Katin

Katin has a distinctive and interesting past. Kanvas by Katin was a firm founded in 1954 by Walter and Nancy Katin that produced canvas boat covers. Because of how durable their coverings were, a number of their friends asked the Katins if they could use their canvas to make them boat shorts after a few years.

Although the shorts were reliable and well-liked, Walter chose to stick with boat coverings. But when a young Corky Carroll entered Walter's shop and requested that Walter make him some canvas board shorts for surfing, everything changed. Corky Carroll quickly established himself as the first professional surfer in history, and Katin quickly rose to the top of the California board short market.

By the 1960s, Katins had become a staple of popular surf culture. The brand was maintained by Nancy after Walter's death in 1967, and some of the best and most renowned surfers in the world, including Gerry Lopez, Shaun Thomson, and Eddie Aikau, used Katin shorts. Until her death in 1986, Nancy ran the company out of the same shop. Sato Hughes, the original seamstress of the business, received the Katin brand as a bequest and now runs it out of the same store.

Despite expanding into a line of fashionable graphic t-shirts, shirts, flannels, hats, and other surfer-approved accessories, Katin continues to produce its renowned surf trunks.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katinusa/ (81 200 followers)

Founded: 1954
Website: https://www.katinusa.com/