HUF KICKS OFF 2023 WITH ITS FIRST ARCHIVAL HARDCOVER BOOK DOCUMENTING THE BRAND’S FIRST 20 YEARS
Founded in 2002 by professional skateboarder Keith Hufnagel, Huf is a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of premium footwear and apparel designed for contemporary skate and lifestyle. The brand celebrates 20 years of growth with a hardcover book documenting its rise through interviews with the friends, creatives, crew, and personalities that continue to push it forward. Along with anecdotes from the OGs, the book features a deep dive into the brand’s work, including key collaborations, artwork, behind-the-scenes photography, artifacts, ephemera, and the pieces that never were.
“Keith and I have diverse influences that all relate to each other, but provide a wide array of cultural beacons. The community we’ve built has a degree of underground nods that suggest the audience is “in the know,” but none of it is intended to exclude certain cultural niches to make one point of view exclusive or elite,” says artist Shepard Fairey.
“We’d bomb down Hyde street with a tall can, skate the library, get a late dinner, and then go party,” adds singer/songwriter Hanni El Khatib. “There was a bar across the street where we had a monthly party called ‘Lurk Or Die.’ We’d play old skate videos but we were still so obsessed with designing, and we’d be at the bar coming up with new ideas. So we would have an idea and go back to the store and try to design it at 2 am. Then the next day we’d roll in at noon and see what the hell we were working on.”
“Even before we were working together, there was a sense of simpatico. We were both New York street kids who ended up with brands in California. You set the world on fire together and then you wait for the ashes to die out,” artist, graphic designer, and art director Eric Haze reminisces.
The book includes a foreword by Yasi Salek, host of Bandsplain and longtime friend of Huf, as well as interviews with Brad Cromer, Shepard Fairey, Anne Freeman, Benny Gold, and many more personalities that have been intimates of the brand, and contributions from photographers Ryan Allan, Will Azcona, and Mike Ballard.
The 216-page hardcover book is 8.5″ wide x 10.5″ tall x 1″ thick and is currently available at hufworldwide.com and at Huf flagship stores.
