Tag Archive: Marketing
Peeling Out Banana Socks
More socks from Sock it To Me, This time instead of a Gnarly Gnome, we’ve got a cool guy banana wearing sunglasses and riding a skateboard, AKA “Peeling Out.” Do you miss the carefree days full of wearing sunglasses and skating down the halls? We say go bananas! But, maybe try out these banana socks before going out and buying that skateboard. I feel like I could have done better. How? Listen, these guys didn’t hire me when I applied for a job over a decade ago, so I’m not going to give it up for free. I’m not holding a grudge. At least nothing that a free pair of socks wouldn’t fix…
Random San Diego Airport Sightings
4 years ago I went somewhere and cycled through the San Diego airport. There were a handful of skateboard sightings in the airport, ranging from displays in the shops, a restaurant, and some tourism focused electronic signage on the wall. I was trying to link the post about Tony Hawk’s restaurant to this post, but it turns out I never made this post, until now. These are photos from 2022, so who knows if these are still there. Someone made it point to highlight that San Diego has a history of skate culture, as if that is some sort of big tourist attraction. I mean, it is for me…
The Skate Shop Collection
Vector Lab brings you the Skate Shop Collection, a set a templates with editable text that lets you customize (sort of) designs for your skate shop or zine or whatever. The offerings in this collection range from “they sort of get it” to “I ran out of time, here’s some clip art.” I feel sorry for your shop (or brand) if they can’t come up with their own designs. I would like to point out heat the Vector Lab does offer some pretty useful tools for adding effects and textures to existing designs. I’ve even bought from them before. If you see any of these designs in the real world please send pics!
OJ Thunder Juice Teacup Wheels
I thought this was AI slop at first but this appears to be a real OJ Wheels product that you can actually buy. Add to cart, you’ll see! I’m a sucker for good wheel packaging and the novelty of it all. These are interesting. They look good but that print is going to be gone after a few short sessions and I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do with the tray… oh yeah, a “rolling” tray. Very silly, but I’m glad they made them.
The Lords of Central Eastside (Industrial Council)
A lot like 70’s era Dogtown, if you try to drop in on one of Portland’s Central Eastside bike lanes, the locals will throw kale at you… Errr.. Yeah, sorry. That’s all I got. I didn’t even know Portland had a “Central Eastside” district, but I’m obviously not upwardly mobile so that might explain it. The Central Eastside Industrial Council “is a business association focused solely on the Central Eastside Industrial District’s economic success, vitality, and livability.” CEIC includes Burnside and as such, they are not shy of including Burnside and skateboard graphics in their marketing materials. – Thanks to Chad Balcom for the tip.
For Some reason: Arizona Iced Tea Decks and Wheels
Sure… why not? Someone must be buying these because the wheels are being advertised as a re-stock.
Expensive Spam
Sure, $148 might seem like a lot for Spam brand skateboard, but it’s more than it seems. It may look like a generic retro plastic skateboard, but the deck is in fact made out of recycled aircraft aluminum by Alluminati Skateboards. Where does recycled aircraft aluminum come from? Maybe they scour the countryside for airplane wrecks. In any case they have figured out a way to digitally print graphics on aluminum decks, most of which have a different appearance than this cruiser style. The Spam site does a horrible job of selling these decks, there are no alternate views or enlargeable photos. – Thanks to Adam Jih for the tip.
Dreamland Goes Rogue
Rogue Beers out of Newport Oregon has teamed up with Dreamland Skateparks to produce a beer and a skateboard. A portion of the proceeds go to “building skateparks around the world,” which could mean anything, but the important thing is, beer, and Dreamland Skateparks. [Source: Dreamland Skateparks]
Tobin Heath Soccer Superhero, Skateboarder?
I don’t know if Portland Thorns midfielder Tobin Heath is actually a skateboarder or not. These illustrations come from a collaboration with Dark Horse comics and the Thorns front office designed to sell some t-shirts, scarves, and patches. I suspect it was just an easy way for Dark Horse to conjure a loose (or lazy) association with the Silver Surfer in The illusions and energy manipulation of Tobin. I do know that Tobin has mad soccer skills, and plays for the best women’s team in the world. Both of them, actually. Women’s World Cup is coming this summer.
That’s cold, dude.
There was a time, oh, say anything before the year 2000 when this would have seemed inconceivable. Cross marketing between a mainstream commercial brand and a core skateboarding brand? Not a big deal anymore. No, I don’t know how a “Zine Rolltop Lunch Bag” differs from a regular rollmop lunch bag. It must be more hardcore. Check out the Igloo x Independent Collection. I think the “X” is for eXtreme!











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