New Plymouth Surf Shop owners Trish and Nigel Dwyer created Taranaki Hard Core in 1996 in response to increasing demand for a Taranaki t-shirt that all locals could identify with. They developed a design that was different from their surf wear and other labels, drawing together icons of the Taranaki region. The Taranaki Hard Core design features the mountain and the surf in the centre, surrounded by a cog representing the oil and engineering industry. Taranaki lifestyle is shown in the wings of freedom, beneath the stars of the Southern Cross. This is then all encircled with the barbed wire of Taranaki farm land.