Hunter: Where Steel Meets Surf
There’s something about Newcastle that never leaves you. It’s a place built on contrast like the raw coastlines meeting weathered steel, surfers sharing the streets with students, and tradies clocking off from a shift as the sun dips behind the headland. Hunter, named after the city’s main street, is a tribute to that duality: the natural beauty of the ocean and the industrial heart that gave the city its backbone.
I spent time here in my University years, long before Smithers existed, but Newcastle always stuck with me. The salt air carried grit as much as it did freedom. You’d walk past old earthquake-hit buildings one minute, and be standing barefoot on the beach the next. It goes to show that beauty and labour can coexist, that hard edges often shape the most memorable places.
Hunter captures that feeling in fabric form. The steel-grey base reflects the city’s industrial roots, the remnants of its blue-collar heritage, the cranes still guarding the skyline. Subtle pinpoints of detailing cut through the design like glimmers of light across Merewether beach, a nod to the ocean that defines Newcastle’s identity. Together, they form a pattern that’s understated but strong, built to depict the spirit of the people who call this city home - the Novocastrians!
Hunter is a mood. It’s that quiet resilience, the kind that doesn’t ask for attention, but earns it through presence. Like all those years showing up and chipping away at an undergraduate degree, whilst at the same time training for triathlons with 5am starts after a closing shift at the pub the night before.
It’s the confidence of a city that’s reinvented itself without ever losing touch with where it came from. You see, Newcastle carries the soul of a big country town. Many rural and regional kids land here after school and its these younger adult years where you're beginning to understand how the world works and the role you play in it. You never forget your origins, but you do get a chance to recreate your identity, just like the city itself after the earthquakes in the 80s and the closure of the BHP steelworks in the late 90s.
Every pair of Smithers tells a story, and Hunter tells one of balance: steel and surf, effort and ease, work and weekend. It’s an ode to a place that shaped not just the landscape, but the way I see design, masculinity, and what it means to create something that lasts.
So when you pull on a pair of the Hunter Smithers, you’re wearing a piece of Newcastle’s spirit. Salt, steel, and something deeply familiar.
