ZUBAZ PANTS A COLORFUL FASHION ITEM.(Business)

Byline: Tony Kennedy Associated Press

Zubaz pants are zooming off warehouse racks in greater quantities as the pajama-like clothes add pizazz, and dollars, to the fashion industry.

But it wasn't instant success for former prison guard Bob Truax and his weight- lifting buddy, Dan Stock, who created the wildly patterned drawstring pants on a shoestring budget in 1988.

"We were laughed right out of sales meetings. We got laughed at over the telephone," says Truax, who is now laughing all the way to the bank.

Truax and Stock began selling Zubaz (pronounced ZOO-baz) pants in the pro shop of their Roseville weight-lifting gym. Zubaz, which means …