INTERVIEWS

Noah Johnson Peels Back Palace’s Layers in GQ Profile

Published

12 months ago

August 19, 2021

We’re still fascinated by Palace. It’s the only brand outside of Supreme to truly transcend skateboarding into the world of mainstream fashion. The fact that its namesake was a London flophouse remains one of our favorite aspects of its story considering the exclusivity of its high-profile collaborations with Ralph Lauren, Mercedes Benz, etc. And Lev has consistently made us laugh year after year since The PWBC Weekly News days. Noah Johnson does a fantastic job of putting it all into perspective with his latest profile for GQ.

And there’s a twinkle in his eye as he recalls the Ralph Lauren collaboration. That pairing had followed other successful partnerships—with Umbro, on a reproduction of an old English football shirt, and with Reebok, on a couple of pairs of trainers—and together those projects spoke to the very essence of Palace’s identity: that they could be more than just a skate brand, and that a skate brand could be about more than just skating. Skaters in New York had taken cues from hip-hop and basketball culture and flipped them to make something of their own, and Tanju was bringing the worlds of English house music and football into skateboarding. In doing so, he created a skate brand that could act as a platform for his biggest dreams and a world of new opportunities for the skaters who mattered most to him. “There was nothing that Lev was interested in that he thought Palace couldn’t be,” says Fergus Purcell, his longtime graphic designer. “He had the instinct that other people could relate to. And he almost had a fuck-you attitude to the skate industry as it stood, because it actually closed lots of doors in a kind of bullshit way.”

Read the entire piece here.

Image Via GQ

INTERVIEWS

Santa Cruz Skateboards’ ‘True Grit’ features Tom Asta

Published

4 weeks ago

July 8, 2022

Skate Newswire

In this latest “True Grit” video by Santa Cruz Skateboards, Tom Asta revealed that he never planned on becoming a pro but just enjoyed skating as a teen. He turned out to be one of the best pro skaters we know today.

He talked about growing up in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and also showed his favorite skate spots in his hometown. Town mates Chris Cole and Ian Berry, and other pro skaters spoke about how they met Tom and how they have seen him develop into the skater that he is today.

The “True Grit” video series attempts to get an in-depth look into how skaters came to where they are now by visiting them in their hometowns and interviewing the people around them.

Watch more of Tom Asta in the Santa Cruz Skateboards’ welcome video below.

INTERVIEWS

Shecks Guests on the Latest ‘The Nine Club’ Episode

Published

2 months ago

June 9, 2022

Skate Newswire

Pro skater Ryan Sheckler talks about growing up in Southern California, starting skateboarding at the tender age of two, his over two decades of career, and his personal struggles in the latest podcast episode of “The Nine Club”.

He also discusses starting his skateboarding company, the Sandlot Times, and the story behind the name.

The Nine Club is a skateboarding podcast started and hosted by professional skateboarder Chris Roberts in 2016. The show is co-hosted by Roger Bagley and Kelly Hart.

INTERVIEWS

Vans Skateboarding Drops ‘Lizzie’ Video

Published

2 months ago

June 1, 2022

Skate Newswire

Get to know more about Lizzie Armanto through the lens of the persons closest to her in this 35 mm film directed by renowned filmmaker Greg Hunt and presented by Vans Skateboarding.

Lizzie is an X Games gold medalist (Barcelona, 2013) and the first-ever woman to make it to the cover of Transworld Skateboarding in 2016.

She was also the first female skateboarder to do the loop, a 360-degree vertical ramp on which the rider turns completely upside down while maintaining contact between the wheels of the skateboard and the ramp’s surface.