Press release:
OUTRACULTURA announces the launch of its inaugural artistic clothing line, Renaissance, at the Agenda Show in Long Beach, January 5th and 6th, Booth #B-7.
Last year the surf fashion industry lost one of its most respected designers, innovators and fashion trendsetters, Lian Murray. Lian’s last underground project was helping mentor the launch of a small, unknown surf-art-lifestyle company called OutraCultura, which was born on the magic island of Florianopolis in Southern Brazil.
After traveling half the world seeking adventure in surf, art and photography, OutraCultura’s original creator, Alexandre Morelli, finally settled in the warmth of San Diego’s surf culture with his best friend 2x WQS champion Neco Padaratz. For the past eight years Morelli has been creating radical hand painted T-shirts and hats for his core group of pro surfers, musicians, artists and friends. Inspired by Neco’s successes, Morelli has assembled incredible handcrafted photo/art journals of their journey, documenting the birth and life of this artistic movement which is to be unveiled at Agenda as well.
Last year Morelli partnered up with long time surfer and friend David Sanford, a creative visionary from Newport Beach, to bring his dreams to life. David was friends with Lian Murray for many years and they lived across the street from each other. By a quirk of circumstance Lian became a part of OutraCultura for a short but influential period.
“One night I was walking my dogs and ran into Lian with her dogs. The dogs started fighting and while we were breaking them up we started chatting about her maybe moving to Hawaii and I asked her if she knew any consultants in the surf industry that I could talk to because we were starting this new surf apparel company called OutraCultura. She laughed and said ‘I’m a surf industry consultant, but what is an OutraCultura?’ I told her a little about the Brazilian origin and the journals and she said to come over the next day.”
“I walked over the next morning with some of Alex’s photo journals, some prototype shirts we had printed, talked about our plans, the vibe, our inexperience in the fashion industry, and within five minutes of looking through the journal, Lian just stopped, closed the journal and looked at me and said, ‘this stuff is incredible, I love it. There is nothing like it out there it’s so raw, it is so unique! I’m in.’ She was so amped with the whole vibe, the artwork, the legitimate passion and humble approach.”
Lian’s sudden and untimely passing was a huge blow to the world and it left a big void in our world as well. Our belief is that there is no one who could ever replace Lian. Her excitement, her incredible creativity and generosity all worked well with us. It was all new, a total stoke and we soaked it up like sponges. To her it was like teaching a baby to walk and talk.
In her honor, we decided to maintain our fresh approach to this project, keeping pre-conceptions out and trying to follow her guidance and incorporate some secrets she shared in making each piece like its own work of art. From design, to fabric, to special treatments and simple details, we wanted to make something that is truly one of a kind.
OutraCultura is authentic. We are not industry veterans, we are not chasing trends, and it is not a marketing creation. We all surf, we travel, we write, we paint, we create life as we live it.
The seeds of OutraCultura were sown many years ago. We are just now breaking ground and hope to create a global network of free thinking creative people chasing their passions, facing their fears and celebrating their irregular worlds.
Alex Morelli, David Sanford, Gaston Sanford and team member Neco Padaratz will be presenting OutraCultura’s Renaissance Collection for the first time at the Agenda Show in Long Beach. Check it out!
