Pete Mel is one of professional surfing’s well known legends. This includes him being one of the stand-out big wave surfers at Mavericks since the 1990s. And he’s also someone I love spending time and hanging out with, which I have been lucky enough to do over the past few years.
A former professional surfer on a previous incarnation of the WQS in the 1990s, Pete switched to big wave surfing around 1996 and pursued this side of the sport, which culminated in him winning the 2012 Big Wave Tour World title.
In more recent years he’s been working for the WSL as part of the commentary team, giving his years of experience and insight, particularly around surfboard design and technology, plus surf forecasting knowledge. He hung up his microphone at the end of the 2023 season and put even more time into running the family surf shop Freeline, in his hometown of Santa Cruz, alongside his wife Tara and two sons, Anthony and John.
And when Mavericks starts to turn on, you know he will be out there – now with John as his tow partner and Anthony running the safety role for them both.
In this interview, Pete talks about his new role, post WSL commentary duties, with emerging brand Darc Sport Hawaii, the sub-brand of Darc Sport, which includes Bruce Irons, Koa Rothman, Max Holloway, Alessa Holloway and Pete’s son John in its stable.
He highlights how he feels the surf industry is changing and what the future looks like for brands, in relation to professional surfing and beyond.
WL: How do you view the current situation within the surf industry in relation to brands and professional surfing?
PM: It’s very different! The large surf brands who originally financed the ASP and then WSL Tour – the likes of Billabong, Quiksilver etc – are now all pretty much one brand. So you now have one brand who is backing and in control of 6 or 7 events out of the whole season.
Also as many know, money has been an issue for the industry for a number of years, with several of those brands suffering and therefore some professional surfers who represented them losing out as a result.
However I can see that there are now more positive signs for professional surfers, with all of these new brands emerging.
There’s new things happening, new opportunities and new events that are going to come up out of it.
WL: And is that what you’re becoming a part of now?
PM: Yes my participation with Darc Sport has happened at the right time, as I had all of these great ideas that I wanted to bring to the WSL, that I can now give to cool people who want to make them happen.
WL: That sounds exciting and it feels like it’s a time for a change. You can still have a WSL Tour happening, but these other brands can start to do some good stuff, including events operating independently...
PM: Exactly. You look at 2 Percent right, he’s (Kolohe Andino) is doing grassroots stuff. It’s all spread by social media and it’s all about them having fun. That’s what it’s about.
And that’s what it will be with Darc Sport and Darc Sport Hawaii, which is kind of the more surf-related portion of the brand, with a different style of clothing, but still having the Darc Sport family vibe.
I’ve been watching how their marketing has been unfolding for their main bodybuilding inspired brand, so I can see how we can apply that laid-back vibe into what we will be doing.
WL: Darc Sport Hawaii is just being teased right now, so what are you involved with?
PM: We are actually planning a trip out of the blue right now to Indo, chasing a swell. Indo has been firing for weeks now and doesn’t look like it’s going to stop for another month.
We are running over there with Bruce Irons. Koa (Rothman) is already there. So we are going to do the Darc Sport Hawaii thing over there.
WL: So how did all of this come around then? Darc Sport has been around for a couple of years now in the States, doing their bodybuilding thing.
PM: Yes and they are having success. Their model is different. It’s direct-to-consumer, so I won’t be stocking it in my surf shop for example. But it feels like everything is trending that way any way. That was the biggest fear (as a surf shop owner) we had at Freeline, when Quiksilver launched quicksilver.com and Billabong launched billabong.com etc, to go direct-to-consumer.
This has impacted the surf shop business, but then we have changed things accordingly. For example we are putting money into our own brand. So everyone’s ended up being their own brand. And for us that’s where we see most of our success, in terms of clothing like hats and tees.
The hardware business is still going to be stable though, but it’s the challenging part. The margins on wetsuits and boards are still low, but they are essentials, so you need to stock them and we will always have those.
And then you have to get creative with how else you make money.
WL: So did Darc Sport decide to get into surfing or did someone approach them and say “hey you could get into this space as well”?
PM: I don’t know for sure, but I think a guy that’s been in the surf industry for a long time is connected to the three brothers that own Darc Sport. Also, they all have a connection to surfing. They grew up in South Bay (California), so all were familiar with surfing.
They literally started with an artist designing a Dead Kennedys t shirt – that old DK album cover – and sold them on the internet in a limited batch of 100.
That’s their lightbulb moment, where they went “hey let’s make a unique product, in limited quantities and sell it direct-to-consumers who want to buy cool, fashion-forward stuff. We will make a small capsule of it, then sell it out.”
So that model worked and they have kept going. They do a few drops a couple of times a month.
It’s quite unique fashion – that kind-of tattoo clothing look. It’s not something I might have thought to necessarily wear, but I put it on and looked in the mirror and thought “I can wear this, definitely”.
WL: So it’s similar to how brands like Palace Skateboards are doing it over here then. Collections, limited designs, drop-it fast, do a collab…
PM: Yep they have some collabs like Dragon Ball-Z, Spiderman, but they are fun little things and then they have their traditional Darc Sport bodybuilding stuff.
The surf brand will have that vibe – black and white – but not as loud. We don’t want to stray too far from it.
The guys were excited about surfing and said “Hey, we want to participate in this”. So they brought in a team of family guys – everyone is connected and trusted.
They liked what I had done with the WSL, plus my strong family value and they made a phone call to me to ask what I thought.
We went down to visit them in LA and got good vibes straight away.
WL: It looks like it’s going to offer something different to consumers then?
PM: They own their own factory, so they can get high-end cotton and fabrics in there. They can change their fits and designs really quickly.
We are designing board shorts right now and within a week you can see it go from paper to a made product.
WL: How do you see it being received in the surf community? Are people looking for something different?
PM: I would say so for sure, especially in our community. Even more so as soon as we start to see the athletes supporting other brands. Again with what Kolohe is doing with 2 Percent, all the kids here (in Santa Cruz) can’t stop talking about it.
We were down in Huntington for the US Open recently and John was competing. We had a whole support crew there for him from Darc Sport. At first he was a bit unsure about it, as he didn’t want to disappoint them. But I told him they don’t care about that, they just want to support you.
So when it came to it, it was awesome! There was a good group there, cameras on them and him, and he came out of it. And even when he lost a heat, there were still people there to support him.
And it’s that whole team-vibe thing that’s missing from surfing right now.
WL: Exactly. You think about the team side of pro surfing and when you watch it’s typically surfers from the same country hanging together, not surfers from the same brand hanging together.
PM: Yep, you don’t really now see the Quiksilver support crew or the Billabiong support crew, as they are all homogenized now.
And that’s another reason for this cool change happening with new brands. It will start to transition into the WSL at some point, although it may take some time. But I’m really excited to be here at the start of it, to help build things for my son and for the brand.
WL: So how are you hoping to get involved more with Darc Sport Hawaii?
PM: With events mainly I think. They are open to ideas which is great. Not only stuff that is grass roots, but also online.
I’m not going to give away any secrets, but I have something that I think is pretty cool to bring to the table. It might see me restarting my commentary career, but doing it in a different way.
WL: Darc Sport are US focused, but do you think they are going to look further into the global market?
PM: Yes they are definitely looking into that. It’s naturally harder, being direct-to-consumer, but they are wanting to grow beyond North America.
It’s key for them to work it out. If they want to support someone like Italo, for example, they are going to have to be able to sell in Brazil.
WL: So although Darc Sport is a bodybuilding brand, it seems there’s no reason why Darc Sport Hawaii can’t pick up people who do multiple sports…
PM: Yes exactly. If you look at what they do it’s a lot of ‘athletic gear’. So sweatpants, sweatshirts etc. They are not just a fashion brand, it’s more activewear.
WL: Although you can’t say too much about the future, it sounds like you can get up and running with Darc Sport Hawaii pretty quickly?
PM: Yes definitely. They have their established business here in the US, which means they can take some risks and try stuff.
The surfing part of it is something they are passionate about and it’s a great opportunity right now, so I’m really excited to see it happen.
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This interview took place in September 2024 and Darc Sport Hawaii launches its first collection on 7 November. All photos are from the Darc Sport Hawaii.
