RVCA is a

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

–based clothing company owned by Boardriders.

Etymology

The logotype for RVCA portrays the letter A without a crossbar, resembling an uppercase

lambda Lambda (}, ''lám(b)da'') is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiced alveolar lateral approximant . In the system of Greek numerals, lambda has a value of 30. Lambda is derived from the Phoenician Lamed . Lambda gave rise ...

(Λ). The 'V' character is really a "U". Occasionally "RVCA" is written in a different script or appears in art where it is clear that the true name is 'Ruca'. The name resembles the Greek ''ρούχα'' (uppercase: ''ΡΟὙΧΑ''), pronounced , which means 'clothes' in English. The RVCA logo is based on the two chevrons, the V & the A, representing the brand's ethos "The Balance of Opposites" as stated by RVCA founder PM Tenore.

History

RVCA was founded in 1999 by Pat Tenore and Conan Hayes, a professional surfer from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

Billabong International Limited Billabong International Limited is an Australian company focused on surfing, primarily a clothing retailer that also produces accessories, such as watches and backpacks, and skateboard and snowboard products under other brand names. Founded i ...

purchased RVCA in July 2010. In 2018 Boardriders acquired

, gaining the Billabong, Element,

Von Zipper VonZipper is a subsidiary of the American surfing brand Boardriders, Inc., and specializes in eyewear for surfing, skateboarding, skiing, and snowboarding - sunglasses, goggles, and optics. It was founded in 2000 in San Clemente, California ...

, RVCA and XCEL brands.

Culture

RVCA is closely associated with

skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarde ...

, surf culture,

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

(BJJ), and

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

. The company sponsors a skateboard and surf team. They also sponsor prominent BJJ competitors and prominent MMA fighters. RVCA clothing is found in skateboard/surf shops and numerous other shops. Because of its art focus, RVCA is also associated with the street

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

subculture. RVCA is involved with various contemporary art galleries such as KNOWN Gallery.

RVCA Training Center

Because of its Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA focus, RVCA founder Pat Tenore (who holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) built a BJJ/MMA gym known as ''The RVCA Training Center''. The training facility is located in

. The Head Coach is currently

Jason Parillo Jason Parillo (Born June 11, 1974 in New York) is an American Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) coach at the RVCA Training Centre and former professional boxer. He is best known for training multiple MMA world champions. Background Born in New York i ...

Affiliated people

MMA

* B.J. Penn *

Michael Bisping Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (; born 28 February 1979) is an English actor, sports analyst, commentator and retired mixed martial artist, who competed in the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight division of the UFC. A professional competitor ...

Cris Cyborg Cristiane Justino Venâncio (born July 9, 1985), known professionally by her ring name Cris Cyborg (and formerly by her married name Cristiane Santos), is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist who as of January 2021 competes in Bellator MM ...

Rafael dos Anjos Rafael Souza dos Anjos (; born October 26, 1984) is a Brazilian American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Welterweight and Lightweight divisions in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former UFC Light ...

* Rose Namajunas *

Tito Ortiz Jacob Christopher "Tito" Ortiz (; born January 23, 1975) is an American mixed martial artist and politician. He is currently signed to the Combate Americas promotion. Ortiz is best known for his stints with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UF ...

Luke Rockhold Luke Skyler Rockhold (born October 17, 1984) is an American retired mixed martial artist. He is best known for his time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he competed in the Light Heavyweight and Middleweight division. ...

Vitor Belfort Vítor Vieira Belfort (; born 1 April 1977) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions. Belfort previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in the Heavywe ...

Marlon Vera Marlon Andres Vera Delgado (born December 2, 1992) is an Ecuadorian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Vera first appeared on '' The Ultimate Fight ...

Mackenzie Dern Mackenzie Lynne Dern Santos (born March 24, 1993) is an American professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. She is a former world No. 1 ranked IBJJF competitor, currently ranked 6th among the female divisions. She is ...

Gilbert Burns Gilbert Alexander Pontes Burns (born 20 July 1986) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and submission grappler. He currently competes in the Welterweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As a grappler, Burns ...

Sean Strickland Sean Thomas Strickland (born February 27, 1991) is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2008, he is the former King of ...

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Lucas Leite Lucas Joas Gomes Leite (born November 3, 1982) is a Brazilian grappler. He is a multi-time world champion with first place finishes at the Gi, Nogi, and Grapplers Quest world championships. Leite started training Br ...

Marcus Almeida Marcus Vinícius Oliveira de Almeida, also known as Buchecha (born January 8, 1990 in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner and black belt under Rodrigo Cavaca, who ...

* Guilherme Mendes *

Rafael Mendes Rafael Mendes Godoy (born 1989 in Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil) is a six-time Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) world champion at the black belt level. Rafael, along with his brother Guilherme, are 3rd degree black b ...

Keenan Cornelius Keenan Kai-James Cornelius is an American martial artist. His competitive achievements include what has been called a "grand slam" in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, having won double ...

* Jackson Sousa dos Santos

Boxing

Seniesa Estrada Seniesa Carmen Estrada (born June 26, 1992) is an American professional boxer who has held the WBA minimumweight title since March 2021. She previously held the WBC Silver light flyweight title from 2018 until 2021 and the WBA interim flyweig ...

Notable sponsored artists and sportspeople

Among the artists sponsored by RVCA as part of the Artist Network Program (ANP) are Mark OBlow,

Mark Mothersbaugh Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (; born May 18, 1950) is an American composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose " Whip It" was a top 2 ...

Barry McGee Barry McGee (born 1966) is an American contemporary artist. He is a well known graffiti artist, and a pioneer of the Mission School art movement. McGee is known by his monikers: Twist, Ray Fong, Bernon Vernon, and P.Kin. Life and education Barry ...

, C. R. Stecyk, III,

David Choe David Choe (born April 21, 1976) is an American artist, musician, and former journalist and podcast host from Los Angeles. Choe's work appears in a wide variety of urban culture and entertainment contexts. He has illustrated and written for mag ...

, Kelsey Brookes, KRK Ryden, Matt Gordon, Marlon Vera, and

Tommy Guerrero Tommy Guerrero (born September 9, 1966) is an Indigenous American musician, composer, and professional skateboarder. Early life Guerrero was born in San Francisco, California. He is of Ohlone-native, Chilean, and Filipino descent from his fat ...

Surf team

Kala Alexander Kala Alexander (born March 20, 1969) is an American surfer, surf gang co-founder and actor. He founded the Wolfpak surf gang on the North Shore of Oahu. In addition, Alexander is an actor, playing roles in projects such as ''Blue Crush'', ''Forg ...

Makua Rothman Makuakai (Makua) Rothman (born June 17, 1984) is an American big wave rider, professional surfer and musician. On February 28, 2015, he was crowned the 2015 Big Wave World Champion in the World Surf League's (WSL) first sanctioned Big Wave World ...

Skate team

* Greyson Fletcher * Andrew Reynolds *

Curren Caples Curren Caples (born January 10, 1996) is an American professional skateboarder. He turned pro in March 2013, and his first professional contest was the Tampa Pro, where he placed 69th. At X Games Barcelona 2013 he won a silver medal in skatebo ...

* Kevin "Spanky" Long *

Christian Hosoi Christian Rosha Hosoi ( ; born October 5, 1967) is an American professional skateboarder. He is also known by the nicknames "Christ" and "Holmes". Early life Hosoi was born on October 5, 1967 to a father of Japanese descent from Hawaii, and a m ...

* Mark Suciu * Chase Walker *

Evan Mock Evan Mock is an American model, actor, and skateboarder. He is known for starring in the HBO Max series ''Gossip Girl (2021 TV series), Gossip Girl''. Life and career Evan Mock was born in Waimea Bay on Oahu in Hawaii. His mother is Filipino ...

MMA fighters

* Rose Namajunas *

Fedor Emelianenko Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko ( rus, Фёдор Влади́мирович Емелья́ненко, r=Fyodor Vladimirovich Yemelyanenko, p=ˈfʲɵdər vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ jɪmʲɪˈlʲjænʲɪnkə, IPA; born ...

Aaron Pico Aaron Pico (born September 23, 1996) is an American mixed martial artist and former freestyle wrestler who currently competes in the featherweight division of Bellator MMA. As a freestyle wrestler, Pico competed at 65 kilograms, where he place ...

BJ Penn Jay Dee "B.J." Penn III (born December 13, 1978) is an American former professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. Penn competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and in K-1. Penn was the first American G ...

E-Sports

* Summit1g

Chefs

Matty Matheson Matthew James Matheson (born February 7, 1982) is a Canadian chef, restaurateur, and internet personality. He was the executive chef of Parts & Labour, a restaurant located in Toronto, Ontario, which permanently closed on January 1, 2019. Matheso ...

References

External links

RVCA.comBoardriders Inc.
{{MMA Team List Clothing companies of the United States Companies based in Costa Mesa, California Swimwear manufacturers Surfwear brands Clothing companies based in Los Angeles Mixed martial arts training facilities