Postwar surfers, as a rule, didn’t wear much—prewar surfers didn't either, for that matter—but what they wore had to be distinctive. Furthermore, unlike blanks and wetsuits, clothes didn’t need the help of military research or patented chemical products from Dupont and Dow. Surf fashion was mostly DIY, invented on or near the beach, by actual surfers, using plain old-fashioned wool or cotton.
Before World War II, Palos Verdes Surf Club founder Doc Ball showed his buddies how to hand-sew a thi...
