Jeff Alter on new Hobie by Hurley line

I caught up with Jeff Alter, son of surf pioneer Hobie Alter, and President of Hobie Designs Inc. at Outdoor Retailer to chat briefly about the Hobie by Hurley line.

In May, Hurley signed its first licensing agreement with Hobie to create a line that targets the underserved men’s apparel market in action sports.

The folks at Hurley approached Jeff about a year ago, and since the Alter and Hurley families have been friends for years, the partnership was a natural fit for both brands.

Images from the promotional launch box for the new Hobie by Hurley line

Jeff was at Outdoor Retailer mostly to show Hobie’s extensive SUP line that they design in-house. He said their SUP line has been doubling, now tripling in sales every year. The Hobie area also had boats, kayaks, sunglasses and a few skateboards, but the boats are part of a different business.

Jeff sounded excited about the Hobie by Hurley line. While he didn’t have a line of samples, he grabbed the brand’s first Hobie by Hurley promo item — a boxed T-shirt set that teases the release date for the collection on the cover and comes with a limited edition shirt with Hobie Alter’s original business card design screened on the front.

“We’re really stoked,” said Jeff about the partnership. “We’re not some big corporate company so it’s been really cool because I deal directly with Bob (Hurley), their designers and will deal directly with their marketing people as well,” he said.

The promotional T showing the business card from the first Hobie store

Jeff is used to dealing with different licensees. While all standup paddleboards, surfboards and even skateboards are designed in-house, the Alter family has also been selling and making other Hobie items like signature catamarans, boats and kayaks via licensing agreements for years.

They’ve also had specific licensees for their own apparel that they have made off and on. During the economic downturn, their last apparel licensee went under.

See Page 2 for more from our interview with Jeff Alter

“As a licensor, we own the Hobie Brand, and with any licensee, with the good ones you get very involved in and keep the direction of the range and quality of where it should be and that’s been our involvement so far,” Jeff added.

The Hobie booth at OR

The Hobie by Hurley line officially launches March 12, 2011, with a full collection that Jeff said will include everything from woven tops and Ts to shorts. There will be a few items from the line that start trickling into Hobie and Hurley’s own retail stores around October.

Jeff said they will just be creating soft apparel items at first, but since the brand is so iconic in terms of being a watercraft innovator, I wanted to know if they were also going to make technical apparel items to wear on the water as well. Jeff said that is definitely a direction the line will head in the future.

With so many other brands at the show getting into the men’s category, I asked Jeff what he thought about the men’s market and how Hobie fit it. It seems like Hobie has been catering to the men’s market all along.

“We’ve earned that customer. And we have had that customer grow up with our name,” he said.

Besides the older consumer, though, Jeff thinks the new Hobie by Hurley line will resonate with a much wider age range.

“I think kids these days, kids dig our heritage. They like these old, retro designs. We’re not aiming at the young men’s market, but ironically I think what’s being designed is going to also appeal to the younger guys as well.”