Some surf brands are built around fashion. Others are built around the culture that surrounds the waves. Vissla sits firmly in the latter camp.
Founded in California in the early 2010s, Vissla arrived at a time when the surf industry was changing. Rather than simply following the established formula of the major surf labels, the brand placed surfing, craftsmanship, creativity and environmental responsibility at the centre of its identity.
From boardshorts and wetsuits to everyday surf-inspired clothing, Vissla has since developed into an internationally recognised name while retaining a distinctly independent approach to surf culture.
So where did Vissla come from, and what made the brand different?
The Man Behind Vissla
The story of Vissla begins with Paul Naude, a South African surfer and longtime figure in the international surf industry.
Growing up in Durban, Naude became immersed in surfing at an early age. His involvement wasn't limited to riding waves either. He worked around surfboard production, learning about shaping, laminating and the craftsmanship that goes into creating a board.
Naude also competed as a surfer before becoming increasingly involved in the business and media sides of the sport. His career would eventually include co-founding South African surf publication ZigZag and holding senior positions within the surf industry.
Most notably, he became president of Billabong's American operations and later served on the board of Billabong International. That gave Naude extensive experience inside one of surfing's biggest global brands.
But his next project would take a very different approach.
The Birth of Vissla
After leaving Billabong in 2013, Naude established Stokehouse Unlimited, from which a new surf brand would emerge.
That brand was Vissla.
Vissla was announced in late 2013, with its first collections launching in 2014. From the beginning, the idea was to create a modern company focused specifically on surfing rather than trying to stretch across surf, skate, snow and wider street culture.
That focus gave the new brand a clear identity.
Surfing wasn't simply being used as inspiration for the clothes. It was intended to sit at the heart of everything Vissla did.
What Does Vissla Mean?
Despite sounding as though it might have some obscure connection to surfing, Vissla is actually an invented name.
The word was created for the company, giving the team the freedom to build a completely new identity around it rather than relying on an existing phrase or meaning.
That approach fits neatly with one of the ideas that has defined Vissla from its earliest years: creativity.
Creators & Innovators
One of the most distinctive elements of Vissla is its “Creators & Innovators” philosophy.
Surf brands have traditionally built their identities around teams of professional surfers. Vissla broadened that idea by also celebrating the people who contribute to surf culture away from competitions.
That includes surfboard shapers, craftspeople, artists and other creative figures, alongside both performance and free surfers.
The result is a brand identity that isn't simply interested in what happens on a wave. It's also interested in the creativity, craftsmanship and culture surrounding surfing.
Surfboards, Craftsmanship and DIY Culture
That emphasis on craftsmanship has roots in Naude's own background.
Before becoming a major surf-industry executive, he had worked around the process of building surfboards himself. When Vissla was created decades later, board builders and shapers became an important part of the brand's identity.
It helped distinguish Vissla from the increasingly corporate image associated with some of surfing's biggest names.
Surfboards are functional objects, but they're also highly personal pieces of design and craftsmanship. Vissla brought that same appreciation for making things into its wider approach to surf culture.
A Different Kind of Surf Brand
By the time Vissla appeared, many of the surf companies that had dominated the 1990s and 2000s had grown into enormous international businesses.
There was room for something different.
Rather than trying to become everything to everyone, Vissla concentrated on surfing and the community surrounding it. The ambition was relatively straightforward: make good products, build a modern surf company and work with people who genuinely represented the culture.
That gave Vissla an identity that felt connected to the independent side of surf culture even as the company expanded internationally.
Boardshorts and the Vissla Look
Boardshorts naturally became an important part of Vissla's early product offering.
The approach combined performance fabrics with relatively understated styling. Rather than making technical clothing necessarily look highly technical, the brand experimented with prints, vintage influences and graphics inspired by surf culture.
Early Vissla designs drew inspiration from different cultures, landscapes and periods of surf history while still being designed as functional pieces of surfwear.
That combination of performance and relaxed design would become characteristic of the wider Vissla aesthetic.
Sustainability Becomes Part of the Brand
Environmental responsibility has also become an important part of Vissla's identity.
For a company built around the ocean, reducing the environmental impact of its products was a natural area of focus. The brand has increasingly experimented with alternative and recycled materials across its clothing and technical surf products.
One notable example was the use of Cocotex, a fabric technology incorporating material derived from coconut husks. Vissla combined materials such as this with recycled fibres in some of its products as it looked for alternatives to more conventional surfwear materials.
This wasn't simply about producing environmentally themed graphics. It brought sustainability into the construction and materials of the products themselves.
Moving Into Wetsuits
Vissla didn't remain purely an apparel company for long.
Wetsuits became an important part of the range, helping establish Vissla as more than a surf-inspired fashion label.
The brand developed technical products intended to combine performance, relatively minimal aesthetics and more environmentally conscious material choices.
The distinction matters. Plenty of brands sell clothing influenced by surfing; producing equipment that surfers actually depend on in the water puts a company much closer to the sport itself.
From the Water to Everyday Clothing
At the same time, Vissla's identity translates naturally into casual clothing.
T-shirts, sweatshirts, shirts, shorts, caps and other everyday pieces allow the surf aesthetic to exist away from the beach. Relaxed silhouettes, coastal graphics, washed colours and understated branding all fit comfortably within the wider appeal of surf and outdoor-inspired fashion.
That's one reason brands such as Vissla can appeal beyond people who actually surf.
You don't need a board strapped to the roof of your car to appreciate a good surf graphic tee.
The Women's Side: SISSTR
The story doesn't end with Vissla's men's surfwear.
The wider Stokehouse family also developed Sisstrevolution, commonly known as SISSTR, bringing a dedicated women's perspective to the same world of surfing, adventure and coastal culture.
While Vissla became established around men's surfwear, SISSTR developed its own identity through women's surf and lifestyle clothing, combining practical influences from life around the water with a more distinctly feminine aesthetic.
The collections extend beyond technical surfwear into everyday fashion, with pieces such as dresses, T-shirts, knitwear, swimwear and casual clothing designed for life both on and away from the coast.
SISSTR shares Vissla's connection to surfing and the outdoors but doesn't simply feel like a women's version of a men's range. It has developed a recognisable look of its own, blending surf culture with relaxed, wearable fashion.
Together, Vissla and SISSTR represent two sides of the same modern approach to surf-inspired clothing — rooted in the water but designed to work far beyond it.
Why Vissla Still Feels Different
Vissla entered an industry containing some extremely established names, yet managed to create a recognisable identity of its own.
A large part of that comes from the combination of ideas behind it:
surfing, craftsmanship, creativity, performance and environmental awareness.
Rather than simply recreating surfwear's past, Vissla has generally presented itself as a modern interpretation of surf culture.
That same attitude extends across the wider Stokehouse family, including SISSTR, where surfing provides the foundation without restricting the clothing purely to what you would wear in the water.
And while the products have expanded considerably since Vissla's early days, surfing remains the thread connecting everything together.
Vissla Today
More than a decade after its launch, Vissla has developed from a new California surf label into an established name in contemporary surfwear.
Yet the ideas behind the company remain recognisable: support the people who shape surf culture, make functional products, encourage creativity and look for ways to reduce the impact those products have on the environment.
It's a philosophy summed up neatly by the phrase that has become closely associated with Vissla:
Creators & Innovators.
For anyone interested in surf clothing, Vissla represents a newer chapter in a much longer story — a brand influenced by surfing's heritage without simply trying to recreate it.
Alongside SISSTR, it also shows how modern surf culture has developed beyond traditional boardshorts and wetsuits into a much broader style of everyday clothing.
Shop Vissla & SISSTR at Brag Vintage
Explore Vissla at Brag Vintage for men's surf-inspired clothing and laid-back everyday styles, or discover SISSTR at Brag Vintage for women's clothing influenced by surfing, travel and coastal life.
From everyday T-shirts and relaxed layers to dresses and other casual styles, discover two modern surf brands built around creativity, adventure and life by the water.
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