Bummer! Op headed to Wal-Mart

The new owners of the Ocean Pacific brand finally struck a licensing deal. The original Southern California lifestyle apparel brand is headed to a Wal-Mart near you.

Iconix Brand Group Inc. announced the agreement late Monday. Iconix will make and sell Ocean Pacific clothing and accessories exclusively for Wal-Mart in the U.S. Wal-Mart also secured the rights to use the Op and Ocean Pacific brands in Brazil, China and India.

The grand experiment under previous owners Warnaco Group to abandon Ocean Pacific’s licensing model – where other companies paid for the rights to make, sell and distribute the clothes – and transform into a traditional clothing manufacturing company failed. Warnaco sold Op to Iconix earlier this year and Iconix shuttered the Irvine office.




Iconix also owns Candie’s, Badgley Mischka, and Mossimo brands. Mossimo – a once high flying designer label from Orange County – has a very lucrative relationship with Target. At least Target has some fashion cache.

Look for those Op clothes to hit Wal-Mart next spring.