INTERVIEWS

How Aaron Wiggs Raised $140K for Charity Selling Gear

If you live in New York, you’re likely familiar with the sidewalk sales that have been going on all summer at McGolrick park in support of Black Lives Matter. They’ve been an amazing opportunity for people to come together for a good cause during the various phases of reopening. Skateboard Story connected with event organizer, Aaron Wiggs, for an interview that lays out how the event, which has raise $140K thus far, came together.

When did you do the first sidewalk sale and what led you to doing it?

Our first sidewalk sale launched early June. This was around the time when protest across the nation were starting to spark off, looting was still a thing and we just sat there looking at each other thinking “what can we do to make somewhat of a difference”? I suggested to two of my friends that day (Perry Goodman & Sachiko Clyde) that we should just go through our closets, put some clothes together and have a sidewalk sale. I work at Supreme, Perry works for Palace and Sachiko has an amazing women’s vintage collection, so we just gathered what we didn’t need and put it together for a good cause.

The idea was birthed on a bench in the same park that we do the sidewalk sales at biweekly. Sitting there with Perry and Sachiko we were just disgusted with where the world was at. At this time so many people were starting to donate to various non profits and gofundme’s, so we wanted to contribute in some kind of way. Speaking about this and getting sparked on the idea was one thing, but days later Sachiko sent me a text saying “hey babe, so are we doing this on Sunday?” When I read that text I just thought to myself “okay, this shit is on. Let’s do this, let’s make a commercial and whatever we have to do to promote this and bring people out from our neighborhood to support.”

Read the full story here. And if you haven’t seen the amazing Uncle Leroy commercials posted on Aaron’s Instagram to promote the event, we’ve embedded them below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB8jv-IlAqU/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBYfr6HFZek/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBGRdcVFF-4/

Image Via Andrew Price

INTERVIEWS

‘Good Work’ Episode 2 Now Playing on Redbull Skateboarding Channel

Alphonzo talks about how his past time of photoshopping images of celebrities skateboarding and sharing them on social media turned into a full-fledged business in this episode of “Good Work”.

Good Work episode 2 features Alphonzo Rawls and his #EVERYBODYSKATES and Savalé Footwear brands.

Alphonzo talks about how his past time of photoshopping images of celebrities skateboarding and sharing them on social media turned into a full-fledged business.

#EVERYBODYSKATES brand sells shirts, hoodies, hats, boards, and accessories.

He also had been involved in designing shoes for international footwear brands.

After 25 years of working with other companies, he decided to launch his own luxury footwear brand, Savalé.

Alf was also a pro-skater back in the day.

He started skating when he was 10 and turned pro when he was just 16 years old.

He thinks that skateboarding has somehow helped him be successful in business.

“Skateboarding, it’s for the most part, a really inconsistent sport, which means you definitely have to have some patience and some perseverance…It’s allowed me to think outside the box and apply that ‘out of the box’ thinking to run my business”

Redbull’s Good Work Series features skater-owned and skater-operated businesses.

You can watch the first episode here or on the Red Bull Skateboarding YouTube Channel.

INTERVIEWS

‘My War: Gabriel Summers’ Now Playing at Thrasher Magazine

Watch “Gabbers” Gabriel Summers as he narrates how the story behind the “Damn It All” part where he got a broken collarbone while trying to conquer a massive kink handrail.

I will think about that forever because that’s something that’s like, took me so hard, and it’s so hard to accomplish and that I actually did it.

The gnarly goofy-footed Australian Skater has been a member of the Zero team since 2019.

Watch the “Damn It All” Zero part below.

INTERVIEWS

Skate Tales Season 2 is Coming

Skate Tales Season 2 is coming on Red Bull TV starting April 20.

Madars Apse’s documentary series takes us through skateboarding underground to share life experiences and ask more skateboarding mavericks to find out what skateboarding means to them.

You can also watch the series on Red Bull Skateboarding YouTube Channel on these dates: