Ugly
Surfwear and Streetwear
A division of Ugly LLC
Bob Purvey, Designer
Established 2003
Malibu, California
Ugly Surf and Urban Clothing is commonly known as surfwear and streetwear.
We call it Ugly Surf and Urban Clothing to be different.
The Ugly History
Let us take you back to 1966 and ’67, at the height of the first noseriding era. Malibu was a pre-eminent hub in the sport. Local contest-surfer Bob Purvey was a young noserider climbing the United States Surfing Association ranks to become an amateur noseriding champion.
Also, through the ’60s, the sport of surfing was experiencing an explosion in the surfing population, from thousands to millions, as surfers symbolized the American spirit of fiercely independent individuality. Surfers, demonstrating their surfing skill on their unique surfboard by walking on their nine-foot-plus surfboard from the tail to the nose and back again. This stylish trend of posing out front on the surfboard, on the nose, made surfing a cultural statement worldwide. It defined surfing’s daring dance.
Then in 1967 and ’68, The Ugly noserider surfboard and The Super Ugly Mini-Noserider became the hottest-selling surfboards in the world. And the Ugly brand was born.
The first Ugly ad.
Bob Purvey noseriding The Ugly in the 1967 San Miguel Club Invitational. Bob placed 2nd representing the Malibu Surfing Association.
Then, adventurous, upwardly mobile surfers took a different turn chasing the challenge of storm surfing big waves, which requires more maneuverable shorter boards, six-foot length, with less resistance turning from side to side faster, and the art of walking from the tail to the nose on a Malibu point-wave suddenly stopped trending.
The shorter version of The Ugly evolved in 1967 and was named the Super Ugly, becoming one of the first mini-nose riders, also known as a “fun-board” length, which allowed for faster turns and long nose rides.
Surfers adventured long distances chasing storm surf and discovering new surf spots. They introduced professional surfing, making the highly independent aloha (loving and fellowship) spirit more popular worldwide. In the meantime, noserider surfboards continuously evolved as many refinements developed, and as providence and practicality would have it, noseriding returned in popularity to Southern California and the world. Why?
Because of the infrequency of big storm waves and the predominance of small waves, it is ideal for walking the longboards and, of course, for noseriding! As a result, noseriding has become popular again. Longboards and walking to the nose are back, and the Ugly is re-born.
Noseriding has come full circle and returned with the full force of female surfers behind the trend!
This is noseriding, with the full force of women surfers behind the trend.
The Board That Started It All
In 1966, at age eighteen, Bob Purvey became the principal behind designing “The Ugly” surfboard manufactured at Con Surfboards in Santa Monica. The motivation was to develop a nose rider-style surfboard to enable Purvey to win the second professional surfing contest in the sport’s history. Purvey then won the noseriding division of one of the Morey-Pope Professional Invitational Championships, thereby beginning the promotions of The Ugly noserider and The Ugly Brand.
More than 60 years later, the Ugly noserider has championed the test of time and returned authoritatively as “The Ultimate Noserider,” dubbed by Longboarder Magazine. Today, noseriding is trending even more than before, and young contest surfers have found Ugly noseriders to be a winning longboard in their quiver of boards. The Ugly has become the standard-bearer for nose rider-style surfboard designs.
The Ugly Surfwear & Streetwear True to U Philosophy – Ugly is Beautiful
Remaining faithful to the surfing lifestyle and his brand, Bob Purvey started The Ugly Clothing Company in 2003 to help promote the sport, noserider design techniques, and water conservation.
The Ugly philosophy teaches that beauty may only be skin deep, but Ugly is to the bone. Be authentic, be true to yourself, and dare to be different because that’s what is truly beautiful. Ugly is beautiful! Longevity results in your natural performance.
Persistence, fierce independence, and uniqueness will be your outcome. Ugly is beautiful!
Protect the waves
To promote this conversation of water conservation, Bob designed the liquified and fish scales look to distinguish his collection and encourage ecosystem water protection. His commitment to ocean health and clean, safe water underlies his emphasis on design innovation; Bob uses environmentally sustainable materials whenever possible to produce designs that express his philosophy that “Form Follows Function” and that Earth matters.
Ugly Clothing is rugged active wear for surfers and non-surfers who must express their individualism while supporting the environment. Everyone wants beautiful beaches and form-fitting, comfortable action wear.
Bob’s latest creations can be seen in his latest liquified and fish scale designs.
To Improve the quality of life
At The Ugly Clothing Company, we work to holistically improve quality of life through our focus on water, Mother Earth’s lifeblood, and our loving sport of surfing. With 25% of net profits from Ugly products sold through The Ugly Shoppe website, we support the nonprofit EcoMalibu.org, whose mission is water ecosystem education, conservation, and restoration of wildlife habitats. Please visit EcoMalibu.org to see how the many stakeholders in the Malibu Creek Watershed came together to save the Malibu Lagoon, clean the water, neighboring world-famous Malibu Surfrider Beach, and restore the wildlife habitat.
Bob Purvey is a British/American surfer/actor/environmentalist/entrepreneur/artist born in Cairo, Egypt. Bob accumulated awards as a professional contest surfer, a video editor, and a documentary producer.
Good looks, television commercials, and magazine ads led to becoming an actor in theatrical film and television roles. He was introduced to film in 1967 as a champion surfer in the surf movie “Follow Me,“ a full-length surfing odyssey in many exotic coastal regions worldwide. Made with a skeleton crew, Purvey appears throughout the film. He also worked in various positions, from surfboard cameraman to location hunter.
The transition from professional surfer to professional actor came quickly. His first significant role was in the 1970 episode of Mission: Impossible, playing the title of “The Rebel.” Through the ’70s, Purvey landed various positions, mostly in TV. His most notable performance was as “Flip,” a principal role in the 1977 Emmy-nominated CBS pilot “Winners: I Can.” He was a series regular as “Rhett Saxton” in the soap opera Lovers and Friends (NBC, 1977), a semi-regular in General Hospital (ABC, 1985-89 and 2008), and had featured roles in A-Team, Rich Man – Poor Man, and Young and the Restless, among others. National television commercial appearances (on-camera) include the “Dad” in the one and only Atari’s Pac-Man, Hallmark Card’s “Coming Home” (CLIO award), among others. FULL BIO
The Ugly Clothing Company
A division of Ugly LLC
Bob Purvey, Designer
Established 2003
Malibu, California