By GREGORY ZELLER //
From the Paging Jimmy Buffet File comes Wakes & Waves, a rebranded lifestyle enterprise on an endless-summer quest.
Actually, the season is irrelevant to entrepreneur Anthony Capellupo, who launched his Oceanside-based fashion line Out There Apparel in 2019 to speak directly to surfers, bikers, hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts – a brand dedicated equally to form, function and the getting-back-to-nature vibe.
Three years in, Capellupo – who abandoned a promising finance career to embrace his entrepreneurial instincts – has enhanced his outdoor-psychology experiment, rebranding as Wakes & Waves, expanding his apparel/accessories line, even making the rounds in a homemade “pop-up shop” perfect for boardwalks and street festivals.
Quick to assemble and disassemble, the portable structure is built from beach driftwood, discarded wood pallets and other junk Capellupo collected and rehabilitated himself – a perfect analogy for a brand that’s all about outdoor activity, and a founder who just had to get out of the office.
Anthony Capellupo: Success is in the bag.
“When I came up with the idea of traveling around with Island with a pop-up shop, I really wanted a naturalistic feel,” Capellupo told Innovate Long Island. “So I went with broken-down shipping pallets, driftwood I found on the beach … I cleaned them up and cut them and built tables and racks and displays.
“I felt the naturalism was important,” he added. “The authentic realism.”
Authenticity flows through Wakes & Waves’ house line of T-shirts, hoodies, surf bags and hats, all featuring a variation of the company logo. Some garments promote positivity (“Ride Your Own Wave,” which is the new company slogan, and “Go Far. Be Free.”); there’s also the “Gull Collection,” featuring a specially designed dual-seagull silhouette.
Like the innovative pop-up shop, the products are all locally designed and crafted, according to Capellupo, who said the expanded line’s Long Island origins “speak to the ethos of the brand.”
“It’s exactly who we are, a part of what [Wakes & Waves] stands for,” he noted. “Something that makes you feel uniquely connected to the roll of the waves and these shores you walk.”
Pop goes the entrepreneur: Capellupo (center) and fans of the Wakes & Waves pop-up shop.
Capellupo was still a Fairfield University student when he officially incorporated Out There Apparel in 2018, with an impressive string of high-profile internships – Manhattan-based financial planners and such – already under his belt.
Lured by that unique connectivity, he left finance behind to channel the je ne sais quoi of the outdoors life into a brand that invites self-discovery.
Three years later and in full expansion mode, the 23-year-old entrepreneur – who completed his bachelor’s degree in economics in 2020 – believes he chose the right path.
“For me, it’s about this local-built purpose as much as it is riding your own wave,” Capellupo said. “Bringing the good energy, chasing your own horizon, owning whatever you do, or just like a never-had-a-bad-day feel through this whole thing.
“It’s not a brand that simply throws a lifestyle at you,” he added. “It’s one that wants you to discover the lifestyle for yourself, find the wave you want to ride, and to go after it again and again.”
