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A career was born.

Now ensconced in Encinitas, Ryan is one of the main reasons this California coastal town is known as the surfboard capital of the world. "It's a lifestyle, not just a sport," he says. Ryan should know; he's lived the surfer life running his shop. He's in the shop from 9 . to 1 . daily and his team of three managers and two support staffers run the place the rest of the time.

For years, Ryan spent his off-hours surfing. "I was a hard-core suffer from 15 to 35," he acknowledges. Now 42, Ryan has introduced his 7-year-old son Jackson to the sport and the kid has a passion for it.

Ryan's clientele ranges in age from 30 to 50 years old. Surfing, obviously, is something these Californians don't give up easily. In fact, most of them, like Ryan, raise their kids up in the sport, making surfing a family activity.

Ryan opened the coolest board shop in Encinitas 16 years ago. Known as The Longboard Grotto, this shop appeals to the adult surfer, which is unusual, says Ryan. "Surfing is known as a kids' sport, but we're primarily an adult surf shop." What makes that distinction is that The Longboard Grotto sells not only long surfboards -- easier for adults to maneuver in the water when paddling -- but also all kinds of memorabilia and vintage surfing items.

"We're sort of a commercial museum," says Ryan. "People can come in here and enjoy themselves just looking or purchase the items on display."

Some of the more distinctive items include a surf paddleboard from the '30s, every movie ever made about surfing in video format and, of course, surfboards.

But readers of Wearables Business should note that he also does a brisk business in apparel, and, of course, uses wearables to promote his shop.

Ryan sells several lines of surf clothing, and these, he says, are fashions for the mature adult, rather than the trendy surf clothing teens prefer.

"We've got the Birdwell Beach Britches, a classic silhouette made since 1959. You'll lose 'em before they ever wear out," says Ryan.

Since day one of operations, Ryan has sold private label T-shirts bearing The Longboard Grotto logo screenprinted on them. "Seventy-five percent of our T-shirts are white, the classic T-shirt, silkscreened in our two-logo colors, British Racing Green and black," says Ryan. "The other 25 percent come in assorted colors, but it's the white T-shirts that drive sales and eliminates the problem of stocking too many T-shirts in too many sizes and not having the specific color and size a customer wants."

While early on Ryan toyed with screenprinting himself, he long ago garnered the services of two local promotional products distributors to handle the sourcing of the shirts and arranging for the screenprinting. As it turns out, Hanes and Gildan have been the most popular T-shirt brands brought in by his PPDs.

Ryan also supplies his employees with several different logoed shirts to wear while at work, including a Hanes sweatshirt, long-sleeved and short-sleeved T-shirts by Hanes, and short-sleeved T-shirts by Gildan. There's also a retro-style work shirt embroidered with The Longboard Grotto logo made by Team Work, and it is also available for sale to customers.

"We want people to simultaneously enjoy visiting our shop and learning to recognize our logo," he says.

Also for sale at The Longboard Grotto and on the website, .com, are T-shirts bearing the logos of the most famous and classic surfboard manufacturers, from Dewey Weber to Indian to Rogers to Hinson Company. These famous surfing logos are licensed for use and sale through a licensed-products distributor who wholesales them to The Longboard Grotto. All of these private label T-shirts are white with a small logo on the upper left chest and the same logo only larger on the back, the most classic T-shirt design out there, says Ryan. The shirts sell for $.

Caps, too, are available through the licensed distributor bearing the same logos embroidered on them. The manufacturer, Yupoong, produces the FlexEit cap that has a stretchy band at the bottom rather than a plastic snap, giving it the look of a fitted cap. The six-panel caps are $.

Ryan also sells screenprinted surfboard bags with The Longboard Grotto logo on them available in several fabrications including terry, canvas, nylon and Cordura (a double-padded bag excellent for international travel). Ryan's source for the bags is Pro Lite, the bag manufacturer and distributor.

Surfing, of course, is a regional sport; it's not happening in landlocked mid-America. But there are plenty of coastal areas in the United States and worldwide that attract passionate suffers to their shores in search of the perfect wave. But the sport is one of those specialty niches Out there -- like mountain climbing in Colorado, or bass fishing in Minnesota, for instance -- where there's generally a local shop famous for its service, and where wearables are an important part of the cache.

All you have to do is find the local wave and catch it.