The Kavu Story: It all began with a hat!
As mentioned above, KAVU began purely through frustration, and a need to create something that hadn’t ever been made before; a hat that refused (comfortably) to leave your head. Barr’s need for such a hat stemmed from his fishing background; the range of people who also required a similar product turned out to be vast. Basically, if you spend a lot of time outdoors, regardless of your hobby, this hat won’t let you down.
Considering the KAVU Strapcap is a perfect solution for a wide range of outdoor disciplines, it is lucky that Barr himself was a fisherman. Without the equipment used for his profession, the chances of him ever creating the Strapcap are slim at best. Around 1991, Barr took apart a pair of sandals, reused the webbing to wrap around the hem of the cap, sewed it on using spare fishing net and inadvertently began his journey into becoming a god amongst outdoor-loving hat wearers. Placing the strap around the whole base of the cap creates a fit that can be adjusted around the circumference of your head, rather than just tightening the rear as you would on a regular cap. Genius!
From car boot to retail store
By 1993, Barr was selling his Strapcap caps from the back of his car, gradually gaining more and more attention from people within the local community. After 3 years of selling his cap alongside his fishing job, Barr quit the fishing and moved KAVU into a warehouse space in Seattle. From there, KAVU only grew and opened its own flagship Seattle store in 2001.
The 2000s brought even more success to KAVU, which was selling far more than the now-famous Strapcap by this point. Not only were they crushing it in the outerwear world of hats and accessories, but also clothing, such as their Teannaway fleece, was selling like hot cakes. This was because, similar to the Strapcap, they were designed with the knowledge of what outdoor apparel needed to focus on: hard-wearing materials, ergonomic design and timeless aesthetics.
Aside from the constant growth, KAVU have effectively been doing the same since then. Calling them a household name seems unfair, as that’s the last place any KAVU products actually want to be, but that is effectively what they have become. With a huge range of cranium-hugging caps, colourful beanies, warm and lightweight fleeces and shirts, fashionable and functional shorts and pants, and of course their much-loved rope and sling bags, KAVU shows no signs of slowing down soon.
We love KAVU here at Supereight, and we know you will too!
