It all started with a guy standing on a beach holding a surfboard.

It was 20 years ago that John O’Donnell created that logo of a surfer dude and slapped it onto a golf shirt. Over the past two decades, the brand he launched, Johnnie-O, has grown into a $200 million-plus business of men’s, women’s and boys’ apparel and accessories with a robust wholesale business and about a dozen of its own stores around the country.

Looking ahead, there are plans to add new categories such as eyewear, while adding new stores and working to build some of its newer categories such as womenswear and its Top Shelf elevated men’s product — all while staying true to its original mission.

Like many apparel entrepreneurs, O’Donnell had no background in fashion, but he knew a lot about golf and country clubs. He grew up in suburban Chicago surrounded by the preppie country club culture, and spent his teenage years developing into a top-notch golfer. He attended UCLA for college, where he played on the golf team, competed in five USGA events and considered turning pro after he graduated.

But instead, he used his degree in history and business and his experience in the sport of golf to join Fox Sports Net Chicago in advertising sales, followed by Golf Channel and Merrill Corp., a financial printing firm.

It didn’t take him long to tire of the corporate life and O’Donnell started pondering the idea of building a business centered around that shirt and his idea of “West Coast prep,” a concept that blended the blue blazers and khakis he had grown up wearing with the flip-flops and board shorts he embraced during his years in L.A.

He created a four-button pocket polo in a washed, old-school cotton fabric and named it after his nickname: Johnnie-O.

“There was something in that shirt that was magic because it was a stupid little polo shirt that was almost disposable,” O’Donnell said. “But there was something about the style married to the logo. I’d give a friend a shirt and they’d say, ‘I need two dozen more because all my friends want one.’ So I thought, you know, there’s something here. And if we do this right, I really think there’s an appetite for it. And I think we did do it right. We didn’t try to get too big, too fast. It’s been a really concentrated, conservative, methodical growth.”

He pointed to his brother-in-law, Rob Berner, who serves as chairman of Johnnie-O, as among those who helped him stay on track. “His advice then — and still to this day — is that new businesses can be great businesses but the number-one reason they go out of business is they run out of money.”

To keep that from happening, O’Donnell tapped some friends and family to invest but always “operated under the mindset that we’re broke.”

But Johnnie-O is far from broke.

In 2022, the company took on its first institutional investors, Ares Management Corp. and Wasatch Global Investors, who acquired a minority stake in the business for $108 million. O’Donnell said the funds allowed Johnnie-O to distribute some return to the initial investors “which was really a relief of sorts to me because when you get involved with friends and family money, all hell can break loose.”

Even before the investment, he made some personnel moves that have proven to be invaluable as well. In 2015, he brought Dave Gatto, a one-time president and chief executive officer of Reef Holdings, on board to run the company on a day-to-day basis.

Although Johnnie-O has grown significantly over the past 20 years, Gatto said the brand remains true to O’Donnell’s vision and brand positioning. “That’s our true north,” he said.

But the “biggest inflection point” for the company is when they were able to lure Chris Knott, the founder of Peter Millar, out of retirement to join the company as chief merchandising officer, he said. “That was almost eight years ago and it really elevated the product.” He said not only was the quality and consistency of the offering improved, but Knott also helped enhance the brand positioning and hire an “A+ sales force.”

Then came the pandemic. But unlike a lot of companies, Johnnie-O actually benefited, Gatto said, as guys pivoted to a more-casual wardrobe and embraced golf. “We were incredibly well positioned to excel in those categories,” he said.

At the same time, Johnnie-O invested in its e-commerce and started opening retail stores. The 12^th will debut in May in Birmingham, Ala., with other select units in the works where it makes sense and don’t compete with existing wholesale accounts.

Last year, the company launched women’s golfwear which Gatto said has been “super well received” thanks in part to the company’s success in menswear and the relationships it has established with some 2,500 green grass accounts. The bulk of the business comes from either golf or specialty stores with a few department store customers such as Nordstrom, Von Maur and Dillard’s carrying the collection.

“There’s been a lot of evolution but John’s vision has been exactly the same,” he said.

Personally, O’Donnell said he’s still involved in the business, but not as much as in the beginning. “We’ve got a great team and I put my hand on the wheel once in a while, but I let the pros do their job.”

But he admitted that letting go hasn’t always been easy. “I stay intimately involved in many ways. Emotionally, I’m all there. It’s my baby and there are some things I’d like to do differently, but you’ve got to know when to step back and let the professionals do their work. That’s why they’re here. And I’m lucky to have them.”

He too pointed to Knott as one of the keys to the brand’s success. “He brings so much more to the table than just being a great designer and product guy. What people don’t realize is the relationships he has with factories, the trade, the retailers. He definitely put us from second-and-a-half gear to third gear to fourth gear and he’s still gearing. And of course, he’s surrounded himself with a very talented team. That was definitely the turning point in terms of how big we could get and how quickly we could accelerate the growth.”

Gatto said that to commemorate the anniversary, the company is relaunching its original polo in 100 percent cotton along with commemorative golf headcovers and will continue to celebrate throughout the year with different initiatives.

Also in the works are some product extensions in men’s, particularly around its Top Shelf higher-priced collection that offers better fabrics and new categories such as sport coats. “We see a lot of opportunity there,” Gatto said. “That’s performing extremely well in our own retail shops.”

He said the company will also continue to add signature shops at select specialty stores and will launch a limited selection of eyewear next month as well as a new headwear offering.

“I don’t see us dramatically moving far afield from where we are currently,” Gatto said, “but building additional muscle through product extensions and some new categories.”

So what do the next 20 years hold for Johnnie-O? “I see the brand continuing long past Johnnie-O the man,” O’Donnell said. “There’s a lot of depth and strength and deep roots to what we’ve done and I think there will continue to always be an affinity for it. And I think there’s a lot of opportunity to go beyond just polo shirts and five-pocket pants, whether that’s furniture or the restaurant business. I think the future is bright.”

O’Donnell also didn’t dismiss the idea that he might someday sell the brand in its entirety. “There’s definitely not a sign out in the front yard,” he said. “But we have this investor group of friends and family who have been in this anywhere from 15 to 20 years. Not that everybody’s looking to sell, but let’s just say we’d be open to a partner of sorts, whether it was a minority or a majority, and who knows, one day we may sell the whole thing. I think we’re open to a partner that could bring ideas and some more fuel.”