Keith Hufnagel
American skateboarder and fashion designer (1974–2020)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Keith Hufnagel (January 21, 1974 – September 24, 2020) was an American skateboarding professional, entrepreneur, and fashion designer, the founder of the streetwear brand HUF.
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Hufnagel in 2016 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 21, 1974 |
| Died | September 24, 2020 (aged 46) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupations | Skateboarder, fashion designer |
| Sport | |
Turned pro | 1993 |
Early life
Hufnagel was born in Manhattan, where he grew up in Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village;[1][2] his father was a vice president of Metropolitan Life Insurance and his mother a nurse.[3] He attended Xavier High School on a track scholarship.[4] After graduating from high school in 1992, he attended San Francisco State University but dropped out after one semester to become a professional skateboarder.[5][6]
Career
Skateboarding
Hufnagel began his skateboarding career in his teens in New York City, at the Brooklyn Banks, an expanse of steep brick slopes and staircases under the Brooklyn Bridge.[3][7] He turned pro in California in 1993, first joining Fun Skateboards and then signing with Jim Thiebaud of Real Skateboards; he also skated for Thunder Trucks and Spitfire Wheels.[5]
Fashion
After living for a couple of years in Los Angeles,[8] he opened the first HUF Worldwide store in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco in 2002 with his then wife, Anne Freeman,[3][6] at her suggestion using the nickname he had already used on his skateboard decks and T-shirts.[2] A pioneer of streetwear,[8] it carried rare sneakers and clothing by Supreme and other boutique fashion houses, and also art by other skateboarders and artists such as Aaron Rose and Haroshi.[5][9] The boutique expanded into a chain based in Los Angeles and with stores in Texas, New York, and several in Japan,[8] and by 2007 to a lifestyle brand, selling activewear labeled with an "H" plus in some cases an irreverent collection motto such as "Dirtbag Crew" or "Fuck It".[1][5] A sculpture by Haroshi of a raised middle finger, in the company's Los Angeles store, was destroyed in the protests following George Floyd's murder by police; Hufnagel responded by producing a T-shirt to benefit the Black Lives Matter movement.[1]
HUF products included limited-edition apparel related to bands, cartoon characters, and brands.[1][5][10] Hufnagel himself, one of the first skaters to have a shoe with his name on it, from his sponsor DVS,[1] also designed limited-edition shoes including the Nike Dunks and the Nike Air Max 90 HUFquakes.[1][5] HUF footwear included the Classic and a controversial signature shoe for Dylan Rieder.[1]
In late 2017, Hufnagel sold the HUF brand to TSI Holdings; Eddie Miyoshi became CEO the following year.[11] In 2019 Hufnagel decided to focus on apparel,[12][13] producing shoes only in collaboration with other brands.[1]
He revived the 1990s company Metropolitan as a "garage project" in 2017[12] and for it created an Adidas ZX 8000.[1]
Hufnagel skated for the HUF Worldwide team.[5] His career was featured in a three-part series on the Vice Media show Epicly Later'd.[14]
Personal
Hufnagel married Anne Freeman in 2001;[5] the marriage ended in divorce, but she remained involved in the HUF business until 2013.[2] He remarried to Mariellen Hufnagel; they have two children.[6]
He died of brain cancer at his home in Los Angeles in September 2020, at the age of 46.[3][5][6][15][16]