HUF: The Three Crucial Moments in the Brand's History
The first episode of the EyesOnMagazine x Blakshop column
HUF is one of those brands that have made streetwear history: since its origins, founder Keith Hufnagel has done everything to preserve the essence of street culture.
For this reason, our friends at BLAKSHOP asked us, EyesOnMagazine, to condense HUF's history into three key moments. An extremely difficult task, there's no denying it: the brand's history, after all, has so many facets that 20 pages wouldn't be enough to discuss it in sufficient depth.
Yet we (perhaps) succeeded, and (perhaps) left no stone unturned. This, then, is the story of HUF in three crucial moments. The first moment, perhaps the most important: after spending his whole life in New York, living in StuyTown, Keith Hufnagel decided to go to California to study at San Francisco State University. It was 1992, and his greatest passion, always, was skateboarding: his relatively well-off parents never prevented him from pursuing it, and indeed always encouraged him to do what he loved. For this reason, in 1993, Keith left university and decided to become a professional skater, thus beginning his dream.
The second key moment is the genesis of HUF. It's 2002, and Keith is an accomplished skater, while street culture is beginning to spread globally. For this reason, after traveling the world, Keith decides to open his own store in San Francisco. He calls it HUF, using the first three letters of his last name, and he and his wife, Anne Freeman, invest a significant portion of their savings into its establishment.
A few days before the opening, however, Keith realizes he hasn't done any marketing, and the fear of failure overtakes him: his lifelong dream, in fact, risks turning into a never-ending nightmare.
On opening day, 50 people were queuing in front of Keith's shop, and he sold his entire inventory in 8 hours. In 2004, a collaboration with Nike SB certified Keith's extraordinary talent, and from that moment on, HUF's story officially became a success story.
The third period was one of salvation: after years of success, HUF was hit by the disastrous consequences of the Wall Street crash. Losses amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars, but Keith never stopped believing in his creation: a blind, irrational hope that was intercepted by Jai Beak, a Korean entrepreneur who decided to save HUF by funding its clothing line.
After the crisis, HUF-mania exploded again, and the brand returned to growth worldwide, continuing to affirm the ideas of its founder Keith, who in 2017 decided to sell his creation to TSI Holdings.
On September 24, 2020, after a two-year battle with an incurable illness, Keith left our world. His ideals, however, have remained here, in the soul of HUF, and will never leave.
If you want to delve deeper into the history of HUF, you can also check out this Reel. WATCH THE VIDEO
See you next time!
