H/D?

You might be asking yourself, “Where does the ‘H/D’ come from?”. To answer that question, I am forced to give you a bit of a back story on how this unique brand came into existence, piece by piece.

I was born in South Africa and I’m now living in the wonderful town of Gordon’s Bay. My family has always been one to embrace the South African hunting-heritage. They love going to hunt with rifles, shooting Springbok, deer, and all sorts of wildlife (that is legal and humane). But I was NEVER one to embrace this. I always loved travelling along and enjoyed every moment I got to spend with my family. Although, I never touched a rifle when it came to shooting anything other small doves that poop all over the place. When I arrived back home after every trip, my best friend, Lawrence Letseka, would always call me, ‘Hunter’, when he saw me and spoke to me. Knowing what you do thus far, you can obviously see the strong irony in this, as I never considered myself a ‘hunter’ by definition. This was approximately around the year of 2011. So then one day, while Lawrence and I were in our church service on Sunday night (CRC Church. Absolutely phenomenal church, by the way), when a key message was being preached, ‘Never Have A Neutral Mindset and Attitude, Instead Have One of Constant Purified Mobility’. Then at that exact moment after the Pastor said that, Lawrence leaned over and said to me, “Thats why I call you, Hunter”.

In the year of 2008,  when I was 10 years old, my father bought me an over-sized black t-shirt with the words  ‘DIESEL’ printed on the front. I asked my father why he bought it in such large size(it was like I was wearing tent with sleeves), and then he replied, “so that you will grow into it one day and wear for a long time”. So (because I was a dull-minded and unappreciative) I did what any child would do at that age, I packed it into clothing cabinet and waited for the far future to arrive that would one day allow my body to look normal while wearing it. Until almost 2 months later that is…

My close friends came over one day, including my brother Lawrence, and they saw the  shirt peeking out of my cabinet, so they asked me, “Hey Ryan! why haven’t we ever seen you wear this shirt dude? it looks pretty cool.”, and I replied, ” It’s way too big! I’m waiting for the day when my body will fit the size of it”, which made Lawrence come up with an idea, “Hunter, since you don’t like this shirt, all of us are going to forcefully ask you to wear this shirt for exactly 1 full week, meaning you cannot take it off for any reason what-so-ever, even when you’re showering or practicing sports, deal?

Well, the rest is pretty self-explanatory. After the 7th day, Lawrence and my other friends associated the term “DIESEL”, as printed on the shirt, with ‘endurance and heart’.

Thus birthing H/D into existence.