Whatever Happened to Hamboards T-Shirts?

A note from Don

The short version: Hamboards is looking for an apparel licensee and a new artist. If that's you, or someone you know, write to customerservice@hamboards.com.

For a few years, T-shirts were a real part of Hamboards. In 2015 and 2016, nearly one order in five that came through our store had something to wear in it.

Then the shirts went away, and that was my doing. They were still selling when I stopped ordering them.

This post is about what we made, why I stopped, and what I'd like to do about it now.

The Hamboards T-shirts you wore

The designs came from the same place the boards did: Huntington Beach, a garage, and a family of surfers. The art was hand-drawn, a little goofy, and ours. A lumberjack riding a log with wheels on it. A van with more boards strapped to the roof than any van should carry. A man whose hair and beard are made of longboards.

Nearly all of it was drawn by Jeremy Searcy. He was a kid just starting out, a friend of my cousin's son Gus, and these shirts are where he got his start. You can find his signature tucked into the corner of several of them. Hamboards launched his career, and he never looked back.

Ham Van was the favorite. Hand Crafted, Lean Back and Street Surfer weren't far behind.

We made hats too, the Captain Classic and a five-panel, each with the "Taking the Surf to the Street" patch. In 2019 we added a small women's line.

The ones that stayed in the drawer

When I went back through the files this fall, I found more than a dozen finished designs that never got made. A few of them are as good as anything we printed.

My two favorites of all time are in that drawer too: Poop Head and Crack Kills. I laughed when I saw them, and I really wanted to sell them, even if they're a little silly. All that ever came of it was one hat of each, and both hats are long gone. If you'd wear one, tell me.

The board art: Burst, Paskowitz and Cory Lopez

Some of the best art we ever put our name on has only been seen by people who flip their board over. A deep-sea diver. A Sasquatch in a shirt and tie. A trailer-park postcard that says "Greetings from Paradise." A pattern of lumberjacks, bears, log cabins and leaping salmon that went on the underside of the Logger.

The early board art came from my cousin Pete Hamborg and his son Gus. They designed all of it, working with Pia Tinsley of The Lofte Creative, and they were awesome at it. The Hamboards logo was Pete and Pia's creation too.

The later Burst, Paskowitz and Twisted Fin graphics were all drawn by Ayden Stoefen, who has since built an apparel brand of his own, Stoefs. The Paskowitz and the Cory Lopez Twisted Fin carry the names of two good friends of ours, Abraham Paskowitz and Cory Lopez, and they are two of the most important boards we've made.

None of this has ever been on a shirt. Ayden laid a few of them out as tees in 2022, and we never printed them. I think a lot of it should be.

Ayden's 2022 tee layouts. Never printed.

Why I stopped

Here's the plain version. Hamboards has always been a small crew, and for a while it was a launchpad. Gus and Jeremy both started their careers here, and both moved on once they had. For years Pete and Gus had also handled a lot of the production and fulfillment, boards and shirts both. Then they quit, and it cost me dearly.

Building a branded sports gear business is hard work, much harder than it looked when it was boards in a garage, and not everyone who left was kind about it on the way out. I persevered. In the years since, I've kept the brand alive, kept improving the product, and kept finding new artists.

I had trucks to fix. The HST truck is what makes a Hamboard feel like surfing, and it wasn't yet as reliable as I wanted it to be. This brand has always been about how the gear performs, so that had to come first. I couldn't do that, run the store, and be in the T-shirt business too. So I let the shirts go. I knew it was a bad call for the brand when I made it. I didn't see another choice.

It took longer than I expected. But as I wrote in the Flow Kit story, I think the truck is finally done. After more than twenty years of Hamboards, the hard goods are where I always wanted them.

The last pieces were the 55/20 HST setup and the DYNEST™ spring bushings. With those, we've finally addressed pumping, and the boards are more stable for new riders.

Hamboards aren't for everyone. They're made for surfers. That has never changed, and surfers are perhaps the most challenging group to impress. It took twenty years to give them what they asked for, partly because they don't exactly use engineering terminology.

Which means I can look up from the workbench and ask the question I've been putting off.

What's next: an apparel licensee and a new artist

I'd like to bring Hamboards apparel back. A fresh start, built on the best of the old designs and on new work.

I'd also like to not be the one running it. I'm an engineer. I'm good at trucks. Someone who makes and sells apparel for a living would do this far better than I did, and the brand deserves that. So, as of October 2026, I'm looking for a partner: a company or a person who would license the Hamboards name and artwork and build a proper softgoods line around it.

I also want a new artist. Someone who can take inspiration from everything above and draw what Hamboards looks like for the next twenty years. We've spent two decades building surf-skate gear that very few companies can make, and the brand has always been something people aspire to. It needs a fresh eye and a professional hand. For the right designer, that is a rare opportunity. Hamboards has launched a designer's career before, and I'd like it to launch another.

That's part of why I'm writing this. I've carried Hamboards this far. I know there are younger people out there who would love to pick it up and carry it forward, and I want to find them.

If I can't find the right partner, I may bring back a small line myself.

So I have three requests.

If you ride a Hamboard, tell me what you'd wear. Which of these would you buy again? Which board graphic belongs on a shirt?

If you're an artist or designer, show me your work and tell me what you'd do with all of this.

If you work in apparel, or know someone who does, I'd like to talk. The name comes with a registered trademark, more than twenty years of history, more than 12,000 customers who have bought from us directly, and a library of artwork you've just seen a sample of. If someone comes to mind, please forward this to them.

Either way, write to me at customerservice@hamboards.com. If you got here from our newsletter, you can just reply to it.

Thanks for sticking with us while I had my head down in the workshop.

Don

Quick answers

Does Hamboards sell T-shirts or other apparel?

Not right now. Hamboards sold T-shirts and hats through its own store until 2022. As of October 2026 no apparel is in production, and we are working to bring it back.

Is Hamboards looking for an apparel licensee?

Yes. As of October 2026, Hamboards is looking for a company or person to license the Hamboards name and artwork for apparel and other soft goods. Write to customerservice@hamboards.com.

Is Hamboards looking for artists or designers?

Yes. We want a new artist to create the next generation of Hamboards designs. Send your work to customerservice@hamboards.com.

Who designed the Hamboards T-shirts and board graphics?

Jeremy Searcy drew nearly all of the T-shirt art. Peter Hamborg and Gus Hamborg designed the early board art with Pia Tinsley of The Lofte Creative, and Peter and Pia created the Hamboards logo. Ayden Stoefen, who now runs the apparel brand Stoefs, drew the later Burst, Paskowitz and Twisted Fin board graphics.

What were the most popular Hamboards T-shirts?

Ham Van was the best seller. Hand Crafted, Lean Back and Street Surfer were also among the most popular.