Hang Ten founder Duke Boyd was born in Kansas City in 1934 and began surfing at age 12 in Waikiki. In 1960 Boyd asked seamstress Doris Boeck to stitch together a durable pair of surf trunks he designed. The first-ever "board-shorts" to be capable of withstanding the rigors of surfing were an instant success with surfers and beach-goers along the California coast and the Hang Ten brand was born. For the next decade, the company's trademark horizontal stripes and personality-filled ad campaign took the surf world by storm. Boyd sold Hang Ten in 1970 and later played a roll in the success of Lightning Bolt.1  
 
  Surfing, Jack London remarked, is "a royal sport for the natural kings of earth." The greatest of those natural kings grant readers an audience in this glorious celebration of the world’s best surfers. Part exquisite picture book and travelogue to the top of the world, part biography and reference guidebook, Legends of Surfing profiles one hundred great surfers, men and women, from throughout the world. In life stories, and in exclusive interviews—which only the surfing icon Duke Boyd could have pulled off—stellar surfers such as Wayne Bartholomew, Tom Curren, Andy and Bruce Irons, Duke Kahanamoku, Dave Kalama, Gerry Lopez, Rob Machado, Mark Occhilupo, and Kelly Slater give us a rare firsthand look at what it’s like, in this crowded world, to
"seek and find the perfect day, the perfect wave, and be alone with the surf and his thoughts."

(John Severson, Surfer magazine, 1960)2
 

 
What was surf culture like in the early 1960s? We speak to Duke Boyd, founder of the iconic surf clothing brand, Hang Ten. Boyd recounts where the idea for Hang Ten came from, and looks back on his contribution to the $30 billion surf industry.3
Listen to the KPBS interview
 
 
1 http://www.surf.transworld.net, Ryan Brower, July 15, 2009
2 http://www.surfmuseum.org, December, 2009
3 http://www.kpbs.org/news, Maureen Cavanaugh and Hank Cook, September 30, 2009
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