The talent behind the sewing machine at Kanvas by Katin for decades, Hughes was an unlikely matriarch in a blossoming surf industry.
In 1961, Walter Katin hired a young Japanese immigrant named Sato Hughes to help him meet the demand for his emerging boardshort company, Kanvas by Katin. Having only moved to America six months prior, Hughes had been applying her sewing skills at a dry-cleaning shop in Seal Beach when fate intervened. She’d spend most of the next 70 years of her life making durable, trustworthy boardshorts and running the company. And after a life well live, Hughes quietly passed away over the weekend at the age of 95.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Katin‘s very first seamstress, Sato Hughes,” on Katin’s Instagram account. “She leaves behind a legacy of hard work, creativity, and community spirit that helped revolutionized the surf industry. Beyond her contributions to surf culture, Sato was a cherished mother to her son, Glenn and daughter-in-law Kim, and adored grandmother to Marshall. Her handmade trunks and beautiful spirit, will continue to be celebrated by the surfing community and fans alike. Rest in peace Sato.”
Kanvas By Katin
Born in Kawasaki, Japan, in 1928, Hughes moved to Southern California in the early 1960s, where she quickly found work hemming and tailoring clothes at the dry-cleaning shop in the surf hamlet that is Seal Beach. Walter and Nancy Katin, who’d created their first pair of boardshorts in nearby Surfside in 1957, were regulars at the dry-cleaning shop and eventually offered Hughes a job in 1961. Perhaps better than any other person at the time, Hughes understood what was required to make long-lasting, tough-as-nails trunks and almost immediately developed a loyal following of surfers around the world, including the day’s top surf stars such as Shaun Tomson, Peter Townsend, Reno Abillero, Gerry Lopez and Eddie Aikau.
Walter Katin passed away in 1967, leaving his wife, Nancy, and Hughes to helm the business. In the early ‘80s, Katin was suffering from health issues and told Hughes that she was going to bequeath the business to her.
“I said, ‘No, no, no,’ ” Hughes told Orange Coast Magazine when she turned 90 in 2018. “‘I’m sorry, I can’t do all this. I don’t want it.’ And Nancy said, ‘I never met anybody who works so good, so fast. I want to give it to you.’ And once again I said, ‘No! No! I can’t speak enough English. I can’t speak good to the customers.’”
Katin passed away in 1986, and like it or not, she left the business to Hughes. Bringing her son, Glenn, onboard to help, in that first year in charge the sales at Katin grew an eye-popping 25 percent.
“We call her the Machine,” Glenn joked in 2018.
“What am I supposed to do, stay home and watch TV? I was born to work,” replied Hughes.
The outpouring of love and remembrances for Hughes has reverberated around the surf world since news of her passing broke.
“The Godmother of Surfwear – Sato Hughes. Sato was kind and always gracious. The last pair of custom trunks she made me have a white side pocket which I asked her to sign for me. She signed her name in English and in Japanese Kanji characters. I will forever cherish them,” shared Benji Severson of Severson Designs.
The crew at SURFER sends their deeps condolences to the Hughes and Katin families at this time.
Related: Surf World Says Good-Bye To Walter Hoffman, the Fabric of Surf Culture