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Fifteen years ago, two friends, Víctor Serna and Xabi Zirikian, decided to open a little surferwear shop in the port of San Sebastián. Under the name of Loreak Mendian, they created a clothing brand with a strong graphic component inspired by their passion for music, art, surfing and snowboarding. Success first arrived with their choice of logo - the now famous daisy - and continued with their men’s and women’s streetwear.

We hit the surf with Víctor Serna, co-founder of a brand that now has 12 shops of its own – including one in Melbourne – and which has now set its sights on European growth.

With so many Californian surfer brands, how does a little company from Irún in the Basque Country make its name?
It’s quite an achievement. Our origin is so removed from the more typical context of streetwear and surfing, and yet we’ve been able to find a niche for ourselves amid the vast array of American, British, French and Italian brands. But coming from somewhere else, in this case the Basque Country, makes your brand look different. It gives off a new kind of energy and that comes across in everything you do, from the clothes you make to the way you advertise them. Your location is your point of reference and that marks you out from the crowd. The challenge now is to take the brand one step further and make it known in Europe, where so far, we only have one concession in Paris.

The spring/summer 2010 catalogue reveals a more laid-back universe, perhaps even a certain romanticism in your womenswear. Where do you see your style heading?
We started out strongly tied to the world of surfing and snowboarding. That was the context we moved in and the kind of clothes we bought ourselves. For us, it was the natural way to start. The first magazine we advertised in was about surfing, as was the first trade fair and the first shop where we sold our collections. Even today, it’s a world we like and we continue to sell in those shops. But as time went on, we discovered that certain product families, like men’s bermudas and women’s shirts, have become that much more significant. A few years back – when we first started out with cotton clothes,T-shirts and sweat shirts, we could never have imagined that happening.

So has the Loreak Mendian target changed, along with your style?
At the moment, our distribution channels are very varied, and we sell both in surf shops and boutiques. The range of ages is also broad. We start from 12 to 14 and upwards. Most of what we do we could wear ourselves. And if we didn’t, our children would.

“Style-wise, the daisy logo has stood the test of time. It’s still used on T-shirts and sweatshirts”

Many people think of Loreak Mendian as the daisy brand. It’s a regular feature on car bumpers and thousands of T-shirts and sweatshirts. How did it come about?
It was a spontaneous thing and it has proved really successful. It appeared on the first T-shirt we made and has stood the test of time. It’s the logo people best remember, even though there are about 30 different logos in each collection.