valla surfboards
paul joske
the valla t-shirt

History of the Valla T-Shirt

Farmhouse Print

It was customary for board makers to make a T-Shirt with their logo on it in 1970 when Valla Surfboards were started. Paul reckons that “It made up a uniform for surfers” who generally wore faded denim jeans and T-Shirt with the surfboard logo on it they happened to be riding at the time. Paul remembers, “There weren’t any specific clothing companies then… except maybe Hang Ten from America ”.

So not long after Valla Surfboards were started, Paul printed the Valla logo on a run of Bonds T-Shirts. “Very limited amounts for people that rode our boards. It began with the same basic Valla design we still use in some of our prints today” says Paul.

“Things really took off when I was employed at Valla Resort as a lifeguard,” recounts Paul. “I wore the shirts to work and the holiday-makers liked them and asked where they could get one. So we sold a few to them and ended up running out.” The Valla T-Shirt rapidly became a popular item with travellers each summer visiting Valla Resort.

Valla Fair 2005

That first year when the shirts sold out Paul can’t remember how many he had made. He can remember coming back from Nias in 1980 however, “I bought a hundred or so Chinese Swan brand in Sumatra and got them all printed back home” Again they sold out over the coming summer.

Another year Paul remembers, "We had a hundred printed and sold out… then had another hundred printed then sold out of them in one day.” This was early to mid 80s, and Paul and wife Jenny would sell Valla T-Shirts out of the back of their car each afternoon when Paul finished work life guarding.

The following and popularity of the Valla T-Shirt has grown since this time and they have become a popular item for locals and visitors of the valley alike. Over this time the range has diversified and today Paul and Jenny still actively seek to maintain the quality of each shirt.

The Enigmatic Jan Paul

Paul admits that he has had a lot of help from some special people along the way, “Our original screen printer through the 70’s was Ian Goodacre. In the 80’s there was Dave Richardson from Harvest Screen Prints. Vicki Star from Nambucca helped us for many years, making our shirts for us locally.”

“Fluoro colours came into vogue during the late 80’s and provoked a search for a screen printer up to the challenge. This search led us to the great Jan Paul, living in the hinterland with his wife and two young daughters. Jan has become our screen printer extraordinaire, a sounding board for new ideas, the creative artist for many of these ideas, and the fusion that brings our ideas to life … but best of all, Jan has become a close friend over these years.”

Today Jan still prints the shirts, in between working on his award winning paintings. The Farmhouse and Valla Beachscape prints are both his work. It is a privilege to have Jan as part of the Valla team.