Sixty years after the invention of the skateboard, not only has its shape changed but so has the appearance of the skaters who ride them. Gone are the oversized t-shirts, baggy jeans frayed at the hem and notorious greasy curtain haircuts of the Nineties.

 

A new breed of skater has been born, a generation who takes pride in their appearance and is happy to spend serious money to look just so. For a subculture that is historically anti-mainstream, anti-fashion and full of social misfits, it has become on trend in recent years to dress like one.

 

Not only are skate brands in high demand within the skating community but are also now growing in popularity those outside of this subculture. Countless high-end fashion houses and fast fashion brands are attempting to emulate the nonchalant skater style for those with a pseudo-interest in the lifestyle.

 

Many outside of this world see it as just a sport or maybe even a hobby; antisocial teenage boys who will soon get bored and move onto something else. But to some, it isn’t just a social endeavour; it is a way of life. Tyler DuPont, a sociology lecturer from Buffalo University, New York defines skateboarders as a subculture. He says: “They develop their own kind of anti-mainstream values, they develop a unique identity, very much trying to distinguish themselves from others. They create their own world.”

 

“For a subculture that is historically anti-mainstream, anti-fashion and full of social misfits, it has become on trend in recent years to dress like one”

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DuPont goes on to explain the theory that was first discussed by Albert Cohen in his book, Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang (Macmillan, 1955). “The key thing that makes a trend into a subculture is exclusivity for those involved.” Using skateboarding as the example, what is considered morally okay by skaters, like hanging out on the street, smoking weed, "causing a nuisance" is considered wrong for the majority of society, "the dominant".

 

In recent years skater style has made a move towards "the dominant" through its appearance on the runway; with fashion houses such as Ashish featuring models skateboarding down the catwalk and Céline using images of a model covering her bare chest with a skateboard for their advertising campaign.

 

Dave Atkinson, buyer for Slam City, one of the UK’s first ever skate shops, explains how this trend is growing more and more popular. He says: “I think there’s a lot of top down filtering with skating, designers like Gosha Rubchinskiy use skating iconography, then people start seeing it and think it’s alternative, everyone latches on. Anything that is truly linked to a subculture or actual heritage has intrinsic coolness and will come back around in time.”

 

Designers such as Gosha Rubchinskiy and avant garde brand Vetements would appear to have blatantly aped cult skate magazine Thrasher’s logo after the brand’s rise in popularity.

 

Thrasher’s surging search traffic isn’t the only increasing trend, Slam City saw increased sales of the flame logo t-shirt during 2016, from approximately one to 100 per month. Atkinson thinks that this huge leap in sales can been accredited to the t-shirt becoming a wardrobe staple. It has been seen on off-duty models commuting between fashion shows and the likes of singers, Rihanna and Justin Bieber, in turn drawing interest from their fans.

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Atkinson goes on to explain that sales have not just been the result of more skaters buying into the trend but also young fashion conscious women. “Simply put, these women are the same individuals who probably spent their adolescence bullying people for wearing the clothes whose identities they now mimic; obviously some skaters are going to be pissed.”

 

Tom and Matt Wood, owners of The Boardroom, a small skate shop located in Surrey, are delighted in this increase in skater style. They have seen sales in Thrasher merchandise increase 10 fold, together with sales in other well-established brands such as Santa Cruz and Rip and Dip, a new label which rides the fine line between skateboard and Streetwear.

 

This increase however has had a negative impact on their usual clientele. “We get skaters coming in that are now reluctant to buy and wear certain brands as they have become too mainstream. They feel their identity has been compromised.”

 

London-based amateur skateboarder and snowboarder Joe Darcy agrees. He says: “I am not really into brands like Supreme, I prefer more heritage brands that have history, values and are good products rather than just being about fashion all the time.”

 

Skate brand Supreme’s popularity has redefined the Streetwear market with people queuing around the block every Thursday, anxiously anticipating the new drop. Items purchased are then sold online for up to three times their purchase price within hours. Streetwear is influenced by the current trend and has moved from its punk roots in the Eighties to hip-hop in the Nineties, and more recently been associated with styles such as street goth, new grunge and new lad.

 

“Fashion has always been inspired by culture, but fashion houses have sometimes pushed beyond cultural appreciation into the territory of cultural appropriation”

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Supreme, however, is in its own league with countless collaborations under its belt; from Damien Hirst to Black Sabbath and Louis Vuitton to Roy Liechtenstein. The noise around this particular brand has led to its demise as a skate brand and its rise as the ultimate must have Streetwear brand. Australian surfer, skater and fashion blogger Josh Quigley commented that although he admires the brand for its originality and exclusivity you won’t find him wearing it, and not just because it is so hard to get hold of. “The hype around Supreme has devalued it as a skate brand and I’m reluctant to purchase one of their pieces.”

 

German amateur skater Seb Sahla explains why he feels people are trying to emulate skater style: “It’s this sense of faux-rebellion, they’re trying to be edgy by wearing something only a small minority of the public are wearing but meanwhile thousands of others have decided to do the same.”

 

Fashion has always been inspired by culture, but fashion houses have sometimes pushed beyond cultural appreciation into the territory of cultural appropriation. Givenchy came under fire after its autumn/winter 2015 show for lacking diversity in their model choices. Research by Pressed found that less than 8 per cent of the models used by this high-end fashion house on the runway were black; even though their designer Riccardo Tisci had clearly taken inspiration from Black and Latina cultures, styling models with gelled down baby hairs in a style that is popular in these communities.

 

Other designers such as DSquared2 and Marc Jacobs have also been criticised in the past for appropriating cultural styles. While these designers claim to have taken inspiration from these communities, the rising popularity of skate style is another form of appropriation.

 

A recent market study has predicted that the global skateboarding equipment market that consists of skateboards, skateboarding footwear and protective wear will reach in excess of £4 billion by 2020 (Technavio). This figure is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of how much the industry is worth as a whole, it doesn’t take into consideration the amount of revenue generated by the very lucrative world of skate fashion brands.

 

While the fashion world will continue to be inspired by cultural iconography where there is a profit to be made. Fashion, cyclical in its nature, will soon replace this skating trend with the next big thing. Only once skating has had its time in the spotlight and something else has taken over will skaters revert back to their Thrasher flame logo t-shirts.