Huffer celebrates 25 years of success
Huffer – it’s the label parents and kids can wear at the same time and neither cringes. Rachael Kelly looks back on 25 years in the New Zealand Fashion industry.
When Huffer founder Steve Dunstan checked into a hotel in Gore on Wednesday night, the receptionist was wearing a Huffer puffer.
‘‘I walked in and thought this is cool, in Gore, this is awesome,’’ Dunstan said.
It’s not that surprising. Huffer is celebrating 25 years in the New Zealand Fashion industry this year, and it’s fair to say those three dots that identify the brand are everywhere.
‘‘It is really a milestone, although it’s just a number,’’ he said.
‘‘It depends how you look at it, we’re still fairly young. Part of our strategy with the brand right now is that with the 25 years, we’ve grown, and there have been highs and lows all the way through it.’’ Huffer started in 1997.
‘‘We were snowboarders wanting to look like skateboarders on the snow, so we made our own products to give identity to this upcoming emergence of the new sport of snowboarding.’’
The vision was simple – to create functional clothing that looked as good on the snow as it did on the street.
And to celebrate 25 years in an industry that many don’t survive, Dunstan has gone back to his roots, creating a capsule collection inspired by the first seven piece collection that launched the brand. It still looks fresh on the slopes. ‘‘We’re lucky cos the 90s is trending right now,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s a way to story-tell. We’re highly engaged with a youthful market that weren’t born when we started. I’m excited by that, it just feels right to the soul of the brand.’’
And while those kids weren’t born, the internet was still in its infancy.
‘‘We used to get actual catalogues from other brands because there was no online, have a quick look at them and then throw them in the bin because we didn’t want to be led by anyone else. The more you have it in front of you the more you are likely to gravitate towards replicating.’’
From making technical, waterproof, breathable outerwear, Huffer morphed into a fully-fledged
‘‘We were snowboarders wanting to look like skateboarders on the snow, so we made our own products to give identity to this upcoming emergence of the new sport of snowboarding.’’ Steve Dunstan Huffer founder
fashion brand with a street edge.
‘‘We don’t call ourselves streetwear. We are a brand, and we design clothing that allows people to express themselves.’’
It’s the label parents and kids can wear at the same time and neither cringes.
‘‘Within the Huffer brand there’s something for everyone. I like the fact that we span generations, we stay relevant, but it’s something that’s really hard, but it’s exciting and it’s something you have to work at.’’
‘‘I’ve seen some brands, like some of the old school surf brands, where you’ll see that legacy and they’ll go through generations, but the dad will wear it because they used to wear it along to barbecues and they’ll think it’s cool.’’
It hasn’t all been an easy ride from the early days in the Huffer basement in downtown Auckland, where the label got its start.
‘‘It’s been a bumpy road in 25 years, and we’ve learnt a lot along the way.’’
Their first down jacket was made in a factory best known for duvets.
The down and puffer jackets the label is perhaps best known for, (Dunstan is quick to define the difference – one is made from down and the puffer a recycled synthetic plume) defined their reason for making clothing – striving to design to a philosophy of ‘Seek, Socialise, and Survive’.
Fast-forward to 2006, and Huffer made its debut at Air New Zealand Fashion Week, and was being seen on the racks at some of the United States’ top boutiques and stores.
A year later, the global financial crisis hit.
‘‘We were the last on the pile, sitting down here in Auckland going ‘hey man, where’s our money?’. That really put a lot of pressure on the business.’’
In recent times, Huffer made the ‘‘sad decision’’ to close its Bondi Beach store, but opened a new one in Melbourne. It now has 12 stores in New Zealand, and employs 148 staff.
So, back to Gore, where Dunstan is on the judging panel for the MLT Hokonui Fashion Design Awards for the first time.
Two of the models in this year’s awards have draped their Huffer puffers over the back of their chairs while they wait for fittings.
The awards are the longest running awards for amateur designers in the country, and Dunstan’s been joined by twentyseven names designers Rachel Easting and Anjali Burnett, and Juliette Hogan, of Juliette Hogan, to critique more than 250 entries.
Dunstan is excited about the entries he’s seen in the schools sections.
‘‘Seeing the high level of amazing stuff, there’s obviously talent out there. Even if these people don’t win, they’ve obviously done it for a reason, so follow who you are.
‘‘You have to design and follow a brief, but I see there’s passion on the side. You need to have a commercial head if you want to turn it into a business but at the same time you need that fire, and you need that passion.
‘‘There’s no doubt, within this room here there’s definitely some people that will make careers out of this for sure, there’s international potential.’’