Suddenly it was back: last year at the World Cup on Sylt, caps and hoodies with the well-known HiFly logo could be seen everywhere. The former board brand was omnipresent until the mid-nineties with its affordable and robust thermoplastic boards, but also had technical treats such as the Sean Ordonez waveboard or racy red sandwich racers in its programme. In its second life, HiFly has become a fashion and lifestyle brand. However, Hinrich Stürken from the rights holder Lizenzwerft does not rule out the possibility that there will be boards with the logo again at some point.
How did it come about that you revived HiFly?
We are always on the lookout for sports brands, and as we also have old surfers here at the licence yard, we came across HiFly. We thought it was such a great brand that we quickly decided to take over the rights. We think that the "glorious days of windsurfing" could come back and we want to bring the brand, now repositioned as a lifestyle brand, back onto the market. There are so many people who have grown up with HiFly and have experienced stories with it. On top of that, this logo also brings positivity and a retro feel, which is why so many young people are interested in it and think it's cool. We are happy that the collection was so well received last year and we want to continue to expand it. We believe that the brand definitely has a right to exist in the lifestyle sector and is interesting for young and old.
Does that mean you come from the business sector and bought up the brand rights?
Exactly, we are a licence agency and also look after other brands. We just thought HiFly was super cool and see great potential. From a business perspective, of course, we don't just do it for the love of it. But there's a lot of passion behind this brand in particular, and we live the spirit and brand values ourselves. You will certainly see this again on Sylt when we are there with a small but excellent team and our pop-up store.
What do you see as the brand values that HiFly stands for?
This nonchalance and this idea of freedom, which was already part of HiFly in the past. Surfing used to be a real trend sport, it was mega cool and casual. These are values that are still present in this brand. We don't just see this as being limited to windsurfing, but also want to get involved in other trend sports. A high sense of style also plays a role, because this logo still works very well. We also try to make our products as resource-friendly and sustainable as possible. Our apparel collection is GOTS-certified, which we see as a matter of course for a brand that comes from the water sports sector.
HiFly didn't exactly have the reputation of a high-tech brand...
Exactly, and we are not positioning ourselves as a lifestyle brand at the top end. We see ourselves in the mid-range, and that's a good thing, because that's where the fans of the past were and that's where the fans of today are. It won't be super cheap, but it won't be super expensive either. It's just affordable, at a completely normal price for high quality
You used the very old logo from the early days and not the later version.
Exactly, the logo was modernised in the nineties and a lot of money was pumped into it. But we made a conscious decision to use the old logo because we wanted to have that retro chic in there. It also comes from the time when HiFly was sometimes groundbreakingly innovative and quite simply THE cool surf brand. We think the old logo is very contemporary at the moment
How was the response last year after the somewhat surprising appearance?
We were really flashed by how it was received, there was the opportunity to be there on Sylt at very short notice. Lots of people arrived and everyone had some kind of story about HiFly. We had an old CS 600 there that was almost longer than the flagpoles. But the young people came just as much and thought the hoodies were cool. That's why we were really happy and will be there again this year. We also caught the attention of people there who found it exciting from a business perspective. We now have our first licencees who are manufacturing and selling our products.
What's new this year?
We have upgraded our product portfolio and are a bit broader. We have more styles in the apparel area, more T-shirts, we have long sleeves, not just hoodies, but also zips. We also have sunglasses, skateboards and bags, as well as towelling with towels and ponchos. We also want to showcase the diversity that HiFly stands for. We are celebrating HiFly's 45th anniversary this year and have also created a new anniversary logo for the occasion.
Where can I buy your stuff if I can't get to Sylt?
On the one hand, you get this via our Online shop but we will also be offering our collection in various regions in the water sports retail sector, but that will certainly take some time.
And where do you want to go in the long term, will you stick with clothing or will there be hardware again?
Our collection will be a little more lifestyle orientated, this time we have focused a little more on the event with the event logo. But we also want to move in the direction of swimwear and functional clothing, perhaps real functional ponchos, water clothing or shoes. But of course there are also other exciting areas, we are talking to interesting people about energy drinks - HiFly is of course a great name. The ultimate goal would be to expand this to the European region, because HiFly was of course also relevant there. "From the water to the beach into the city", that's our vision for the brand. HiFly is known from the water, now we have come to the beach and the ultimate aim is to develop it into a lifestyle brand that is also present in the city.
A board for normal windsurfers for whom the new boards are too radical would of course be nice.
But you're not planning any new windsurfing boards?
The question always comes up, of course. To be honest, we don't want to put on that shoe at the moment. The windsurfing market is pretty competitive these days. There are lots of brands and lots of innovative stories, so we don't want to focus on that just yet. But as the saying goes, "never say never". Of course, it would be great if we could work together to offer a board that would not be ridden by the super pros, but by the normal windsurfers who were already riding HiFly back then and for whom the new boards are a bit too radical. An all-rounder board like that would of course be a lot of fun and really nice.
What is your personal connection to the brand?
I've been surfing since 1981, I've had HiFly boards, Sailboard, Mistral, F2...but HiFly was the board par excellence back then, especially in surf schools, because it was indestructible. When I go to surf schools now, I still see Mambos. Because they simply can't be broken. But now I get out on the water far too rarely.
Thank you very much for the interview!
- All products are available at hifly-brand.com
