O.C. BUSINESS PLUS : ORANGE COUNTY BRIEFLY : Billabong T-Shirt Making Waves
Billabong may mean “watering hole” to aboriginal Australians, but it meant trouble this week in Winneconne, Wis.
A high school student there was ejected from class for wearing a shirt made by the Irvine-based surfwear maker, apparently because the teacher was concerned about “drug and alcohol issues,” the district superintendent said. Bong is a term for a marijuana pipe.
“The name is Billabong, not bong,” Chief Executive Paul Naude said Thursday in a statement. It was the first such complaint about the company’s name in its 27-year history, Billabong said.
Surfwear’s just catching on in Winneconne--50 miles south of Green Bay--at least as far as Winneconne Community School District Superintendent Robert Reinke knows. When one of the schools “top students” arrived for the first day of school wearing the T-shirt, the teacher ejected him.
“The teacher was probably concerned about drug and alcohol issues,” said Reinke, who said he had not talked with the teacher and could not give further details about why the student had to leave the classroom.
A media flurry erupted after rumors began to spread that the district had banned Billabong shirts, said Reinke, who declined to name the teacher or the student. “We’re really embarrassed by this,” he added.
Reinke said Thursday he planned to call Billabong to clarify the matter.
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