2006. A self-crocheted beanie. A few friends who wanted one too. And absolutely no plan as to what would ever come of it.
Twenty years later, hä? HAE has emerged. The beanies are no longer quite so slouchy, the products are more technically sophisticated, and the collections are more well-thought-out. The snowboarders from back then have since become fathers. Much has changed. But certain things have remained surprisingly the same.
For our 20th anniversary, we, Mat and Sebi, sat down with a beer and simply interviewed each other. Beforehand, we each put together a few questions without knowing what the other would ask. Then the questions were put on the table.
We were curious ourselves whether we actually remembered the last twenty years in the same way. After all, we’ve experienced quite a bit together. And as it turned out, even as brothers, you see some things quite differently.
In any case, some old stories came to light again. About the first self-crocheted beanies, rather questionable product ideas, our snowboard crew, and those moments where we didn't know if HAE would even exist the following winter.
And about why we still love making beanies like crazy after twenty years.
The hä? beanies of the early years in all sorts of colors.
Mat, do you still remember the very first HAE beanie?
Mat: Not every detail anymore. But I do remember those huge, long beanies from back then. My first hand-crocheted beanie, for example, had this specially dyed yarn with camouflage patterns and pretty wild color combinations.
Originally, it was just about having a beanie at all that would fit over my dreadlocks. So, I crocheted one for myself. After that, you wanted one too, and then other friends followed...
The first "real" hä? products were pretty simple. We crocheted and sewed them ourselves, printed and cut labels, and experimented with all sorts of things.
Sebi: Yeah, the tarpaulin logos! (laughs) We’d just get meter-long rolls delivered, small hä? logos printed on tarpaulin, and we’d cut them out and sew them on by hand... Those were the days.
Mat: Absolutely. Until the friction eventually made the whole print peel off.
That we would still be making beanies twenty years later? No. I honestly didn't think about that for a second.
One of many crew movies from the early days of HAE. At the beginning, you can still see Mat with dreads.
When did we first realize that HAE had become more than just a project among friends?
Mat: There were several such moments. One was definitely the first online shop, which I programmed myself back then.
It was a very simple HTML page with a few hyperlinks. It didn't have much to do with an online shop today. At some point, I checked my emails. Back then, you did that once a week and not every hour, and suddenly there were actual orders. From Zurich!
That was pretty special. We hadn't actually expected anyone to find hä? at all and order something through our website.
Eventually, there were so many orders that I could hardly keep up with production. I was still doing my Matura at the time. One evening, I had thirty or forty headbands left that I had to crochet all by myself.
Our mother saw that and said this couldn't go on like this. So she started helping out.
Sebi: I remember my university days especially. We took the first step into Europe. Shipping directly out of Switzerland with customs, shipping costs, etc., was all too complicated and led to many problems the year before. So, we just thought pragmatically again. Meaning, we rented a room in Weil am Rhein and parked a few products there.
I would then take the train to Germany twice a week between university classes, study or work on the way, and ship the packages over there. After that, it was back to Bern by train.
That was quite a lot of effort. You sit at university, study business administration, and drive to Germany in the afternoon to ship beanies, and on top of that, we still had our film and photo projects for snowboarding and wanted to be in the mountains as much as possible.
But somehow it worked. And at some point, it was clear that our hobby could slowly turn into something bigger. Eventually, the moment came when we looked each other in the eyes and said, come on, let's try it, we want to make a living from this.
HAE has certainly grown a bit, but one thing has never changed: HAE still consists of a group of friends who share a passion for the mountains together.
Looking back, what was your dumbest idea?
Mat: The Baywatch swim trunks! (laughs)
Sebi: Oh yes. Those were pretty special.
Mat: We thought back then: If we can sell beanies in winter, we can just as well sell swim trunks and tank tops in summer.
We had these Baywatch-style swim trunks and were convinced they would be a smash hit.
They weren't.
Sebi: We tried it for a few summers. But eventually, we had to realize that a functioning winter business doesn't automatically mean a functioning summer business. The shops didn't have any budget left for our trunks, shirts, and tank tops and said we should stick to what we’re good at. Eventually, we realized it too (laughs).
But I don't think that was stupid. We just tried a lot of things. Some worked, others didn't at all. But you have to keep trying new things. Nowadays, we just think it through a bit more instead of just doing it.
Mitschgi posing as Mitch Buchannon for the Baywatch swim trunks.
What does snowboarding have to do with the creation of HAE?
Sebi: Basically everything. We grew up with snowboarding. We were constantly on the move, looking for new spots, building backcountry kickers, and shoveling for hours before we could even start riding.
You learn to read the terrain, recognize opportunities, and try things out. And, of course, you fall on your face over and over again, get injured, and make the best of it.
Then you get up, look at what didn't work, and try again.
I believe this attitude was already quite pronounced in us as children. Our parents always encouraged us. And at HAE, we basically did exactly the same thing. We fell on our faces often enough. But somehow, we always found a way to keep going.
Mat: Snowboarding also taught us to take things into our own hands. We organized our trips, drove to contests, built spots, and implemented film and photo projects together with friends.
This independent and creative side certainly left a strong mark on HAE.
Sebi: And without our friends and the snowboard scene, HAE would definitely not be where we are today.
Mat: One hundred percent. We were well-connected in the scene. We knew many people personally, others through mutual friends. That's how our beanies got around quite quickly. They could also be seen in snowboard magazines time and again.
That was enormously important back then.
The cover on the left with a big "hä?" on the neck warmer or reports like the one on the right made HAE more well-known.
Sebi: I mean, Heikki Sorsa, Frederik Kalbermatten, or Nicolas Müller rode with our stuff. Those are huge names in the snowboard scene, all of them our idols.
That people like that wore our beanies was pretty incredible. And that only happened because we were connected to each other through friends and friends of friends.
Without those people, HAE would never have gotten the same attention. We didn't have any investors behind us; we started with 50 CHF and put everything back in.
Three very important companions: Silvano, Levi, and Seili helped us immensely over the years. Be it with visuals, product ideas, or just testing the items properly.
Mat: Exactly. It wasn't a sophisticated marketing strategy. We just had good friends and were part of that scene ourselves. Influencer marketing, so to speak, before it even existed.
And that is still important today. Many of our team riders are good friends. They bring ideas, test our products out in the field, and help us develop them further. A big thank you here to everyone who has helped us over the last 20 years, especially Levi, Silvi, and Seili, who unfortunately died in an avalanche accident, but did an incredible amount for us.
The second webisode from hä? many, many years ago. As often, we were in the park in California at the end of the season.
When you think back on the last 20 years: Which day with the crew has stayed in your memory the most?
Mat: We had so incredibly many good moments with many great people. The springs in California were always awesome. 10-15 people out in the park together, just snowboarding. Or the powder days in Japan or being chased through the woods by wild dogs in Turkey. We’ve experienced so much.
Sebi: I can't pick just one day either. The dice trip for the Snowboarder MBM was super funny with Seili, Silvi, and you, Mat. The story for the magazine was that we roll a die for the distance and direction and drive there in the crappiest bus ever and try to take photos for the magazine. Seili organized the bus through K2, and optimistic as always, he thought it was great for driving across Europe for 10 days. He didn't mention that it was the promo bus and it really only had a bar inside. Plus, the gas valve was broken, and we just moved across the Alps for 10 days without heating in wet boots. It was such an awesome trip. Or many years later our shared trip to Alaska with Ändu, Schüli, Tissi, and Knicke. That was also really great, but also the seasons in Les Crosets, the banked slaloms in Bellwald, the powder days in what was then still empty Rothwald, or the summers in Saas-Fee were so nice. Impossible to pick out one thing.
The Home Run in Bellwald was the highlight for many at the end of the season.
Was there a moment when you really thought: This is it for HAE?
Mat: Yes. When Corona broke out in March 2020.
We were in the middle of planning and production for the upcoming winter. And suddenly the ski resorts were closed. No one knew if shops would open again in the autumn or how long the crisis would last.
Our retailers started canceling pre-orders for the upcoming winter shortly before the deadline at the end of March. Within a very short time, our entire plan was invalid.
That was probably the first moment where I really didn't know how things would continue with HAE.
Sebi: That happened incredibly fast. You're out snowboarding with colleagues, and a few days later, everything suddenly comes to a standstill. I also became a father for the first time a week after lockdown, and not knowing what would happen professionally at the same time was very challenging. A huge roller coaster of emotions.
We had planned a complete winter collection. Then came the cancellations, and we had to see with our manufacturer what was even still possible.
Fortunately, he fired up the machines again despite the much smaller quantities. He was also struggling with many cancellations himself. So, at least we were able to produce a small collection.
But that would never have been enough economically to survive another year and pay our salaries.
Then we had the idea for the Covid neck warmers.
Mat: That was actually typical for us again.
Sebi: Yes. (laughs) If I remember correctly, masks became mandatory on public transport in May. We thought: If there is a mask mandate in the coming winter, it would be much more practical to have a neck warmer with an integrated filter function.
So we started to develop such a product.
That was incredibly complex. We had to find suitable materials, develop the filter function, and have everything tested. We worked with five independent laboratories. But because of the lockdown, we couldn't visit the production site ourselves and had to manage everything from afar.
At the same time, international logistics were practically paralyzed. Hardly any planes were flying, and no one knew how the situation would develop.
We took quite a risk with the product.
Mat: But in the end, it worked.
A photo from 2010, where Mat bought the fleece for the neck warmers locally here in Visp and sewed them himself. Now we produce the neck warmers in Europe.
Sebi: And how! Zermatt then picked up our neck warmers. At a media event, the person in charge held our neck warmer in front of the cameras and explained that you could use the mountain railways with it.
Suddenly, we had incredibly many visitors on our website, and orders went through the roof.
These neck warmers practically saved HAE back then.
Mat: And all that only because we had an idea once again and simply started working on it.
Sebi: Yes. Although this time, we were quite glad that it worked. (laughs)
The founders of HAE Sebastian and Matthias Bumann 2014
What have we argued about most often in twenty years?
Mat: Designs. Definitely.
Sebi: Especially about shirts.
Mat: Yeah, there are always discussions about that. One person thinks a design is great, the other not at all.
Sebi: Although we rarely actually argue. We’re just completely different in many ways.
I think that is exactly one of our greatest strengths. We respect each other's opinions and listen to one another. It’s not about one person having to push through their idea at all costs.
Mat: Sebi always wants to get the last twenty percent out of many things. I sometimes find that something is good much sooner.
Sebi: Yeah, that’s true. Mat would often decide much faster and just keep going.
And then I come back with: "Hey, let's work on this for five more minutes. I think we can make it even better."
I’m convinced that these final details in particular make a big difference in the long run. But of course, at some point you have to make a decision. And then it’s good that Mat sometimes just says: That’s it.
Mat: Otherwise, we’d probably still be working on our first collection today. (laughs)
Sebi: Probably. But I do feel that our creative ideas combined often reach a completely different level.
And when it comes to finance and administration, I’m glad that Mat has the overview anyway.
I think if there were two Sebis or two Mats, we would have run HAE into the ground a long time ago.
Mat back then with Silvano at freestyle.ch in Zurich. We each had a stand with free white wine. You can well imagine how that went.
Our team rider and back then still a rookie, Luca Schuler, unexpectedly won freestyle.ch and was busy signing autographs at our stand.
What has completely changed in twenty years and what has stayed the same?
Sebi: Almost everything surrounding it has changed. Back then, we programmed a simple online shop, printed a few stickers, and sold our products through friends.
Today, e-commerce is a huge, complex business. Our products have also evolved significantly.
We used to produce whatever we thought was cool at the moment. Today, we think much more consciously about what defines HAE and whether a product fits our brand in the long term.
Otherwise, we’d probably still be producing Baywatch swim trunks. (laughs)
Not the very first online shop that Mat programmed, but certainly one of the first. The hand-crocheted headbands have changed in terms of color, but are still crocheted right here in Valais.
Mat: The rebranding a few years ago was therefore an important step. We started positioning our brand more clearly and focusing more strongly on what we are really good at.
We used to just do whatever we felt like. Today, we follow a clearer direction. But we still want to try out new things, of course. One doesn’t exclude the other.
Sebi: Another important step back then was shifting part of our production from Switzerland to Europe.
In the beginning, we did almost everything ourselves. Later, our mother, our aunts, and other people helped out. But at some point, it just became too much.
The majority of our products are manufactured by Mateusz (right) and his family in Poland. We visit them every year and see everything on site.
When we decided that we wanted to make a living from HAE, we had to professionalize the production.
In Switzerland, it would have been economically almost impossible for us to continue producing larger quantities entirely by hand.
With European production, we suddenly had access to other machines, materials, and possibilities. Today, we can develop technical products that function at minus twenty degrees, dry quickly, or fit comfortably under a helmet.
The love for powder snow hasn't changed and likely never will. Sebi on the glacier in Saas-Fee.
Mat: At the same time, we still do certain things by hand in our workshop in Valais. That’s just part of who we are, and just sitting in front of a screen all day wouldn't be for me.
And we still make products that we like to wear ourselves. That hasn't changed in twenty years.
Sebi: Exactly. We have become more professional over the years. But we want to remain independent, try things out, and develop products that we truly stand behind.
We started with about fifty francs back then. Everything we earned went back into HAE.
With investors, we probably could have grown much faster. But would we still have had just as much fun? I doubt it.
Which moments from the last twenty years are we particularly proud of?
Sebi: I still remember the first times I saw someone somewhere wearing an HAE—or back then, hä?—beanie that I didn't know at all.
That was an incredible feeling. Suddenly, someone you don’t know walks past you wearing a beanie that we made ourselves.
And that is still exactly the same today.
When I’m up at Rothwald, it’s just snowed fresh, and suddenly someone rides past me with an HAE neck warmer, I still think that’s pretty cool.
This also made us proud: Seeing one of our absolute heroes, Frederik Kalbermatten, with our products.
Mat: Something funny happened to me recently.
I was wearing an HAE beanie that we were just developing. A prototype that wasn't supposed to go on sale until much later.
Someone approached me and said: "Hey, what kind of cool HAE beanie is that? I’ve been buying HAE things for years, but I’ve never seen that one."
I was a bit surprised at first, and then realized I was wearing a prototype and explained it as such.
He naturally wanted to know where I got it from.
So I told him that I make the beanies myself. (laughs)
Sebi: What also makes me particularly happy are the stories from people who have been wearing our products for years.
Mat: Yes, just last week someone wrote to us again, saying they have been wearing their HAE beanie every winter for fifteen years.
Some people send us photos of ancient models and ask if we still have that exact beanie.
Usually, those haven't been available for a long time. But we are just mega happy when someone gets long-lasting joy out of a product from us.
Sebi: But the fact that someone wears a beanie for fifteen years and then asks us about it again is actually the greatest compliment.
You can tell that these things are more to people than just some beanie. Even when they add that they’ve experienced a lot of things with the beanie and have lost it or want another one exactly like it.
And what would you like to see if we sit down for this interview again in 2046?
Mat: Shit, then we’ll be retired, right? (laughs)
Sebi: Hopefully early retired, at least!
And hopefully we’ll still be standing up at Rothwald with the same colleagues.
Mat: That would actually be pretty cool. Fresh powder, good friends, a few nice turns.
Sebi: And hopefully still a good beanie on our heads.
Whiteout Magazine did an issue back then about brothers in the snowboard scene. We portrayed ourselves as arguing brothers who, however, always laugh and have a beer together afterward.
Twenty Years in the Making.
HAE was founded in 2006. What started with a self-crocheted beanie for a snowboarder with dreadlocks developed into an independent Swiss brand for beanies, headbands, and neck warmers.
Our roots are in Valais and the snowboard culture of the Swiss Alps. In a time when we traveled through Europe with friends, rode contests, built backcountry kickers, and implemented our own ideas.
Snowboarding, freestyle, and freeride have defined HAE from the beginning. Not just as sports—for us, snowboarding was never really a "sport"—but as a way of approaching things. Trying something out. Doing it yourself. Failing. Trying again. And being able to rely on the people you are with.
This attitude has accompanied us through the last twenty years. From the first hand-crocheted beanies to our own workshop in Visp and the current collections that we develop together with our friends, team riders, and production partners in Switzerland and Europe.
Today, our world has become broader. Along with snowboarding and freeriding, ski touring, climbing, mountaineering, and life in the Alps are now part of it. We don’t just want to sell beanies. We want to bring people that feeling you only get in the Alps. That feeling for adventure in the mountains. Our products should accompany you, and one day you might have a favorite beanie that reminds you of many adventures and beautiful moments out there.
When we look back on the last twenty years, we naturally think of all the beanies, collections, events, and projects we’ve done.
But we remember the people and the days we experienced together most strongly.
Of the snowboard trips that didn't always go according to plan. Of friends who helped out. Of hours of experimenting, of quite bad ideas, and of the feeling of suddenly discovering one of our beanies somewhere in the mountains.
HAE would never have become what it is today without all these people.
And perhaps that is exactly the most beautiful part of these twenty years.
That we are still out and about with people with whom it all started back then. That we are still trying out ideas. And that we still prefer being outside to talking about it for a long time.
For our 20th anniversary, we are therefore bringing back a few old designs and our original hä? logo. A small homage to the beginnings of HAE, to our snowboard roots, and to the people who have accompanied us over all these years.
Not because everything was better in the past.
But because much of what we had then still accompanies us today.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of this over these twenty years.
Here’s to the next powder days, the next bad (but also good) ideas, and hopefully still quite a few adventures together.
THE BEST DAYS ARE HANDMADE.
Mat & Sebi
