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Keith Hufnagel, pro skateboarder who launched global streetwear brand Huf, dies at 46
Sep 29, 2020
Keith Hufnagel, a free spirit from New York who became a professional skateboarder when he came West and then launched a streetwear brand that shaped action sport fashion on a global level, has died after battling brain cancer for more than two years.
Hufnagel died Sept. 24 at his home in Los Angeles, his namesake company, Huf , said in a statement. He was 46.
Skateboarding was still derisively written off as a diversion for slackers when Hufnagel began skating the Brooklyn Banks, an expanse of steep brick slopes and staircases under the Brooklyn Bridge. He recalled being heckled on the subway the moment someone saw his board.
“It was unacceptable to have a skateboard,” he told the Guardian in a 2011 interview. He said he often hid the board out of fear of being “punked out” by neighborhood toughs.
But while others saw skating as little more than a nuisance, Hufnagel viewed it as a countercultural movement — part rebellion, part urban adventure — and helped turn it all into a lifestyle with a line of footwear, hoodies, T-shirts and hats that caught the attention of mainstream brands like Nike, Adidas and even the parent company of Gucci, which eventually bought the boardsports company Volcom for more than $600 million
At the time of his death, Huf had shops in Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, Tokyo and beyond and was sold by retailers such as PacSun and Zumiez.
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