Surf Pendleton

Surf Pendleton is a growing part of Pendleton’s spring offering, with looks for men and women that feature natural and technical fibers, sun-bleached colors, and relaxed SoCal style. The collection builds on a connection between Pendleton and surfing that goes way back—waaaay back to the birth of the American surf scene in the early 1960s.

This look originally hit the radio airwaves courtesy of the Majorettes, whose song, “White Levis” became a number one hit in 1963. As the lyrics said, “My boyfriend’s always wearin’ white Levi’s…and his tennis shoes and his surfin’ hat and a big plaid Pendleton shirt.”

That’s a Pendleton shirt  cover of that 45, even though they named the song after the pants. You can give it a listen here, and don’t be surprised if you start singing along.

The Pendletones

Around the same time, a group called The Pendletones adopted their name in honor of the surf uniform of the day: Pendleton shirts worn over tee shirts with white Levis or khakis. The original Pendletones lineup included brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine.

Photo of Beach Boys (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

The Pendletones soon changed their name to the Beach Boys . Even though only one member of the group had ever been on a surfboard, they sang about the California surfing scene; waves, sunshine, cars and girls. This might have been simple subject matter, but layered instrumentation and soaring harmonies made these songs anything but simple. Under the unique artistic leadership of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys defined surf music. And though their name changed, their uniform didn’t. The band wore this blue and charcoal plaid shirt on the covers of 45s and LPs throughout the early 1960s.

946

The Beach Boys’ Pendleton shirts were part an existing trend. When surfing came to California in the late 1950s, surfers improvised surf performance wear: swim trunks and plaid Pendleton shirts over a layer of Vaseline. Surfers wore the same shirts over light pants on the shore, and a fashion trend was born.

Eight Decades

In 2002, Pendleton celebrated eight decades of Pendleton shirts by bringing back iconic shirts from each decade. To celebrate the 1960s, we brought back the Board Shirt in the same plaid seen on all those record covers. We officially named it the Original Surf Plaid.

The shirt has stayed in the line ever since. We’ve used it in caps, hats, bags and jackets. It’s still made in the original 100% virgin Umatilla wool as it was back then. And this spring, we have your favorite surf plaid in a women’s style.

See it here: Original Surf Plaid for women

Short sleeved wool shirts have been part of our line as far back as the 1950s. This year, we brought back the short sleeve Board Shirt in spring and summer colors.

Please note, our good friends at Greenspan’s have always offered custom sleeve tailoring to SoCal customers, so if you shop there, any Board Shirt can be short sleeved. You can check out the short sleeve Board Shirt colors, as well as everything else in the Surf Pendleton line for men and women here: SURF PENDLETON

Remember—summer is on the way.