards, and promote the clothes.

Up to this time surfing had been a pastime, but post-WW2 booming recreation in CA, along with recognition of big waves in Hawaii, fuelled more interest in surfing as a sport, and as a business. Plain trunks from JC Penny and other stores became prevalent as cheap swimwear and commodity beach clothes, but didn’t last long in the salt water, nor serve as a fashion statement for proud surfers. So surf clothing evolved to meet the needs as a sport and as a lifestyle: an essentially individual pursuit banded non-conformist surfers together, in the collective expression of their camaraderie and community spirit. Briefs were often worn underneath shorts, which might not be strong enough to hold out and save the owner flashing more than their moves – not that some of the hardcore LA surfers cared if they showed a ‘moony’, in a deliberate rebellion against regular ‘fashion’.

Meanwhile over at the Hawaii Outrigger Canoe Club, the original surf club, shorts were styled with stripes down the side and were exclusive to members, indicative of the importance of emerging group-fashion. Style was strong too in shirts. During the War the huge influx of US service personnel into Hawaii, headed on to the Pacific battlefields, had sparked interest in Hawaiian shirts: troops considered the shirts essential for enjoying the good times afforded by a weekend pass. Linn’s, Shaheen’s, and Watumull’s famous silky rayon ‘Aloha shirts’ were emblazoned with Hawaiian patterns and colours. This Brentwood Sportswear Aloha shirt has typically pointy collars and features hibiscus flowers and bamboo.

T-shirts had moved from being underwear to outerwear as standard issue clothing by the US military, and post war the classic surf t-shirt was cheap and convenient. American soldiers brought home Japanese zori, sandals made from rice straw, which when upgraded with rubber soles became flip-flops. Cheap footwear also became part of post-war ‘pop culture’. Affordability of clothes was important, as were world fashion and culture, which were about to make up for lost time from dark days of WW2.

In the latter ’40s film moving-images accelerated interest in surfing. They better captured the action than static black and white photographs. Media spread surf fashion and culture as entertainment; anyone could ‘travel’ to glamorous exotic beaches through the movies. This desirable lifestyle was typified by the next sensation: in 1947 the bikini exploded on French beaches. Thin two-piece garments dated from Greco-Roman times, but the modern bikini was invented by French engineer Louis Réard in 1946. He named it after Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, the site of nuclear weapon tests in July. Aptly named, the bikini caused a social shock wave, and was immediately adopted as swimwear – and as swim fashion.

Exposing the skin eroticised the body, and for both women and men, a health sexy body – and showing it – became an intrinsic part of fashion in both surfwear and swimwear.

NEXT: The 1950s – Designer Swimwear And Custom Surfwear

Back: The 1930s – Surf Style And New Materials