The Guardian: The Fall and Rise of Skateboard Chic

News outlet The Guardian recently caught up with HUF founder Keith Hufnagel to discuss skateboard culture and fashion from an insider’s perspective. Once considered the scourge of sophisticated society, it begs the question: how did skate fashion become a multimillion-dollar force within the fashion industry? Read a choice excerpt below and head over to The Guardian to read it in its entirety.

Keith Hufnagel, founder of Huf, a skateboarding brand popular with rappers such as Drake (and our very own Dappy), has seen the transformation first hand. He moved to San Francisco from New York to pursue a pro skateboarding career in 1992, and set up the brand 10 years later. Hufnagel remembers the days when skating wasn’t so cool: “I grew up in New York and it was unacceptable to have a skateboard. I’d have to take the train up to Canarsie in Brooklyn and I’d put my board under the C train because we’d go through these areas where kids would steal your board and punk you out. In 1992, there were some brands but it was nothing like it is today.”

Photography: John K. Goodman