Blondey McCoy not riding for Palace still doesn’t feel quite right. I suppose we’ll have to get used to it, though. It seems that the differences are irreconcilable as evidenced by Blondey’s latest Instagram post teasing the debut of Thames Skateboards. Blondey’s clearly got a vision; so it will be interesting to see where this goes. Check out the first glimpse of the product below.
UPDATE 10.05.19: Over the past week Blondey has been unveiling the latest incarnation of his skate and fashion label now known as THAMES MMXX. We’ve gathered some pertinent bits below. Read more about it here, and check out the fist collection here.
I formally parted ways with Palace on the 21st of April 2019, having officially put Thames on hiatus on the 1st of January, with no intention of resurrecting it anytime soon. My wanting to make tee shirts never subsided, and I had started to do so under my own name. ‘Blondey’ is art merchandise: for every exhibition, there is an accompanying collection of tee shirts that act as editions. ‘Blondey’ the brand, as I prefer not to call it, was always intended to be a democratisation of my art, and it shall continue to be so. On the other hand, THAMES phase 3 (full name THAMES MMXX) will be in every way a brand, and everything I want a skateboard company to be.
Not only is THAMES my board sponsor, it is also my vehicle to support and work collaboratively with other people. In this sense, I was looking for a team of art directors as much as a skate team. That the riders meet these rather specific criteria, of being shit-hot skateboarders who are also creatively driven, is essential to my utopian dream for a skateboard company. It is the reason that the THAMES skate team consists of Sam Sitayeb and myself.
I always take comfort in the tendency for things to come full circle, and it was with this in mind that I decided to replicate my old school uniform for the first collection of THAMES MMXX: ‘Boarders’. I should have been at school, but I wasn’t – I was skateboarding every day and as a result, I was asked to leave. Edith Piaf said ‘use your faults’ and I wholeheartedly agree. – Blondey McCoy