The Mountain and the Wave

Back in the late 1960s, a young Australian surfer started fooling around with a design for the perfect, functional surf trunk. The trunks (or boardshorts, as they were called in Australia) he made were not perfect, but they were the best yet, and they quickly captured the attention of many of the world’s best surfers. In 1976, two young American surfers brought the brand to the US, at first selling imported pairs from the back of a truck as they traveled from beach to beach and from surf shop to surf shop. Within a decade the company was growing so fast its shares were offered to the public. Within another decade, it was the biggest and most successful boardsports company in the world.