Apparel Maker Serves Up Vollyball Wear : Fashion: After starting in a garage in 1986, Mossimo Giannulli sold $1.3 million in brightly colored shorts and accessories last year.

IRVINE —  If a sport becomes popular, can its fashion be far behind?

Volleyball apparel is no exception, with the sport a hot act on Southern California’s beaches. Just as surfing, skateboarding and snow-boarding all have created their own apparel, so has volleyball.

Since the 1984 Olympics--when the U.S. men took the gold medal--volleyball has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry, with corporate sponsors, a 23-tournament professional circuit and a handful of athletes who next year could earn more than President Bush.

Volleyball’s popularity has set up the industry’s Gucci: Mossimo, with its line of volley shorts and coordinating T-shirts, mock turtlenecks and accessories tailored to the needs and tastes of the growing ranks of volleyball aficionados.

In the last five years, more than 23 million enthusiasts have spilled onto the courts, up from 14 million just five years ago, according to Volleyball Monthly, an industry-spawned magazine. At the same time, prize money tops $2 million--an astronomical increase from $5,000 a dozen years ago.

What has emerged are volley shorts that are ideally suited to the sport. They typically feature elastic waistbands--compared to the fixed waistbands with snap-on surf trunks--and looser legs, making it easier to dive for a ball and shake out the sand.

The volleyball apparel business is dominated by a handful of small, entrepreneurial Southern California companies. Mossimo of Irvine--headed by Mossimo Giannulli--leads the pack when it comes to style, if not sales.

The company first won notice two years ago when Giannulli, 26, took a gamble by introducing volley shorts in Day-Glo lime, pink, yellow and orange. The shorts--which retail for $32 to $36--came along at a time when the surf wear market was flooded with garment-washed treatments and wild prints.

At the same time, Giannulli plastered the seats with a distinctive, gigantic “M” signature logo in black so there was no mistaking the label.

The result was $1.3 million in sales in 1988--which is expected to swell to $5.1 million for 1989, Giannulli said.

The Mossimo story parallels that of many others in the $1-billion active-wear industry. The company was founded on a shoestring by Giannulli, a college dropout who started in the rag trade at USC. As a college student, Giannulli learned that selling T-shirts to students can be very profitable.

After an ill-fated attempt to work with the now-defunct Bagit, Giannulli--who plays amateur volleyball--saw a need and figured he was the one to fill it.

So in February, 1986, he began selling shorts out of his Balboa Island garage. Through the Yellow Pages, he found a seamstress. That first year, with the help of a $100,000 loan co-signed by Giannulli’s father--Mossimo sold about 10,000 pairs of its single style of three-panel shorts.

But business really did not perk up until Mossimo introduced the fluorescent shorts. Since then, business has been brisk, particularly among men 15 to 30 years old and young women, who buy as much as 25% of the company’s line, Giannulli said.

From first-year sales of about 200 shorts per month, Mossimo now sells up to 20,000 pairs of volley and walking shorts. Next year, Giannulli estimates that the company will sell 600,000 shorts.

Mossimo apparel is sold in all 50 states at 2,200 stores, including surf shops, specialty stores like Al’s Garage and Pacific Sunwear, and at Nordstrom and Macy’s.

Rivals in the fiercely competitive active-wear industry wonder whether Mossimo will come up with another big hit that will parallel the fluorescent shorts. “I don’t know how commercial he is,” said one major manufacturer, who said the company has not scored as high with a black-and-white cow print and a smile-face print.

Giannulli, however, said lines using both of those fabrics quickly sold out. And to make sure Mossimo has staying power, the line has been broadened to include Supplex sweat outfits, houndstooth and glen-plaid shorts and pants, fleece items and such accessories as duffel bags, beach sandals and backpacks. Mossimo plans to break into women’s swimwear next summer; the company is talking about a women’s sportswear line within two years after that.

The company branched into international sales when a Canadian licensee was signed six months ago in an agreement that Giannulli hopes will lead to sales of $1.5 million next year. The company is working on similar agreements in Japan and Europe.

So where does Mossimo go from here? It is clear the brash, confident Giannulli wants to grow into a major player in the industry.

At the same time, he said, there’s more to the company’s success than designing, producing and selling volleyball apparel.

One reason Mossimo moved to new headquarters is the sand volleyball court in the back yard. It’s not unusual for the company to start work early on Friday so employees can leave early and maybe head out to the beach.

After all, Giannulli said, “people get pretty psyched up if they’re going to get out of here early.”