TREND Nonsurfers are riding crest of fashion wave

The styles are showing up everywhere.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The only water hitting many surf outfits these days is loaded with fabric softener.
It's true: Once the sole province of people who knew an aerial from a tailslide, surf clothing has hit the landlocked mainstream harder than a tsunami bearing down on a fledgling bodyboarder from Iowa.
You see board shorts at the movie theater, Hawaiian shirts at the bookstore and waterproof watches everywhere you look. Some coastal towns look like the set of a post-feminist "Gidget Goes Hawaiian" (except there are no pointy bikini bras).
"It's more commercialized than it was back in the day, but then, so is everything," said Allison Bosworth of Salty's, a surf and skate shop in Columbia, S.C. The best-selling items at her store include Reef shoes, Paul Frank clothing (which features a trademark monkey face), all brands of board shorts, and anything by Quiksilver or Billabong.
Available everywhere
But you don't have to go to a surf shop to deck yourself out like a pro surfer. You just have to go to the mall.
Bosworth named Hollister Co. -- of Abercrombie & amp; Fitch -- as one popular surf-inspired line.
"I've seen a lot of people dress like that because it's what's available and easy to get in the mall," she said, adding that real surfers come in with questions about surfboards rather than fashion.
Tyler Lockamy of Sweetwater Surf Shop in North Carolina said that there's always an influx of vacationers who care more about looking like surfers than actually learning the waves.
"It's just ridiculous," he said. "You see them out in the water, getting in the way."
Surfwear's popularity doesn't stop with 20-something or college-age customers.
"Lots of times, parents come in for back-to-school sales," said Cumi Ikeda of Surf City Surf Shop in Myrtle Beach, S.C. "Even the younger kids know exactly what they're looking for. Rainbow sandals used to be just a surfer flip-flop, but now everyone's got to have them. We can't keep them in the store even at full price."
For women, too
Although guys have been surf-styling for years, the look is newer for women.
According to an article published on www.sfgate.com, women now represent more than 15 percent of the total surfing population in the United States, and female membership in the National Scholastic Surfing Association has more than tripled between 1994 and 1999.
That translates into a fashion boom echoing from sea to shining sea.
Most big surf clothing manufacturers -- as well as indie companies -- have created labels just for women.
Heidi Burch, 25, of Folly Beach, S.C., has been surfing for five years and also works in the surf retail industry. She has watched the popularity of women's surfwear -- and the sport itself -- rise quickly.
But surf fashion can vary, depending on whether the sun rises or sets over the ocean you're in.
"The West Coast gets things more quickly, and it's where surfing is really based, so styles take off there that never happen here," said Burch, adding that "Blue Crush" -- a 2002 film about young female surfers in Hawaii -- spiked sales of both boards and clothing.
South Carolina isn't really known for its surf, but there's an excellent area of Folly Beach that consistently draws boarders, she said.
"Obviously, there are girls who just want the look, but there are plenty who really do surf," Burch said. "It's grown just like women's soccer."
Do hard-core surfers roll their eyes at those who wear the outfits for fashion purposes only?
"It's like anything else -- people wear stuff because they like it," she said. "You can't judge someone for that.
"And if they're the least bit interested, it might get them in the water, so that's good."