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Hufnagel was born in New York on Jan. 21, 1974. His mom was a nurse, and his dad was vice president at Metropolitan Life Insurance. Keith grew up skating in New York with Gino Iannucci, Keenan Milton, Jon Bushemi. In the 1980’s, Keith Hufnagel begins skateboarding and tagging around New York City, and picks up the nickname “HUF” after skating and tagging “HUF ONE” wherever he went.
Huf was on the DC super tours with Mike Carroll, Moses Itkonen, Scott johnson, Rob Dyrdek, Colin McKay, Scott johnson, Kelly Bird, rick Howard and many more. Keith had over a 20-year pro career with Real skateboards.
In 2002, Huf opens the first HUF store in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, becoming the first store of its kind in the area. Keith wanted to create a boutique location where skateboarders could gather, and fills the store with rare and unique skateboarding and streetwear clothes and sneakers, with brands like Stussy and Supreme. He eventually begins selling HUF-branded shirts and hats.
In 2011, HUF closes its retail shops in San Francisco and Los Angeles, temporarily ending its physical brick-and-mortar presence as a brand.
In 2015, HUF re-opens a store in Los Angeles, returning to the Fairfax neighborhood where its first LA store was located. An outpost in Tokyo opens as well, bringing HUF’s physical presence international.
Keith says he learned a lot from Ken & Damon at DC, Jim T at DLX, Stussy Supreme, and many other successful companies. In 2016, HUF’s New York City retail location opens, finally bringing a HUF store to Hufnagel’s native New York. HUF Osaka also opens, expanding HUF’s reach in Japan. These days, Huf has stores in LA, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Harajuku, Sendai
Check out Haroshi’s Middle Finger statue in the Fairfax store. It’s actually HUF’s middle finger and took around 6 months to complete.
Huf stirs up some controversy when they’re bought out by Altamont Capital. Huf is then bought by a Japanese apparel company called TSI holdings in 2017. It turns out, that Altamont Capital also owns iconic skateboard footwear brand Lakai, and when Altamont Capital sells HUF to TSI, Lakai is included in this package. So, in 2017, Lakai comes underneath the HUF umbrella, and they use the same office and resources, but maintain separate leadership and brand vision. In 2018, Huf was sold to the Japanese apparel group TSI Holdings.
In 2018, Huf does a collab with Budweiser for the “king of beers” collection. Hufnagel came up with his own lines too. Sometimes he partnered with other brands, such as the Nike Dunks, a tie-dye design using the colors of the San Francisco Giants.
Other notable collaborations for Huf were with street fighter, playboy, hustler, HH foundation, Thrasher, Peanuts, Wu-Tang Clan, Cheef Keif, FTP, Spitfire, Felix the Cat, Real Skateboards, Converse, and Nike SB
In the movie Elf, the kid unwraps a crispy new Keith Hufnagel Real complete given to him by Santa Claus.
In 2010, with the creation of Huf footwear, they launch the skateboarding team. Keith mentions that for some of the team riders on Huf, it was a stepping stone for them onto future things: guys like Sean Pablo, who later joined the FA team. Now, Huf’s team is stacked with the likes of Brad Cromer, Mason Silva, Karl Aikens, and more.
Huf has also experienced some tragedy over the years, with the death of Dylan Rieder in 2016, Pablo Ramirez, and Keith Hufnagel more recently.
Haroshi has made a small urn in the shape of an San Francisco fire hydrant in honour of Keith.