I thought it might be cool to make some boardshorts for some friends back on Maui. My ripper friends. That’s what we call each other. “Hey ripper…”, “What up ripper?”, “Howzit ripper?”, standard greetings to one another. The name Maui Rippers is a natural, and as a life long surfer, the process of design was pretty easy. I knew what I wanted in a board short.
When back on Maui, I handed out Maui Rippers as gifts to my o’hana. No expectations. Just giving them away to friends and my lifeguard buddies. I started selling them cheap to the north shore boys. Next thing I knew, word of Maui Rippers surfwear spread faster than rumors of a new north swell.
Some of my ripper friend’s are not only surfers, windsurfers, kiteboarders, Stand up paddlers and world class watermen but they are Maui's Lifeguards at Maui’s North Shore beaches. For fun, they use jetski's to tow into famous 70ft. Pe’ahi, aka 'Jaws' . The biggest wave around. It wasn’t long before The County of Maui decided Maui Rippers should be the official board short for all Lifeguards. And, most of the boyz at Hawaii's beaches were trying to find Maui Rippers too, asking around at surf shops, tracking me down to see if there were any surf trunks left in their size. Thing is, I didn’t make that many surf trunks. Maui Rippers was just a cool word of mouth 'underground' board short company. Buffing out Maui's lifeguards: Kaleo Amadeo, Alfredo Villa Boas, Ocean Safety chief Archie Kalepa, Kauai's Kalani Vierra. Oahu's Sandy beach and Waiamea lifeguards. Mahalo to those of you who’ve helped me from time to time.
After enough people asked, I realized that it was time to create some more styles of Maui Rippers, incorporating the feedback from some of the worlds most respected watermen. And still ongoing R&D. The response is literally overwhelming. Lifeguards throughout Hawaii, Texas, Australia, California, New Jersey, Fla, Japan, and beyond now wear Maui Rippers. Surf shops worldwide are ordering Maui Rippers. Our line is expanding.
We are not into much flashdance stuff. Functional strong designs of High quality is #1 most important in all aspects of our production. Our designs are unique and many with a tribute to Hawaii. We focus on boardshorts, Tee shirts, Hoodies, Rashguards, and hats, and of course lifeguard uniforms and firmen shorts. We pay close attention to detail and only use best quality fabric, velcro, buttons, zippers you can trust. No busted seams-Ever!
Big Mahalo’s to everyone who’s helped to make this happen.
Now quit reading and go rip it up!
Joe @
Maui Rippers
| A note about velcro. When washing your boardshorts, close the velcro so lint and debri dosen't clog the velcro. Dont over dry your boardshorts in the dryer. Advice from Hawaii's lifeguards is to hang dry and close the velcro for maximum life. Many Hawaii lifeguards have had their Maui Ripper shorts for 5 years and still going strong! They wear them daily and have chosen Maui Rippers boardshorts as their first choice for lifeguard apparel. |
Board shorts are referred to in many different ways: Boardshorts, board shorts, surf shorts, mens board shorts, baord shorts, baggies, Hawaiian surf shorts, hawaiian boardshorts, Hawaiian baggies, surf wear, surf trunks, surfshorts, bathing suits, swim suits, beach wear, boardies, boardwear, board trunks, surf suits, long board shorts, surf cruizers, long bathing suits. We've called them Boardshorts forever but ist seems so many people search for bathing suits. I even slip up and call them bathing suits. Maybe its an east coast thing. We get calls all the time telling us we make the strongest board shorts around. never torn seams or faded colors. Lifeguards from all over compliment our lifeguard gear .Firefighters also wear our board shorts around the shop and for working out.. And Rescue teams working under the fire department title and police teams also love our comfortable board short fabric. This note is not only informative but is good for web searches as well.
