After troubled early years, this Whiteboy is growing up.

The Whiteboys are coming--or so Joe Shortal hopes.

The chief executive and chairman of Sub-Urban Brands Inc. recently took his company public in a reverse merger to bolster the L.A.-based apparel company as it descends upon stores with the latest Whiteboy-branded gear.

As Shortal sees it, well-heeled suburban Caucasians who shy away from the urban labels FUBU and Sean John crave a brand that's targeted to them. And now those 15- to 24-year-old males will soon be able to buy Whiteboy products, which go for $30 to $150, locally at Fred Segal.

"We thought there was a void between board wear and streetwear," said Shortal. "We set out to make a streetwear line for the merging market of skate meets urban."

Initially, though, the brand was beset with problems when it launched three years ago. Its provocative name didn't sit well with retail buyers and took customers off-guard. So Shortal pulled the clothes from stores to retool the company and the brand's image.

Shortal kept the name, cut an expletive that commonly accompanied it and searched for new management and designers. "It took nearly a year to reposition the brand," he said. Meanwhile, the company racked up losses: $2.7 million for 2005 and $1.7 million for 2004.

The company has now come back with a new designer (Brad Riedell, who formerly worked at Zoo York LLC) and a strategy to roll out various brands. A Whiteboy women's line and a high-end urban specialty line called Black Jesus will be in stores later this summer. The company is also moving ahead with a line dubbed PYT aimed at 'tween and teenage girls and is looking to acquire a premium denim brand.

"It is really trying to place product in different market segments so the brands don't compete against each other, but we create multiple revenue streams," said Shortal, who is projecting $3.5 million in revenues over the next 12 months.

Sub-Urban is being traded on the OTC Bulletin Board, where its shares closed at 44 cents last Thursday.