When we look back at our moments that shaped who we are today, our trip to Portugal with Kelly Slater and Todd Glaser stands out as a defining one.

This trip set the standard for what we mean when we challenge ourselves to go The Furthest Reaches. Kelly landed surfing’s first 540. At the same time, we had early iterations of product in hand—testing, wearing, and collecting real-time feedback to push them further.

Surfing's first 540, landed by Kelly Slater. The whole world was watching.

A memorable session at The Cave, a slab that is one of the heaviest waves in Ericeira. Shot by our friend, Todd Glaser, who's been capturing our journey with us since the early days.

"It was finals day of the Portugal contest, Kelly had gotten knocked out in his heat the day before. When we arrived to the Cave, it was low tide, big and scary.  Before paddling out Kelly called a few friends to come join, but they were all at the contest.  Kelly paddled out by himself while I swam out to shoot and what transpired after was an afternoon of some of the most perfect and scary slab waves we'd ever seen.  Kelly surfed fearlessly over the shallow reef while I swam in the channel documenting it all go down.  Eventually a few friends paddled out later in the afternoon, they surfed until dark.  The Cave session was the end of a 3 day surf and swell bender. He landed the first 540 then we surfed the left the following day then this session at the Cave!" – Todd Glaser

A warm welcome.

European surf fandom runs deep.

“The day before The Cave session we surfed one of the best sandbar waves we'd ever seen. A perfect 6-8 foot left that reminded us of Cloudbreak, with nobody around for 4 hours.” – Todd Glaser

What it's all about.

Todd shot this session on a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV using an 11mm lens. He shot this photo at f/8 and 1/1600.

The man behind the lens (now in front). Todd Glaser's been shooting surf for decades, and has been traveling with Kelly for nearly as long.

Gotta pay your dues.

"Kelly took a big leap in leaving his former partnership after so many years to start his own brand with like minded designer and creative John Moore. Everything was very fresh and new at the time. John was spending countless hours with his team developing the look, feel and ethos of the brand while Kelly was testing out the product and giving real time feedback to John through his experiences as he surfed on the world tour and chased wave in between heats. The goal was to create a functional line that you could have a single piece be multi-functional while being transparent in the process from development to body. We flew to the factories, met the workers, tried to understand the culture in which the clothes were being made in as well as getting to know the team from the ground up. It was always their intention from my point of view to create a quality product that fits well, has a timeless aesthetic, lasts a long time, and sustainably made." – Todd Glaser

Get out there and find yours. #FindYourOuterknown