HUCK recently caught up with HUF founder and pro skater Keith Hufnagel about the retail game, skateboarding and those special collaborations.

These days, it seems that skaters fall into either the fresh, hesh or flannel/Dickies sectors with little originality within each. But when it comes to standout style, Keith Hufnagel is one of the originators.

Since turning pro in 1992, Keith’s skill, unique-as-hell style, trick selection and on-board originality has made him one of those skaters that’s not only progressive but enjoyable to watch too. Hell, just watching Huf push down the street is enough to get you psyched.

In the early part of this decade, Keith’s career as a skateboarder had no obvious bumps that might lead him to seek out a backup plan or use his time for anything else but skating. But in August 2002, Keith Hufnagel added business owner to his job description when he opened the very first HUF store-a boutique-style shop specialising in hard to find apparel.

Today, there are two HUF stores in San Francisco and a newly opened one in Los Angeles. And as his stores flourish with limited edition collaborations and hard to find gems, Keith continues to push the HUF line to new levels of innovation, originality and style.

HUCK: So you grew up in New York City. How did you find yourself living in California?
I moved to California when I was 18 back in 1992 and I ended up going to college at San Francisco state.

What was the transition like?
I mean, I was pretty much obsessed with skateboarding at the time so San Francisco at that point and time was the capital for it. So for me, it was awesome. San Francisco had a New York feel to it. I could pretty much skate everywhere and all of the best skaters were there at that point, so it was pretty much a dream come true more than anything

How did HUF come about?
In the beginning we wanted to host a lot of our friends brands and carry harder to find brands all under one roof.  You know the Nike SBs, Supreme, Stussy, Adidas; those kinds of things because it wasn’t really like that in San Francisco. At that point, it was all scattered around the city. We also wanted to bring the New York feel to San Francisco. So we had a lot of the local New York brands in our store and that was kind of how it started.

It’s crazy how you transitioned from pro skater to business owner, what was that like?
Basically, in my early days I could just skate everyday with no worries and just do whatever - go out skating, take photos, hang out with friends, play golf. Now I have a real job with employees and all that where I have to perform. There’s so much work. Having this kind of job is a real job. You have lots and lots of responsibilities that you have to fulfill everyday.  It’s a little more intense than being a pro skater.

It’s almost like, ‘Why would you even want to do it? You’re still a pro skater; you can easily keep doing what you’re doing.’
Exactly. I guess if you can do it while you’re doing another job, you can have your career last longer and turn it into another job. It’s like what do you do after you’re a professional skater? What’s your talent after your talent has disappeared?

Did you open HUF with that idea in mind…a career after skateboarding?
Yeah, it was definitely something where it was like, ‘ok, let’s build something and this is something you can lean on after you’re done skateboarding and have something to do’. Skateboarding is the absolute best job in the world but it’s also, if you don’t turn it into anything, a dead-end job. Unless you make so much money that you can retire which isn’t for everyone. There’s probably only a handful of people out there that can probably retire from skateboarding.

Going to work everyday is it full time? How do you juggle the business with being a pro skater?
I have people now who pretty much run the stores so I don’t really touch that. And then I just deal with the brand and my skating. So when you’re feeling good, you go out and skate and then come back and deal with your work. You just have to do it, whenever you’re feeling it, go skate!

Did you have any idea that HUF would grow into a full-on brand?
You know, you’re always making t-shirts, to hats, to sweatshirts, to pants to button ups. You know it was a very grassroots way of building a brand. It was very slow and soon everything just evolved.

What are some of the challenges of running a business in a shitty economy?
It’s really just comes down to keeping it fresh and keeping your customers coming in really. It’s definitely a change from when we started the business. It’s a whole new path to make sure you can continue sales, bring the right product in, bring other brands in and not buy too much or too little. There’s the whole strategy to it.

Have any of the collaborations been weird when it crosses over to your sponsor’s territory?
I’ve had those conversations with my sponsors and it’s more of just a shop thing and they’re all cool with that. And at the same time, we do a lot of collaborations with my sponsors whether it be Real, DVS or whatever.

Almost for nothings cd release will be coming early feb with their 1st album ” Write your own future” But to tide us over in the time being we are releasing a new single off of our album. The guys will be hitting all across northern ontario in mid march to do some shows. Then aim to head south come summer time to hit from northbay to london. A special shout out to our friends at Anti Gravity Skate shop in Niagara Falls for hooking us up with some prime AGK authentic threads and at CPBR In cochrane for all their help in getting us going !.  Almost for nothing has been featured on the Indie music station on Sirus satelite radio and was called an upcoming main event kind of band, we also placed 3rd out of 400 songs entered in a pheonix radio stations indie artist song competition with their 2nd single breaking down, our 2 released singles are on Myspace.com/almostfornothing

Almost For Nothing is a 3 piece band coming out of Cochrane Ontario, Ryan ( drums) Phil ( guitar) and Barry ( bass , guitar & vocals) will be releasing their debut album : Almost for nothing, Write your own future . In early Febuary 2010. The band has been going since march of 2008 and underwent 2 drummer changes in the line up. Almost For Nothing is a revamp of The Side Projects who hosted the Cochrane addition to the Big Hearts For Eoin benefit concert. The show was a success for the boys as they reached their goal donation and got to play a show with great local bands such as Crucial flames and head lining act Remedy For Doubt. Since then the boys have gotten past their line up issues and have been spending countless hours recording and writing to push forward to enjoy their upcoming success doing a northern ontario blast of shows ranging from Kapuskasing to North Bay upcoming in Mid March to the summer months. Cd sale information will be available shortly on our myspace page. www.Myspace.com/Almostfornothing

VAIDER-High top upper with a vulcanized outsole. Extra heel protection molded into comfortable high memory polyurethane insole. SupraFoam® midsole providing entire foot impact resistance, optimal shoe flex, and board feel. Sliding tongue logo. Ankle support. PU leather lining. BK mesh sock line.

New Supra’s in Antigravity! AGK

Some battles and presentation of the Red Bull.

The judges are :Cico , Ronie , Salah ,katsu y float

Host: Mc Krs-One

BBOYS LIST:

1-Lil Ceng (Germany)
2-Punisher (Francia)
3-Lil G (Venezuela)
4-Morris (USA)
5-Kid glide (USA)
6-Kaku (Japan)
7-Lilou (French)
8-Wing (Korea)
9-Lagaet (Portugal)
10-Neguin (Brasil)
11-Menno (Netherlands)
12-Differ (Korea)
13-Kolobok (Ucrania)
14-Cloud (USA)
15-Flying Buddha (Russia)
16-Thesis (USA)

FAKIE DOUBLE CAB FLIP? Damn AGK

Director: Martin Scorsese

Nicholas Di Genova is possibly the Darwin of illustrators. Inspired by zoology and animal care, he creates mystical creatures both real and imagined. Di Genova, originally from Belleville, studied sculpture at OCAD and quickly found success. He has exhibited his work internationally in both group and solo shows including some in Europe and Asia.

His initial inspirations came from his adolescent obsessions with graffiti and everything Japanese. This is born out in his earlier work that feartures fantastical Godzilla-type monsters and creatures. But more recently, he has been more influenced from scientific drawings and imagery and artifacts associated with the Victorian era.

Its been a little while since I have put up artist profiles, But I will get back on the horse, AGK 

Even if you don’t know anything about skateboarding or don’t care about skateboarding in any way at all, I promise you that the next 9 minutes and 40 seconds of your life will be totally more awesomer if you choose to click play on the video clip below. And if you do know/care about skateboarding then, well, you might be crapping in your pants. Here’s the deal with Wizard Smoke, this new video, presented below in it’s entirety:

Wizard Smoke from Salazar on Vimeo.

“Everybody knows that for a pack of smokes and a case of beer, skateboarders will do pretty much anything. That’s how I lured some good friends into coating themselves in powdered paint and making Wizard Smoke, a video where the visuals are just as important as the skating, driven by an aesthetic that appeals to both skateboarders and people outside the skateboarding community.”

- Liam Mitchell, director

OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID X AGK TRAILER PREMIERE AT ROCK THE BLOCK WITH MOCtalk!!!

The trailer will premiere during the night dont miss it come out and support!

7pm Doors Open

8pm Live Taping at Mide Bistro including:

MOCTALK COLLECTIVE - Special One Year Interview
THE AMAZING FLYIN’ HAMMER BROTHERS
GREEN DYNAMO

9pm After Party begins at all venues

Mide Bistro performances by

> Green Dynamo
> Danielle Oegema
> the Amazing Flying Hammer Brothers

Niagara Gallery performances by

> Featured Artist: Brandon Agnew
> Thunderclap
> Kirby
> Hire Wire String Band
> Pete Tremblay

Queens Pub performances by

> Half Ton Knights
> Mule Skinner
> the Black Flies
> A Sea of Gold and Burgundy
> the Spooky Scarecrows
> blenderhead
> DJ Gaelic

Special Appearances by:

> Alex Kazam - Magician
> Laurie Boese - Live Chalkboard Piece
> Sam Gorrie - Live Caricatures
> Winhara

+ Special Video Appearances
    AGK’s Overworked and Underpaid
PLUS SPECIAL 1 YEAR EDITION of the MOCzine to include a DVD with episodes 1 -> 6 + unreleased B-Side performances + special features galore

ALSO the first ever MOCie awards for the first 6 episodes will be given to the best musical guest, best visual artist, best interview, best special segment and best blenderhead moment!

bands. artists. comedians. magicians. live taping. zines. great times.