Our Company -BadTuna was founded in 1996 by Bob Viloria, a native born from the island of Oahu who moved to Southern California in the late 70's. His design team has over 30 years of experience in creating logos and T-shirt designs for the company.

The Story The inception of BadTuna actually started in May 1994 when Bob went out to catch a few waves off the pier of Huntington Beach, CA. It was a beautiful morning with waves three to four feet and glassy. On the last wave in he had an unfortunate "wipe-out" and sustained a major spinal cord neck injury. He was rescued by fellow surfers but was left paralyzed. After months of physical therapy and determination he was able to walk again and return to a normal life in a year's time. To keep his mind motivated during his struggles, Bob worked on fine tuning his hobby and passion over the years in creating t-shirt designs with a little humor and a Hawaiian twist. In 1995, he found the internet and soon discovered its potential use of showcasing his artwork and staying in touch with people who love to surf, fish, scuba-dive or just staying active in sports. In 1996 the company was established on the Internet for the purpose of sharing his love and passion for ocean and island living.

The Bad Tu-na Bone Logo Our fish logo became the official trademark and brand name of BadTuna in 2005 because a few years ago Kmart and Joe Boxer stole our logo and sold it on T-shirts (click here for our story). It took several months to create the right look and feel that would express the experience and challenge of being motionless underwater and tossed around by the ocean waves. The bones represent near death experience. The head and shades represent the "bad to the bone" mental state of "no fear", being very calm, at peace, and to accept the inevitable. The fish in its entire body represents the ocean and island living--and that's what BadTuna is all about.