Since it’s Friday and we’re heading into a weekend, I thought I’d send you guys out with a lighthearted story of a brands shift from legitimate purity to generic over-saturation.  Over it’s lifespan, Ocean Pacific (Op) of 1980′s corduroy shorts fame, has gone from head of the class – to absent from class – to barely auditing the class – to chewed up gum stuck to the bottom of the desks in the class.

Nothing beat 80s Op Corduroy

I know and love this O.G. surf brand very well.   In fact my father, The Style Penguin Sr. was a President of Ocean Pacific at one point during it’s heyday… and I got to watch the brand grow from the sidelines whilst wearing an unlimited supply of hightwaisted short shorts. When ‘Velcro Valley’ was popping up in Orange County, CA – Op was at the heart of it and really leading the charge. Nowadays, Op has kind of become a characature of what the brand once meant.  Something inately California coastal is now more of a middle America take on beachwear and surf culture.  There have been some attempts at a resurgence for the real brand feel, but nothing successfully captured the essence of what it once was.  And now… it’s gotten to the point where Op is sold exclusively at Walmart, the opitome of non-coastal, non-unique, made-for-the-masses, made with no ‘love’, consumer goods.  A clothing company that once sponsored legit surfing champions like Tom Curren and Kelly Slater is now sponsoring these people….

What a difference a decade or two make.

That’s One Tree Hill actress Sophia Bush, Malibu socialite Brody Jenner, 90210 star AnnaLynne McCord, Good Charlotte bad boy brothers Joel and Benji Madden, and some others.  Op’s customer has now become someone who may or may not have ever even seen the Pacific Ocean… but they are quite tuned in to the nightly lineup on ‘The WB’ Network.  All of this is not to mention the design asthetic of the newer lines themselves, which lack soul and creativity compared to the originals.  Granted there wasn’t nearly as much competition when Op came on the scene, but I have to think that the mentality of the brand at the time would have set their designs apart from the crowd.  This ad might as well be for [insert any active sports clothing company name here].  Where’s the love? And more importantly, where’s the corduroy?