Why Ship It: Meeting Hannah and Amanda at the Vancouver Open

I reached out to Hannah Frohling and Amanda Harnett on Instagram a few weeks before the Vancouver Open. The ask was simple: could they make some content to promote the fact that Surface was sponsoring a volleyball tournament. We were about to ship product down to LA when they mentioned they only had a week left there before flying to a tournament in Vancouver, so it might not arrive in time. Same tournament. Same one we were sponsoring.

So we figured, why ship it.

Met them the day after they landed. Coffee at Turf in Kits, talking about sports, playing hurt, and what it takes to keep competing.

The next day the tournament took over, and that’s where the friendship happened. We got an incredible shoot of their warmup, then spent the weekend cheering them on through to the semifinals. Amanda played through an injury and they were still competitive enough to finish fifth.

This is the part of Surface that matters most to us. We’re a Vancouver brand, but the people we’re building it for are everywhere there’s water or a beach. Two athletes in California, a DM, and a shipping problem that serendipitously solved itself. Reach out for content, end up with friends.

That’s the whole idea, really. A scattered group of people who love the beach, the water, and moving hard in both, connected by the suit and by showing up.

We’re already talking about getting down to LA for one of their local tournaments.

Follow along with Hannah (@hannah.groovy) and Amanda (@amandaharnett) and cheer them on when they compete next.