Our Story...

12.9.07
It started with the surf in ’89. Joe was 10 when he went out in LBI, New Jersey armed with a beat up WRV splattered with stickers hiding the dings. Eleven years later, running the barracks down in Beach Haven, Joe got into repairing boards for real, long past the sticker patches. Since most of the guards were surfers themselves, he was their go-to guy for getting their boards fixed. An artist at heart, Joe wanted more to create than repair, and obtained his first blank from a local shop.

Joe started shaping boards in 2003, and in the winter of ’04 his first board was born. It was a 6’8’’ pintail, adorned with the original OKOTO logo. (A big difference from the foot-long board he shaped from a piece of scrap wood in shop class 13 years prior). His first ride on the board was at Pistons in Rincon, PR during a winter stay. “I remember looking back at the palm trees when I set my rail. The wave was at least 100 yards. I think I screamed the whole way, it was crazy knowing I was riding something I made with my own two hands.”

He went on shaping boards for friends, and through word of mouth, started shaping custom orders and experimental designs. His younger brother, Mike, was always in the shop helping out, learning the ropes. In early ’05, Mike shaped his first board, a 6’6’’ retro fish.

Surfing isn’t their only sport, though. Both brothers have gone on countless road trips chasing waves, snow and hills. Always moving, both have a strong desire to keep life exciting and are the first to inspire their friends to do the same. The boards were just the beginning of a dream to be able to spread this energy to others.

During the summer of 2004, Mike was working at a supplement shop Amy frequented and they became friends. Nearly a year later, Mike introduced Amy to his brother, and the OKOTO family began. In a conversation Joe & Amy had one day about OKOTO, Amy had suggested to Joe that he start putting his art on shirts, and not just boards. Believing anything is possible, they both saw the idea as an opportunity and talked to Mike. Not even a week later they found themselves in Philly walking down South Street. Amy & Joe hit up an art store where she bought their first supplies. They came home with some bags full of stuff and their heads full of ideas. That night, the first OKOTO t-shirt was made.

They spent that summer traveling between the Jersey shore, Philly, and Hatteras, NC. Mike’s girlfriend, Ange, was home from school and played a big part in the beginning of OKOTO as a clothing company, as did George, a close friend to them all. Mike, Joe and Amy alone have an outstanding ability to bounce ideas off each other and take their energy to another level. The excitement they exude is contagious. Add George and Ange to the mix and it just seems like a big party.

“If we can make a living doing this - loving life," explains Amy, "while helping other people do it, too – it would be a dream come true for each of us.”