11 Brands Like HippyTree for Surf and Climb Apparel
You want a second HippyTree flannel and the one you had your eye on sold out in June. That's the trade with a small Hermosa Beach label. The catalogue stays tight, and a sold-out print doesn't come back.
HippyTree (often searched as Hippie Tree) started in 2004 and calls itself the original "Surf & Stone" apparel company, with prices running from $24 for a hat to $135 for the Wrightwood Jacket. The 11 brands below work the same ocean-and-granite seam. We checked live stock and full prices on each one, so nothing here quotes a markdown as if it were the real number.
| Brand | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Vissla | $60 to $85 on boardshorts | Trunks with recycled content stated on the page |
| Katin | $33 to $75 on apparel | Californian surf tees and hats |
| Pact | Mid-range | Plain organic cotton under the graphics |
| Kuyichi | €129.95 to €139.95 on men's jeans | Denim built on organic cotton |
| Tentree | $40 to $108 on menswear | Overshirts and hoodies for cool mornings |
| Patagonia | Premium | Repairs and a resale route for worn kit |
| Outerknown | $98 to $168 on woven shirts | A surf shirt you'd wear to dinner |
| Salty Crew | $29.95 to $69.95 on menswear | Cheap graphic tees and sun shirts |
| Cotopaxi | $35 to $115 on apparel | Bright fleece for the mountain half |
| prAna | Mid-range | Climbing trousers and chalk bags |
| Toad&Co | $45 to $65 on men's knits | Soft everyday crews |
Vissla
Vissla is the closest match on this list to HippyTree, a Southern Californian surf label whose boardshorts run $60 to $85 and carry material claims printed on the product page rather than buried in a report. Its Ecolastic trunks start at $60 and use what Vissla describes as upcycled coconut-husk polyester alongside Repreve recycled content, which it puts at five to seven plastic bottles per pair. The water repellency is PFC-free by the brand's own account.
Where HippyTree splits its attention between surf and rock, Vissla stays in the water. You get more trunk lengths, from a 16.5-inch Breakers at $60 up to a 21-inch Long Sets at $65, and a graphic language that runs stranger and more psychedelic than HippyTree's woodblock look.
Best for: replacing a HippyTree trunk without dropping the eco angle.
Katin
Katin makes surf apparel out of Southern California with graphic tees at $35, hats at $33 and trunks at $75, and it's the healthiest shop we checked, with 338 of its 340 products holding stock. The Fade Surf Trunk ($75) and the Alan Shirt ($75) sit right where HippyTree's Chiapas Trunk ($68) and Bombora Woven ($65) live.
The difference is age of reference. Katin leans on a vintage trunk-shop aesthetic, all worn lettering and faded dyes, while HippyTree draws on mountain iconography. Katin also runs volleys at $65 and a deep bench of trucker hats, so it's the better pick if headwear is what keeps selling out on you.
Best for: laid-back surf graphics with stock still on the shelf.
Pact
Pact sells organic cotton basics in the mid-range, and it's the brand to reach for when you want the blank version of what HippyTree prints on. Its men's apparel range covers tees, sweats and underwear with no graphics competing for attention.
Pact's site renders its catalogue through scripts we couldn't read reliably, so we're quoting its price tier rather than inventing figures. The positioning is clear enough without them. Pact builds around organic cotton and plain colour, where HippyTree builds around artwork, and the two work better together than in competition.
Think of it as the base layer to HippyTree's outer one. A HippyTree graphic tee costs $30 and you'll wear it when you want to be read as a surfer. Pact's blanks go under a flannel on a cold morning and draw no comment at all, which is the point. It's also the one brand here whose range extends past outerwear into socks and underwear, so a single order can cover the parts of the wardrobe a surf label ignores.
Best for: undyed, ungraphic cotton in bulk.
Kuyichi
Kuyichi is a Dutch denim label with men's jeans at €129.95 to €139.95, built on organic cotton. Prices show in euros because the shop is European, so a US reader should expect conversion and shipping on top.
HippyTree stops at the Sierra Pant ($90) and a handful of chinos. Kuyichi goes further into hard-wearing bottoms, with the Larry Loose Rinse at €129.95 and the Darren Corduroy Chino at €139.95 in cuts that take the same abuse a climbing trouser does. Shorts start lower, around €109.95 for the Tyler Linen Short.
The styling is flatter and more European, without the surf artwork. Kuyichi's men's range runs across jeans, knitwear, shirts and jackets, so it can cover a whole outfit, but the graphics that make a HippyTree tee recognisable across a car park aren't part of the vocabulary. Buy it for the trousers, not the personality.
Best for: the denim half of the wardrobe HippyTree doesn't cover.
Tentree
Tentree runs menswear from $40 to $108 and plants ten trees per item sold, which is the claim it's named for. The Quilted Colville Overshirt ($108) does the same job as HippyTree's Rialto Eco Flannel ($78) with a padded lining, and the Astir Longsleeve ($68) covers the cool-morning layer.
Tentree's men's range is broader and blander than HippyTree's. Colours run through heathers and muted earth tones with light branding, so it reads outdoorsy without announcing a subculture. That's useful if you like HippyTree's fabrics but work somewhere a screaming graphic doesn't land.
Best for: quiet outdoor layers with a stated tree-planting count.
Patagonia
Patagonia is the premium end of this list and the one brand here with a repair service and a resale channel for worn kit, which changes the maths on a jacket you plan to keep for a decade. Its climbing heritage overlaps directly with HippyTree's stone half.
Two things to know before you click. Patagonia's technical outerwear costs multiples of HippyTree's $135 Wrightwood Jacket, and the site redirects by region, so the currency you see depends on where you're browsing from. Check the flag in the corner before you read a number as dollars.
On aesthetics the two brands part company. HippyTree draws mountains and prints them on cotton. Patagonia builds for the mountain and lets the logo do the talking, which means fewer graphics and more shell fabrics, harnesses-compatible cuts and hoods sized for helmets. If what you love about HippyTree is the artwork, this is the wrong shelf. If what you love is the El Cap reference behind the artwork, it's the right one.
Best for: buying once and having it repaired instead of replaced.
Outerknown
Outerknown is the dressed-up version of a surf shirt, with woven shirts running $98 to $168 at full price. The Blanket Shirt ($168) is the piece the brand is known for, and the short-sleeve Artist Oxford at $98 is the cheapest way into the range.
Kelly Slater co-founded the label, and it sells his APEX trunks alongside the shirting. Against HippyTree, the gap is finish and cost. A HippyTree flannel is $78 and looks like a flannel. An Outerknown Blanket Shirt is $168 and passes as a jacket. Worth knowing: much of the men's collection sits under sale tags at any given moment, so check the compare-at price before you judge the value.
Best for: a surf-rooted shirt you'd wear out to dinner.
Salty Crew
Salty Crew is the cheapest way onto this list, with men's tees at $29.95 to $32.95 and the range topping out around $69.95 for fleece. The Apex Perforated Sunshirt ($64.95) and the Lurking Fleece ($69.95) are the two pieces doing real work in its men's range.
The imagery is fishing and ocean-life rather than HippyTree's surf-and-summit split, so the graphics skew toward sharks and tackle. If you liked HippyTree's More Trees Hat ($24), Salty Crew's Sealine Retro Trucker at $34.95 is the same idea a few dollars up. Its catalogue runs past 1,200 products, which is roughly ten times the depth HippyTree carries, so the odds of a print selling out from under you drop sharply.
One practical note on the domain. The shop lives at salty-crew.com with the hyphen, and the unhyphenated address redirects there, so a bookmark saved from an old article may look broken when it isn't.
Best for: stocking up on graphic tees under $35.
Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi covers the mountain half of HippyTree's remit with apparel from $35 to $115. The Encima Fleece Pullover ($95) and the Tempa Fleece Half-Zip ($115) are the warm layers, and the Llama Icon T-Shirt ($35) is the entry point.
Colour is the dividing line. HippyTree works in olive, bone and washed navy. Cotopaxi's men's range uses colour-blocking loud enough to spot across a car park, which people either want or firmly don't. Its 5-panel hats at $40 are close cousins of HippyTree's, priced a little higher.
Best for: fleece and packs when you want to be seen on the trail.
prAna
prAna is the mid-range brand that takes the climbing side of HippyTree seriously, running dedicated climbing and hiking collections plus chalk bags in its men's range. Nothing else on this list stocks the gear that goes with the trousers.
Its catalogue loads through scripts we couldn't read cleanly, so we're giving the tier rather than a made-up figure. What's visible is the shape of the range: bottoms built for movement, flannels, graphic tees and swim, which maps almost item for item onto HippyTree's shop with the surf weighting turned down and the rock weighting turned up.
Best for: the stone half of "Surf & Stone", including chalk.
Toad&Co
Toad&Co sells soft everyday knits from $45, with the Men's Primo Short Sleeve Crew at $45 and the Boundless Jersey Crew at $55. The Shuteye Pant ($65) is the loose trouser in the range.
This is the least graphic brand here. Toad&Co's men's shirts and knits are plain and cut for comfort over performance, which makes them the fill-in around HippyTree's statement pieces. Buy the artwork from HippyTree and the eight plain crews from here.
The price gap is the argument. A Primo crew at $45 undercuts HippyTree's $65 More Trees Hoody and most of its wovens, and Toad&Co had 198 men's items sitting at full price when we checked, so you're rarely waiting on a sale. What you give up is any sense of a scene. These are clothes that look like clothes.
Best for: plain, loose knits at $45 to $55.
How to Pick Your Next Surf and Stone Layer
Start with which half of HippyTree you're replacing. If it's the trunks, Vissla and Katin are the direct swaps at $60 to $85 and $75, and Katin has the stock depth to deliver. If it's the rock side, prAna carries the climbing range and the chalk, and Patagonia carries the repair service.
On budget, Salty Crew undercuts everything here on graphic tees at $29.95, and Outerknown sits at the top at $168 for its Blanket Shirt. One habit worth keeping: read the compare-at price before you celebrate a bargain, because several of these shops run near-permanent markdowns.
We've written up three of these brands in their own right, in brands like Vissla, brands like Katin and brands like Outerknown. For the mountain end, our Columbia and Patagonia guide goes deeper on outerwear.
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Written by
Spencer Lanoue
