DHD Just Dropped Their 40-Year Anniversary, 90s-Core Collection

“There were some days we’d go down to Kirra, and nearly everyone running around the point had one of my boards. I was like, ‘Wow, how good does this feel?’ I was king of the point, and I was king of the nightclubs too.”

The ’90s have been on the fashion pallet for some time now, and everyone’s scraping the foil for one last hit. In that era, few things signalled your place in the pecking order like a pencilled-out DH banana under your arm, paired with a black hoodie bearing the old DHD logo that could just as easily pass as a lower back tattoo for a Gold Coast enforcer.

Now, as luck would have it, you can get your hands on both. 

DH has just ticked over four decades in the shaping bay, and he’s feeling reflective. Not quite sentimental, but close enough to make something of it. Per the presser:

“To celebrate his 40yrs in the shaping bay, DHD are turning the volume up to deliver 40 hand-shaped surfboards straight outta ’93 — longer lines, psycho rocker, and stubborn glass-on fins. Each one’s numbered, signed, and begging to be taken for a dawny that ends in a dingy car-park sing-along.”

The Hits

• 40/40 Boards – single-session masterpieces from DH’s own hands; no CNC, no shortcuts, just raw rail-line magic.
• Skull & Tribal Threads – tees, hoods, and caps sporting Darren’s OG logos from the era when flannel, waxed hair, and VHS surf vids ruled.
• Faded Bone & Black Wash – colours ripped from sun-blasted tailpads and beer-soaked band tees. 

“That was my peak,” DH says of the 90s. “I was surfing all day, partying all night, taking orders at 2am at the bar, then getting up at 6, shaping them, then surfing the rest of the day.”

The vid above features his two most decorated disciples, Steph and Mick, swapping stories from the old days. There’s some gold in there — a few sharp insights, plus a montage that cuts between present-day Steph and Mick on anniversary boards, and their 90s selves doing the same.

“Plenty of people I watch on tour, I think, ‘If they just jumped on a longer board, it’d fix a lot of their kinks,’” says Steph.

Shop the 40-year anniversary collection here.