The Lotus Lifestyle – The Cape Present

Gabe Moser, 29, is a Delaware-based entrepreneur and founding father of Surf Lotus, an attire model based mostly within the Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach space.

“I do the drawing, design, sewing, quality control, production, orders, shipping, marketing and social media. I wear all the hats and have full control of the brand,” Gabe says with a smile.

He gained Delaware Today’s 2026 Best of Delaware award for Downstate males’s attire, which he describes as “streetwear with a surf take.”

Originally from Wilmington, Gabe spent his summers on the Delaware seashores.

“Rehoboth and Dewey are a huge part of my story. My parents met here and my grandparents retired here, so the beach has always felt like home to me.”

“My mom had a dress shop and was an interior designer, so I was always interested in fashion, music and art. But I also grew up skateboarding and skimboarding.”

What higher approach to mix these passions than with a surf-inspired clothes line?

“I went to Salesianum School in Wilmington, and my senior year, in 2015, is when I created the original concept of the ‘Lotus Lifestyle.’”

After graduating from Kutztown University, the place he performed ice hockey and studied communication, branding, advertising and digital media, Gabe spent his summers in Dewey.

“I worked at the Lighthouse in Dewey. It was a really cool community, and although I knew I had ‘one more summer’ in Dewey, I also knew I wanted to establish a business and build a life down here,” he says.

Gabe formally launched Surf Lotus in August 2019.

Surf Lotus is a coastal-inspired model providing T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, hats and girls’s boutique beachwear. It lately expanded into linen, button-down shirts, denim, denims, jackets and customized one-of-one items.

The model releases its merchandise in restricted portions.

“Limited releases mean no waste and no fast fashion. It’s a moment, and it’s special,” Gabe explains.

Products vary from $30 to $200 for customized items.

“My date-night T-shirt features a drop shoulder and a boxy fit, crafted from premium heavyweight 100% cotton, for $40. It can stand up to Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus. It’s the same quality or better than your favorite brands,” Gabe says with a smile.

The lotus holds particular that means for Gabe.

“It symbolizes rebirth, rising up and out of muddy waters and blooming toward the sun. It reminds me that, no matter what, there is always tomorrow.”

The model’s identify displays its core philosophy.

“It started out of my own struggles. I was a 23-year-old kid doing what I could but feeling lost. When college athletes move on from their sport after graduation, there’s a feeling of loss and a sense of  ‘What now?’ So, I wanted to be open and honest about mental health,” Gabe explains.

Seven years into his enterprise, Gabe helps the SL24: UnLocke the Light Foundation, a Delaware-based nonprofit centered on youth psychological well being. The group works to stop suicide, cut back the stigma surrounding melancholy and join younger folks with free assist companies and protected areas, together with Sean’s House in Newark and the newly opened Sean’s House Sussex in Rehoboth.

“I love working with them. I did pop-ups with UnLocke the Light at the 76ers Fieldhouse in Wilmington and designed the amateur volleyball shorts in 2025 for the Bump, Set, Light fundraiser here in Dewey,” Gabe says.

You can store Gabe’s clothes at surflotus.com and discover him at pop-ups similar to Schellville through the low season and at West Side Creative Market and Rocking the Docks subsequent summer time. His clothes can also be obtainable at Baked by the Dewey Post, 1205 Coastal Highway, Dewey Beach.  

“I’ve even been throwing around the idea of a mobile store,” he teases.

Keep your eyes open for that and observe him on social media at @surflotus.

Gabe proves that surf-inspired type can even have a significant mission, making a neighborhood the place trying good and feeling good, bodily and mentally, go hand in hand. Great type meets a good higher objective!