Diamonds on the Soles of Their Shoes

Let the record show: Great things get born in Isla Vista.

It was there, in that surfy, student-stuffed, and party-minded suburb of UC Santa Barbara, that the South Coast’s only resident billion-dollar business, Deckers Outdoor Corporation, was conceived nearly four decades ago. Hatched in 1973 as a flip-flop company by two freshly minted Gaucho alums who were seeking “professional” means to more beach time — one being a surfer, the other a beach volleyballer — the company has grown into a certifiable and celebrated footwear behemoth, with offices and employees all over the world, multimillion-dollar profits each and every fiscal quarter for the past four years and counting, an award-decorated reputation as one of the best and most fun places to work in America, and a new sprawling, state-of-the-art corporate headquarters slated to open on 13 acres in the heart of Goleta’s Cabrillo Business Park in 2013.

Just last week, on the most recent episode of CNBC’s Mad Money, host Jim Cramer — who has long been a fan of Deckers’s fiscal prowess during his nationally televised investment-advice rants — declared the company one of five in the country that you can count on during these economically sorry times. Even with today’s $106-per-share price tag on the New York Stock Exchange, Cramer exclaimed, “I think they are still a real bargain — with plenty of room to run.”