Listen Up

Word of mouth is often the best form of advertising. I told ___ about ___ and then he/she loved it and then he/she told ___ and so on and so forth. Well the homey, Pete, said "hey do you like Radiohead?" I replied "yes" and then he said "well dude you gotta check out Atoms For Peace." True story. Enjoy.

Get Barreled #2

#Cavotuesday

Daily blogging is damn impossible in these shoes (I am actually barefoot) but I am the story teller here so let's pretend I am wearing shoes, not just any shoes but fancy dress shoes, that you only wear on special occasions. Fancy shoes are never comfortable because you never wear them enough to break them in. Shoes are meant to be broken in. I am clearly not a shoe person but I really need some new shoes. Obviously the shoes are a metaphor por mi vida. No I don't speak Spanish (lies) but yes I have quite a few stories in this bag, not a purse, just a bag. I will go easy on the tangents (never).

In 2012, Billabong began using the tagline "Life's Better in Boardshorts!" in their major ad campaigns. Every Sunday while I sold mushrooms at the Santa Monica farmers market, I would stare at the tagline prominently displayed in the surf shop window directly across the street. I fell in love with this tagline. Life is what we make it and if we can make it better, yes please do so. I associate boardshorts with warm weather, sand beneath my toes, ocean mist in the air, scantly clad females, less responsibility, the list goes on. Yes life IS better in boardshorts (truth spoken). I might add life is also better barefoot. Barefoot is the business.

Last Cavotuesday I was spitting fire about my barrels. I added the possessive on purpose. I am taking ownership here because no one was talking barrels in 2006. After I wrote the blog, I thought ok you talked about the Nolan tee, cool, nice little summary piece now let's go back to our regularly scheduled program then I saw this today...

Jack O'Neill is a legend. In 1952 Jack invented the wetsuit and changed the world of surfing forever. The dude is clearly an icon and yes he also rocks a pretty sweet eye patch on the daily!

Pabst Blue Ribbon is a dinosaur in the game of beer but has proven itself lately to be quite the popular kid on the block. PBR can thank the good old fashion American public for bringing their brand back from the dead. Great read right here.

So the two icons got together and created a collection for Spring 2013 release. First off, as I mentioned before I played with the idea of a single keg barrel and my tagline (get barreled) for quite some time but it never looked right. It was hard for me to visualize a person wearing a tee shirt with a huge keg barrel on it. Then I saw this chick on the Internet and I thought well thats um creative...

I guess I still find humor in all this. I appreciate branding collaborations. Sure they don't always make sense but I like the idea of merging two different target audiences and taking a chance. It sort of comes off as one brand piggy backing on another or maybe just one brand looking for new life from the other. One could argue that surfing and beer go great together. But then not all surfers party and not all beer drinkers are alcoholics...you can see where this is going. Personally I am not a fan of PBR in the surfing world but hey that is just me. Me as in the guy who coined "get barreled" in 2006. Hype or not, bottom line is that I am happy that the barrel is finally getting its time to shine.

Call it a coincidence or not but this just popped up in my News Feed on FB. This proud father and his happy FAM BAM live in Sydney, Australia. A little international love is all good. What can I say? I am sucker for Dads, kids, babies and people who support my project. Thanks Kyra! Much love.

Get Barreled

#Cavotuesday:

In my youth, I was often labeled a “surfer” based on the fact I had long blond hair, I wore surfer clothing and a majority of my friends were in fact real surfers.  I spent a great deal of my free time hanging out at the beach, paddling out and riding waves. I learned how to surf in high school and later sharpened up my skills in college by taking surfing electives. The “A’s” helped boost my GPA and the units went towards graduation but more importantly the class motivated me to be in the ocean 3 days a week and I really needed that. I appreciate the ocean and I appreciate the scene however I never fully dedicated myself to the sport. To this day I have never owned my own surfboard and/or my own wetsuit therefore in my mind I am not a surfer.

I have always loved surf culture. I enjoy following the trends, the brands, the professionals, the artwork and the history of all things surf. Cavotu (est. 2005) has always been dubbed a lifestyle brand long before the phrase became a hip cliché used by the masses. My inspiration for the brand today is still drawn from surf/skate/California culture.

In 2006, I rounded up a few surfers to be a part of the first Team Cavotu. (Parker, Prunckle and Boyle in the photos above and below) I honestly had no idea what I was doing (still don’t to this day- cheers to consistency!) but I knew sponsoring young talented athletes was a great way to get the Cavotu name out there. Around this time a major shakedown went down in the surfing industry with the closure of Clark Foam. You can read all about it here but it really was a big deal. Now that we had a Surf Team it seemed like the perfect time to release a “surf” tee. I coined the phrase “get barreled” and “stay vicious” shortly after.

I became obsessed with drawing barrels and taking pictures of barrels. I was researching all types of barrels from old school wine barrels, to rusted out oil drums to silver beer kegs etc. I watched endless hours of surfing videos as I fantasized about what it felt like to be inside the tube aka getting barreled. A “barrel” in surfer terminology is where the wave is hollow when it is breaking, for some surfers it’s the be all and end all of surfing, and sometimes called a “tube.” The Nolan tee was the design that emerged during all this madness.

Asher Nolan was a professional surfer that I befriended in one of my court ordered (yes I have been to jail, yes more than once, don’t judge me) classes back in 2002. Nolan rode for Hurley, got paid to travel the world and surf everyday. We were both in our early twenties so our weekly conversations were short and meaningless mostly about surfing, partying, and girls. I wanted his life. I am pretty sure he didn’t want mine.  When it came down to naming the “get barreled” design, Nolan was the first word that came to mind.

Since the Nolan tee was released in 2006, I have often gone back and forth with the idea of designing a new version with the same “get barreled” tagline.  More often than not, I am never 100% satisfied with my artwork hence the major delays/procrastinations/excuses as to why I have not released more products with more frequency. I will admit in retrospect, the Nolan was not my favorite design. My fans, supporters, friends ate this one up and the limited edition run easily sold out despite the fact that I never fully loved it. The story on the other hand is great; great as in everything made sense. So the idea of a new version has always remained in the back of my mind…

I realize that everything in the fashion game has usually been done at least once in one form or another so I am not taking this one personal but I do find it rather amusing. I would easily argue that I bet the story behind this tee, whatever it might be, is far inferior than the story behind the Nolan tee but regardless I came across this earlier today while looking thru the latest catalog from Swell.

The “gettin barreled” tee is offered in 3 different color ways and is part of the 2013 Spring Men’s line for RVCA. I have been a fan of RVCA since their humble beginnings. Pat Tenore, founder, seems like a real genuine dude. RVCA was purchased by Billabong a couple years ago so they are definitely setup for the future when it comes to financial backing. RVCA now has the opportunity to take their brand to the next level to which they have and continue to do so.

All this talk about surfing, designing shirts, ideas, telling stories…it really puts a smile on my face. I have been told that I have nice teeth and that I should show them off more often. There are quite a few things I don’t do anymore and smiling was added to that list for some stupid reason. I raise my glass of water to you my friends, here is to the future, here is to the future, cheers!

 **SIDE NOTE**
Cavotu (the word and the logo) is a registered trademark. However I have never trademarked or registered any of my phrases/taglines but I have an extensive hard drive of original Cavotu designs. I also make a habit of mailing my own personal artwork to myself and never opening it; therefore it is sealed and dated by the postmark.