Stussy began in 1980 in Laguna Beach, California, and it did not start as a clothing company at all. Shawn Stussy was shaping surfboards by hand and signing each one with his last name, written in a loose, graffiti-style scrawl. That signature was borrowed from his uncle Jan Stussy, an abstract artist, and it is the same mark you still see on every piece today. There is no hidden meaning to the name. It is simply his surname.