PacSun
October 30, 2021
PacSun is short for Pacific Sunwear of California, LLC. It is an American retail clothing brand that features lifestyle fashions, footwear and accessories for teens and young adults.
The PacSun slogan, “Golden State of Mind,” comes from the clothing style that relates to the Californian lifestyle.
In 1982, Jack Hopkins and Tom Moore owned a small surf shop in Seal Beach, California. It was on this business that they founded Pacific Sunwear of California, commonly known as PacSun.
In the beginning, PacSun sold merchandise for surfers, but later expanded to include skate and streetwear labels. Serving both men and women, the company’s product line includes jeans, tees, tanks, polos, knits, flannels, hoodies, boardshorts, bikinis, shorts, pants, dresses, rompers, skirts, sweaters, jackets, snow apparel, shoes, sandals and accessories.
On March 15, 1993, PacSun went public. At its height, the company had over 1,300 stores in all 50 states.
In 2012, in collaboration with Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner, PacSun began to produce their own line of fashions. Then CEO, Gary Schoenfeld, led PacSun through a massive restructuring post–Great Recession and a Chapter 11 bankruptcy before he left the company in 2016. In that same year, PacSun was acquired by Golden Gate Capital and once again became a privately owned company.
In 2018, PacSun merged with Eddie Bauer, also owned by Golden Gate, to form PSEB. Mike Egeck, CEO and President of Eddie Bauer, became the Chief Executive Officer of PSEB, with oversight of both the Eddie Bauer and PacSun brands.
In 2020 Egeck stepped down from his role as CEO and James Gulmi became the interim CEO. Gulmi had previously been interim CEO from 2017-2018. Egeck stayed on as an active Board member and shareholder.
As of May 2021, Alfred Chang became PacSun’s president and interim CEO with PacSun-owner PSEB Group Michael Relich as co-CEO.
Gloria Sauvé
Communications and Marketing