6 minute read
Our story
1989 The whole Horsefeathers story started back in 1989 in British Columbia, Canada, in a small town called Rock Creek. Hanuš and his friends were into snowboarding, which was a pretty new sport at that time. It was more like a rebellion against the local lifestyle as the whole area was just farms and cowboys. They were riding as much as they could and live the lifestyle of a board-riding crew. 1992 Hanuš moves to Pilsen, the Czech Republic where he meets Pavel Kubíček. Together they started Horsefeathers as a brand. This photo on a rooftop in Pilsen was shot on a funky 70s Russian camera. 1993 This is the first official Horsefeathers design ever made. In 1993 we launched the first Horsefeathers collection of 50 tees and 200 stickers. This tee is one of them.
1994 The first “office” was cozy mayhem of salvaged furniture, posters, snow and skate mags, “high-tech” electronics all surrounded by boxes of clothing. 1995 This is the first-ever Horsefeathers advertisement. It was a last-minute call for the first issue of legendary Czech Board magazine and we are still not sure what this means. „There was no plan to do an ad, but when the funky image of naked kids floated up, it was a must to do. Horsefeathers to the point,“ comments Hanuš. 1997 Our first outerwear collection and first catalog dropped in fall 1997. The Shadow jacket looks on-trend even now.
1998 After the first outerwear collection sold out, Hanuš and Pavel took off to British Columbia, Canada, for two months of snowboarding. It was an awesome road trip with some wild stories. After coming back, there was so much work to handle, so they had to get everything in line and get structured. 1998 This is the first Horsefeathers snowboard advertisement we made in 1998. The perfect setup — Pavel behind the lens, Hanuš dropping the cliff. Shot at Whitewater, B.C. snow paradise during the ’97/’98 trip. 2000 This is the photo of our official team back in 2000. A lot of the guys stayed with us for a while, legends! Left to right: Michal Vladík, Petr Zvolánek, Honza Janda, Luděk Čtvrtníček, Filip Tauchman, Martin Mráz, Ondřej Marčík, Jan Zajíc, Kryštof Just, Kamil Mrázik.
2004 Our first full-length movie Fragments dropped on VHS in 2004, covering all the action sports we supported at that time. The premiere party in Pilsen was crazy! 2004 Showing the collections at ISPO marked the beginning of growing the brand on an international level. Nevertheless, there was always endless beer and party that went hand in hand with showing the new collections. 2006 In 2006 we made the first Horsefeathers City Jib as a local jib contest that quickly grew into an international event that in 2008 saw in front of the Pilsen St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral more than five thousand people and the riders list contained big names like Fredu, Sirvio, Alex Tank, Marc Swoboda or Hans Åhlund.
Back in 1989, snowboarding was nothing like we know it today. No snowparks, no high-speed lifts, no social media, no digital. It was a simple analog world. Yet what lacked in high-end technologies was abundantly compensated by the full-on energy that every snowboarder felt for that lifestyle. Snowboarding was new, weird, fresh, and on fire. It was a definite rebellion against the established team-sport mentality. When Stew Carlson started using his Grandmother’s quote, “That’s horsefeathers Stewart!” an idea was born. The rest is history.
2007 Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam was an internationally recognized 4* event at Dachstein glacier that always attracted the best riders pumped on competing in the first contest of the season. The contest under our name ran from 2007 to 2011 and was part of the Horsefeathers Superpark Dachstein and Horsefeathers Superpark Planai combo. 2008 Finish legend Ville Uotila joined our team in 2008 and quickly became one of the most significant riders in Horsefeathers history. During the years, he produced insane ads, photos, and video parts. He was also part of the B.C. 20th Anniversary trip crew. Thanks for the good times, Ville! 2008/09 Riding in British Columbia, Canada is always a good plan. The team grabbed the same van as Hanuš and Pavel in the ’97/’98 trip and did a tour of all iconic locations. Onboard of the time shuttle were Ville Uotila, Lukas Draxl, Rene Biedenkap, Honza Zajíc, Richard Skandera, and Zuzana Salz, all documented by David Blažek and KarKys.
2009 The Breakthrough Brand of the Year Award presented by SOURCE magazine recognizes the activities and efforts of a small/new brand that has been seen by retailers to have progressed the most in the year. Thanks, guys! 2011 The Deck belt was a brainchild of Hoffee, the marketing manager at that time and the project made headlines as it utilized broken decks from our riders and friends. 2012 Opening a flagship store at a prime location in Prague made it possible to set up an environment that would reflect everything Horsefeathers represents as a brand. And yes, there is free beer.
2015 In 2015 all focus was put on snowboarding and on building an awesome team that would be tuned on to the same philosophy as everyone at HF. From meeting Tyler on a subway in Munich that year and super simply working out a deal, or hooking up with Mans shortly after, to having Eiki Helgason onboard just seems to make perfect sense.
2018 After two successful seasons of atrip apparel, Halldór Helgason and the Stigma Distribution crew have decided to implement the brand into Horsefeathers as Halldor’s signature line. Halldór Helgason becomes a member of the Horsefeathers global team joining his brother Eiki. The first Horsefeathers atrip line by Halldór Helgason hit the stores in winter 2018/19. 2016 Ísland Born is the three-part project – zine, full part and documentary – from Eiki Helgason, released in late 2016. The footage in the videos showcased some stunning scenery from Eiki’s native Iceland.
2020 Zillertal Valley legend Steve Gruber joined the Global team. His experiences with backcountry riding brought a lot of testing and improvement into our Addicted to Powder line. 2017 In February 2017 went Mans Hedberg and Tyler Chorlton on a trip to China to visit their local Horsefeathers teammates. Chinese snowboarding, friends, beers and new experiences like the Annual Horsefeathers Nanshan Mogul Slope Race Extremeness. If you want to see more, follow the hashtag #HFtripChina. Ganbei! Check the HF trip China edit.
2021 Ethan Morgan joined the Horsefeathers Global team, and the first-ever DYIX STRT JAM took place in Innsbruck. Ethan’s personality and riding style fit our crew perfectly.
176 Notes
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