We’ve been to Japan countless times, but our most recent trip was a special one. We took a trip out to Shikoku, the hometown of one our old friends Kohei Chiba, who’s a legendary surfboard shaper and the owner of 303 Surf. He graciously invited us into his shaping bay to watch him hand-shape a surfboard and to show us his process. A true master of his craft, Kohei has been shaping for over 30 years and it was evident in the way he fearlessly and effortlessly manipulated the foam blank.

We worked with Kohei to create a set of custom Saturdays NYC x 303 surfboards. Each board is marked with a simple hand-painted brushstroke as a nod to the beautiful hand-drawn type we see in Japan and also the simple iconography Saturdays NYC represents. In addition to the boards, we’ve partnered with 303 to create t-shirts exclusive to our stores in Japan.■