How Fashion And Everyone Else Rode The Skating Wave In 2021
Skateboarding and surf skating was all the rage this year, both on the streets and on the runways.
Skateboarding has been the talk of the town this year, with the sport finally making its debut at the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Couple that with the influence of the Y2K era – undoubtedly the sport's heyday – and skate culture's inherently liberating spirit and ties to youth culture, and it's easy to understand why it is so buzzy right now.
Hermes Spring/Summer 2022 men's collection features the Hermes Stealth Skateboard bag which hides your deck subtly on the base of the Bolide Bag.
While fashion houses have teamed up with skate brands in the past, the renewed interest in skateboarding has got the fashion world sitting up and taking notice more in 2021, with numerous brands collaborating with skate pros or featuring them in their campaigns and designers turning to the culture as a source of inspiration.
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On the ground, customers are digging the skater uniform too – think slouchy pants, Vans sneakers. the oversized graphic tees. In fact, data from fashion retail platform Lyst reported the term "skater" saw a 46 per cent jump in searches since April this year.
The graphic artworks from California skateboard brand Santa Cruz adorns the Puma x Santa Cruz collab.
H&M released a new Fall 2021 collection alongside No Fear, an American skate and streetwear brand popular in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. While Puma recently launched a collection with Californian skateboard brand Santa Cruz, showcasing the skate world's aesthetic of bright Pop Art graphics on sneakers and apparel.
READ MORE: Style In Singapore: The Skater Girl Edition
Even PacSun, the 41-year-old American skate retailer, is riding on the resurgence in fashion and pop culture by roping in A$AP Rocky, style icon and the patron saint of Gen Z cool, as guest creative editor this past summer.
Digital content creator and skate enthusiast Hanya Seah fronted the H&M x No Fear campaign in Singapore.
Luxury houses such as Tiffany & Co., Saint Laurent and Fendi have also dipped into the pool by releasing their versions of skateboard designs. Hermes took it a step further by debuting the Hermes Stealth Skateboard bag on the men's Spring/Summer 2022 runway which integrated a skateboard deck into a classic Bolide Bag.
Besides selling a skateboard at $820 a pop, Saint Laurent also designs the skidproof adhesive grip in a variety of designs featuring leopard prints or a star motif ($160 each).
Monse staged its Resort 2022 show at a Manhattan skate park to complement the collection's relaxed and utilitarian designs such as cargo pants, sports bra and hoodies. Its co-founder Laura Kim told Fashionista: "My best escape is the gym: working out, hiking, skateboarding. That's why we're showing in a skate park."
READ MORE: 6 Singapore Skateboarders On The Beauty Of The Sport
As 16-year-old skater Christina Lai put it in the October edition of FEMALE: "The mentality towards skating, especially in Asian countries can be a little conservative, but once you try it, you’ll learn that it’s really liberating.”
Monse's Resort 2022 show was held at a New York skate park.
Daphne Goh, co-founder of Singapore-based board sports and snowboarding business The Ride Side observes, skateboarders have always fascinated and intrigued brands globally, especially luxury brands looking to add a ‘street’ element to their campaigns.
She notes how a variation of skating known as surf skating – previously popularised by surfers who couldn’t hit the waves during the off season – is trending right now thanks to the renewed interest in board sports since the start of the pandemic.
Another popular form of skating that's riding high right now is surf skating.
Simply put, a surf skate is a type of skateboard with spring-loaded trucks that replicate the feeling of surfing or snowboarding on land. The rider surfs the urban terrain and streets with the help of momentum as the back and forth motion generates force to push the rider forward.
Ahead, Goh gives us the 4-1-1 on skating’s popularity and how one can pick up surf skating.
In Singapore, Charles & Keith, Orchard Health and a few other brands have also included skateboarding and skaters in their campaigns, notes Goh. However, she emphasises that skating imagery is not a new trend in campaigns – what’s new is surf skating being featured.
For example, local label Beyond The Vines’ recent Micro Dumpling collection campaign has made surf skating the key focus. More and more artists are contributing to surf skate designs too. These include painter Mercedes Bellido (@mercedesbellido), illustrator Sickfaces (@sickfaces) and tattoo and visual artist (@or_kantor). Well-known surfboard shapers like Christenson and Pyzel have also made regular contributions to surf skate shapes.
As Goh notes, surf skating is the cousin of street skating, and part of the big ‘umbrella’ of skating. “There are two essential types of skating: the traditional skateboards that require you to kick and push to generate speed, and the new wave of boards which you can ‘pump’ to generate speed,” she says.
Traditional skateboards and trick decks (skateboards used for tricks at skate parks) are considered ‘kick and push’. The more you push the ground with your feet, the faster you go. “For ‘pump’ boards, you have surf skates and speciality longboards that allow you to pump long distances,” says Goh.
In surf skating, one’s feet don’t touch the ground, with speed generated by turning and pumping. This is a more elegant and beautiful form of movement that makes a surf skater look graceful, according to Goh.
Goh notes that surf skating is easy enough to start on one’s own. One can practice it almost anywhere, and still have fun with it even in small spaces.
She suggests empty urban spaces such as parks and pathways, with popular spots being East Coast, MBS Promenade and Sports Hub. “The Ride Side typically guides newcomers when they come to demo boards at our shop, and they can start moving on their own right away,” says Goh.
“From there, most opt to go through our lesson programme which accelerates their learning and helps them find the most efficient way to move.” Lessons are split into four levels. First-timers start out at level 0, which teaches the fundamentals of skating such as pushing off, gliding and stopping. These are key skills required for any form of skating.
Level 1 lessons are for beginner surf skaters learning to pump on a surf skate. This requires learning about rotational movements − a key part of a surfer’s movement and speed generation.
Learners then progress to level 2, which introduces surf-inspired movements such as frontside and backside combinations and tricks.
Level 3 is for advanced riders, with the teaching of more technical movements and tricks that require control and power. Whilst many have the impression that surf skating is reserved for the young, Goh counters that the sport is for almost anyone.
“We have students in our programme that don’t fit the typical image of a skater, such as mums, dads and people in their late 30s and 40s,” she says. “Surf skating appeals to a wide cross-section of society, and we are impressed with the diverse nature of our surf skate community.”