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Two brothers and their best friend seas the day with radically unique free-flowing beach shade design.
Say breeze. We’re sure you’ve seen Shibumi Shade’s signature blue and teal arch shape billowing on NC’s beaches—and beyond our own coast—but did you know that this innovative invention began in the spare bedroom of three beach-loving buds with a sewing machine and some PVC pipe? Shore enough.
Brothers Scott and Dane Barnes, along with their best friend Alex Slater, grew up setting up less-than-ideal beach umbrellas on their respective annual family vacations in Emerald Isle, so they put their brains together back in 2016 to build an oh-so shady solution to this beach-day bind. Enter, Shibumi Shade.
Named for the design concept “shibumi,” which is defined by effortless perfection, these distinctive shades—with their arch shape and free-flowing design—can now be spotted on shores countrywide (and six continents!), from Emerald Isle to Santa Monica to the isle of Oahu.
“The way that Shibumi Shade gained popularity, almost entirely by word of mouth, I think is a testament to the thoughtfulness we put into the product and the business,” says Slater. And even though Shibumi Shade has blown away (had to) beachgoers all around the world, each shade is still cut and sewn close to home in North Carolina and Virginia.
Spacious enough to fit a group of six (plus beach gear!), these instantly recognizable beach fixtures are both lightweight and easy to assemble, weighing in at less than 4 pounds—and patented as the first-ever wind-powered beach shade, uniquely designed to work with the wind, rather than against it.
It’s all part of the crafty trio’s value of creating an excellent product they’re proud to stand behind. “We want to continue to make excellent products, and to make sure that the Shibumi brand is synonymous with quality and innovation,” says Slater.
“Making connections with customers and beachgoers has always been the best part about starting the business,” he adds, “so we always want to honor those relationships and our commitment to customer service. Along the way, if we can make going to the beach a more enjoyable experience for more people, that’s all we can ask for.” Stay shady! shibumishade.com
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Those shades are so annoying loud, please don’t promote them
Bought my Shibumi this summer and loved it the first couple of times, then when I really needed it on a superhot day, there was no wind at all, AND NO SHADE! I thought somebody must have come up with a decent solution for this and I actually found a link to a ‘Low Wind’ accessory kit for the Shibumi that someone is selling on Ebay. (Do a search there for item #234657228576, the system won’t let me post a url).
https://ebay.to/3SXcEzv
So, there isn’t much to it, a couple of large steel stakes (which do work really well in the sand, you just need something hard to pound them in, like a small hammer or a rock) attached to a couple of lengths of red rope, and a couple of bungees. They also include these little plastic balls. What is pretty smart is how they tie the bungees to the corners of the Shibumi using the plastic balls. (They include links to a video and a pdf of how to do the tying).
I have to say, it’s super handy for when there’s no wind at all and the Shibumi would otherwise just be hanging limp without providing any shade. Or if there is just a very light wind, maybe changing directions, the Shade would be falling down, or going sideways and flapping around. In those conditions, when you use the kit you can point the shade however you like and as long as the wind doesn’t gust up too much, it will provide you shade. The one caveat is that it holds the shade tight in a line that slopes down to the sand spikes, so the head room towards the back of the shade isn’t very much, but it’s a lot better than it hanging limp and not providing shade at all. BTW, I packed my kit in a big ziplock bag so I wouldn’t lose the plastic balls and just stuffed it into the Shibumi bag with the rest of the stuff.