From its launch in Torquay, Australia in 1969, to the first time its revolutionary board shorts appeared in surf shops in early 1970, to its arrival in Newport Beach in 1976, Quicksilver has never shied away from innovation — even when innovation meant selling trunks to surfers from the back of a green Volkswagen bus that first summer in California. Over the course of its four decades of outfitting board riders with swimwear and apparel designed for a youthful, creative lifestyle, the company has grown from a couple of guys making trunks to one of the largest players in the surfwear game. But considering the label’s dedication to pushing forward — in everything from sponsorships, to a dedicated to surfwear brand for women (Roxy), to a charitable foundation — it’s no surprise the former upstarts are now sitting at the top of the heap.