NEFF was started by Shaun Neff in Southern California in 2002. Growing up in California, being surrounded by skate, surf and snow culture, and being active in those sports, he always had the dream to be a part of the business side of the industry. Originally starting out as a clothing company, Neff made a couple shirts and hats and the adventure began. Shaun hustled the product out of his car, bought 99 cent headbands, marked Neff on them with paint pens, and then gave them to friends; the Neff vibe began. Shaun then moved up to Utah to attend college at BYU, where he met several key individuals in the industry.
The first and vital character to the NEFF story is Nate Bozung, who Shaun met at the TRUE LIFE video premier. Shaun and Boznutz would buy target beanies and headbands, give them the Neff touch, and then give them to the biggest, dopest pros in the snow industry. Chilling with Bozung and other pros such as: Travis Rice, IIkka Backstrom, Laurie Heiskari, and skaters Lizard King and Adam Dyet, he realized to get them to be a part of the program and not conflict with clothing sponsors, the company would have to focus on headwear. NEFF HEADWEAR was born being the first authentic core snow and skate headwear company in the game. That was the genius of our move at NEFF, and it has really allowed us to go global under a unique niche of headwear.