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Key Takeaways
- Pat Tenore built his businesses by creating spaces where community comes first.
- From RVCA to TENŌRE, he’s used fashion, surfing, music, and MMA to unite people across cultures.
- His new brand continues that mission, blending style and loyalty into a living, breathing community.
Pat Tenore has always put community ahead of profitability. When he sponsored local gyms in Hawaii, it was about bringing people together in a state where “scrapping” (slang for fighting) was part of the culture.
“There was a lot of tension in the North Shore,” he recalls. “You had outsiders coming in, locals feeling disrespected, and people getting into fights. I thought, what if we can help change that energy? Supporting the gyms gave people a place to train, to respect each other. It built connection instead of conflict.”
That’s also how Tenore has built every business he’s ever touched. Long before he became one of the most influential figures in surf, skate, music, and fight culture, long before he sold his iconic brand RVCA to Billabong, he was building bridges between disparate subcultures and creating spaces where community could thrive.
With his new brand TENŌRE, he’s taking that same ethos and starting fresh. His flagship store in Waikiki brings together the people and places that shaped him. A crackseed bar set up inside. Musicians play small sets. Fighters and surfers stop by between training sessions. The space feels more like a hangout than a retail store.
Like his friendships,Tenore’s clothes are also built to last. He designs what he and his community actually wear. That means functional and simple designs that work in the gym, water, work and everyday fits.
“My vision is to have flagship stores in the places that mean something to us, like Hawaii, Indonesia, Orange County,” Tenore says. “It’s about being present, about supporting the people who built and continue to build the culture.”
Related: How Giving Back Became The Unexpected Driver of My Company’s Success
Early influences
Tenore’s entrepreneurial origin story began decades ago, when he was just a kid working at a surf and skate shop in California. Some influential fashion designers inoticed his eye for design and invited him to New York to collaborate. That trip opened his eyes to the business side of culture.
But the foundation of his community-building came from mixed martial arts. As a lifelong jiu-jitsu practitioner and black belt under the Carlson Gracie family, Tenore saw the discipline as a bridge between people. Martial arts still anchor much of his world today. A lifelong black belt martial artist, Tenore keeps that discipline woven through every brand he touches. Over time, those values helped him build a loyal following for his streetwear label RVCA (pronounced “ruka”), which grew into a global empire.
Related: 4 Things MMA Taught Me About Work, Life and Running a Company
Relationships matter
Tenore’s entire business network runs on loyalty. He tells stories of hanging out with Nate Diaz, BJ Penn, and Steve Aoki long before they were famous. “We’ve never exchanged a dollar between us,” he says of Diaz. “He stays at my house when he’s in town. We’ve just always looked out for each other.”
Those relationships go both ways. When Diaz fought Jake Paul, Nate made sure the TENŌRE logo was front and center on his corner team’s walkout gear. “He didn’t want a dollar for it,” Tenore says. “That kind of support means everything to me.”
Related: Business Success Isn’t About Great Ideas, Capital or Timing. Here’s What Actually Matters.
Beyond the bottom line
Tenore’s definition of success wasn’t about personal glory. “It was having a platform that employed hundreds of people all over the world,” he says. “That meant more to me than pushing margins or chasing quarterly numbers.”
That outlook sometimes rubbed the private equity owners the wrong way. But Tenore didn’t compromise his values. “I was winning my way and they were still making money,” he says. “That told me I was doing something right.”
Staying true to the culture
TENŌRE is a return to its founder’s aesthetic. It’s part surf brand, part dojo, part art collective. And if that sounds hard to categorize, that’s the point.
“I never wanted to be just a surf brand or a fight brand,” he says. “I just wanted to build something real with people I believe in.”
The stores are opening one by one, but Tenore doesn’t measure success in square footage or sales. He measures it in community cleanups, shared meals, and moments where people come together for something larger than themselves.
“Authenticity doesn’t cost anything,” he says. “You just have to live it.”
Key Takeaways
- Pat Tenore built his businesses by creating spaces where community comes first.
- From RVCA to TENŌRE, he’s used fashion, surfing, music, and MMA to unite people across cultures.
- His new brand continues that mission, blending style and loyalty into a living, breathing community.
Pat Tenore has always put community ahead of profitability. When he sponsored local gyms in Hawaii, it was about bringing people together in a state where “scrapping” (slang for fighting) was part of the culture.
“There was a lot of tension in the North Shore,” he recalls. “You had outsiders coming in, locals feeling disrespected, and people getting into fights. I thought, what if we can help change that energy? Supporting the gyms gave people a place to train, to respect each other. It built connection instead of conflict.”
That’s also how Tenore has built every business he’s ever touched. Long before he became one of the most influential figures in surf, skate, music, and fight culture, long before he sold his iconic brand RVCA to Billabong, he was building bridges between disparate subcultures and creating spaces where community could thrive.
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