O'Neill was founded in a San Francisco highway garage by Jack O'Neill in 1952. From that point forwards, the brand has become synonymous with the region in which it originated, and is now widely regarded as the original Northern California surf and snow brand. Since those humble beginnings more than 55 years ago, the brand has always remained inextricably linked to the unique natural and ideological climate of Northern California ' a true product of its environment. Characterized by its beautiful and wild coastline, redwood forests and snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountain range, NorCal's rugged natural environment, monster waves, frigid water temperatures and ferocious snow blizzards represent Mother Nature in her rawest form. From the outset, Jack's love of surfing and pioneering spirit came to encapsulate all that the brand stood for. Importantly, Jack's unwavering spirit of innovation was also indicative of a seismic shift in NorCal's ideological climate of the time. Inspired by the free-spirited hippy movement of the 1960's, NorCal became the epicenter of an ideological phenomenon: the freethinkers' revolution.
