High-end hunting apparel brand Kuiu (pronounced koo-you) is opening its first Texas on the Dallas Parkway north of Galleria Dallas.
Kuiu plans to open in October next to Dick’s Sporting Goods in 4,053 square feet, according to its website and planning documents filed with the state.
The brand has a strong following among hunters including Donald Trump Jr. who was photographed several times with late founder Jason Hairston in their Kuiu camouflage. In addition to its online store, Kuiu has one other physical store in Dixon, Calif., where the company is based.
A Bloomberg article in 2016 said the camouflage clothing line wants to be the Lululemon for hunters. Metallica’s James Hetfield wrapped one of his guitars in Kuiu’s camouflage material.
Kuiu officials declined to comment on the new Dallas store.
Kuiu was founded in 2009 by Hairston, a former NFL player and avid hunter who took his own life in 2018. He was 47. An autopsy confirmed what Hairston and his family suspected that he had CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive degenerative brain disease caused by repeated hits to the head.
Hairston played high school football and at the University of California, Davis. Later he signed with the San Francisco 49ers and briefly played for the Denver Broncos. A severe neck injury in college forced him to end his professional football career in 1996, according to his obituary.
He co-founded Sitka Gear, a company that made athletic hunting apparel and sold it in 2009. In 2011, Hairston and his wife, Kirstyn Hairston, co-founded Kuiu, a direct-to-consumer hunting apparel business.
Hairston was one of the first 500 people to be diagnosed with CTE, according to the company website. Kuiu supports the Concussion Legacy Foundation to help other families. For now, there’s no conclusive way to diagnose the disease in a living person, according to the Cleveland Clinic’s website. An autopsy of the brain confirms a diagnosis.
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