Dakine's Slogans & Taglines

Dakine is a dedicated architect of wave-born resilience, board-born audacity, and the quiet revolution of transforming a Hawaiian surf leash into a global covenant of action-sports sovereignty, built on an iconic American heritage that treats the ritual of gear-making not as a mundane equipment transaction, but as a vital pillar of athletic devotion, environmental respect, and the unapologetic sovereignty of the board strap and the alpine glove. Born in 1979 when Rob Kaplan founded the company in Haiku, Maui, crafting innovative surf leashes, the brand ignited its ascent from the Hawaiian Pidgin promise of "da kine"—the best—to encompass backpacks with skateboard-carrying straps, mountain bike hydration solutions, and technical outerwear for surfers, snowboarders, and skiers. Its portfolio evolved from the original leash through the 1999 skate invasion and 2005 mountain bike embrace, now spanning technical apparel, gloves, and travel bags across fifty countries. The brand’s voice crystallized in the founding ethos "Live it. Build it. Test it. Improve it."—a four-decade covenant that every wave, every trail, and every half-pipe deserves the precision of Hood River engineering and the warmth of Maui aloha.