Ocean Pacific Women's Fashion Brand

Ocean Pacific Apparel Corp is a private company based in Irvine, California, USA. It produces primarily surf related apparel, swimwear, footwear and accessories - a product statement this page keeps in product terms throughout: garment families, fabrics, fit and care. The brand's story begins not with clothing at all but with surfboards, and the clothing line arrived a decade after the label itself.

Ocean Pacific was started by John Smith in the 1960s as a surfboard brand. Smith designed the original trademark and label for his surfboards, which he sold out of his shop North County Ding Repair. Later, Fred Ryan purchased North County Ding Repair from John Smith along with the Ocean Pacific surfboard label. The Ocean Pacific label was later sold to Don Hansen of Hansen Surf Shop. The label thus passed through three hands as a surfboard name before anyone made a shirt under it.

1972: Jim Jenks Creates the Apparel Line

In 1972, Jim Jenks of San Diego wanted to create clothing that met the demands of surfers in and out of the surf. He received the name from his then employer Don Hansen, and the Ocean Pacific apparel line was created. Jenks' idea for clothing under the Ocean Pacific label quickly became popular with the surf culture, with its instantly recognizable OP logo. That brief - clothing for in and out of the surf - is still the correct shopping brief for the women's range: pieces are judged on whether they work around water and wear easily ashore.

Shop the women's apparel, swimwear, footwear and accessories as one beach system, in product terms. Swim pieces are bought on fabric, construction and fit for their stated water use; surf-related apparel on quick-handling fabrics, reinforced seams and cuts that layer over swimwear; footwear on grip and water tolerance; accessories on the same practical standard. The OP logo's instant recognizability is the brand's signature, but it is the in-and-out-of-the-surf usefulness that made the logo mean something, and a piece that carries the mark without the usefulness is the weaker buy.

Warnaco, Iconix and the Walmart License

In 2003 Warnaco acquired Ocean Pacific; Warnaco sold it to Iconix Brand Group in 2006; and Iconix Brand Group signed an exclusive direct-to-retail license agreement with Walmart in August 2007. That chain - operating apparel company, then brand-management owner, then a direct-to-retail license with a single mass retailer - explains where later OP product was sold and why its channel changed character. This page's links carry Apparel Search's own Warnaco and Iconix Brand Group profiles.

The brand's official site, oceanpacific.com, is linked in References. A 1960s surfboard label from North County Ding Repair, passed from John Smith to Fred Ryan to Don Hansen, turned into clothing by Jim Jenks in 1972, Warnaco-owned from 2003 and Iconix-owned from 2006: Ocean Pacific is the O letter's original surf-apparel line, bought on its founding brief - clothing that meets the demands of surfers in and out of the surf.