The Events That Defined New York City Skateboarding in 2012: 15-11

December 21st, 2012 | 2:26 pm | Features & Interviews | 8 Comments

knobs

Previously: #s 25-21, 20-16. Have a good weekend.

15. The Average Completion-of-Construction-to-Knobbing Time Frame For New Skate Spots Reaches an Unprecedented Low

New York continues to have issues with underreported hate crimes. For the first time ever, the under-construction spots that we have been eyeing for months have begun coming with pre-installed knobs (cue up Rob Welsh’s Free Your Mind intro.) Consult the too-good-to-be-true “Late Show Ledges” on Broadway, and even bad spots like those marble blocks across from the Hilton on Sixth or those shitty wooden ledges at the hospital by the Banks for examples, all of which got knobbed within a month of blockades coming down.

TRENDWATCH 2012: $1,000 Griptape

July 3rd, 2012 | 10:20 am | Daily News | 16 Comments

Notable dreamboat pro skateboarder and recent refugee of Quiksilver downsizing, Alex Olson, is the first name attached to two French fashion houses’ testing-of-waters in the griptape market. This past weekend, Olson leaked several shots of team edition griptape from both Chanel and LVMH subsidiary, Céline on Instagram. He has reportedly been receiving boxes from both companies, so details as to which brand he will sign under remain foggy, though one of the photos did state “Chanel grip is better than the Céline grip,” making it safe to assume Chanel is offering the better contract and/or a superior product. Interestingly enough, Mike Carroll left a comment saying “Need” under the Chanel shot, leading industry insiders to believe that Carroll and Olson will soon be announced as Chanel’s first two teamriders. One would hope that the addition of a native French rider (Puig? J.B?) is not far away.

Chanel’s grip is expected to retail for around ~$1,000 at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks, Supreme, and flagship Chanel locations worldwide. No word on Céline’s price point, though most assume it will be in a similar range. Naturally, one of the photos included a comment from someone who has no idea what a “hipster” is asking, “Now there’s griptape hipsters?” Pabst and Chanel don’t mix, bro. Get your caricatures straight.

Up Next: Le Snack de Quarté pour Dior Homme & Maison Matt Mooney Margiela.

TRENDWATCH 2012: The T.F. Summer Trend Report

April 19th, 2012 | 10:21 am | Daily News | 5 Comments

Four months into 2012 and we can already determine which status symbols will dominate this summer at the T.F. The photo above is a routine slice of modern T.F. life, encompassing all of the styles relevant to a summer 2012 stint at Tompkins Square Park. Here are the five most heavily trending developments.

1) Camo: For the second year in a row, the consumer-base for camo continues to expand. Earlier this year, it was predicted that sweatpants would overtake camo’s New York-based marketshare, but their ascent has been slow to say the least. On the other hand, camo experienced nearly threefold growth. Discussions of whether or not camo “has gone too far” are rising, but not more rapidly than the adoption of new patterns and new customers (there are three different swatches in the picture above.)

2) Palace Shirts: With Autumn limited to an online operation (Autumn had dominated the graphic t-shirt market at the T.F. for the past 10 years), the London-based brand found itself a niche in an environment where the blank white tee is otherwise king. Though the triangle tee was sought after by insiders last summer, the brand’s expansion and thus a wider availability has made it one of 2012′s must-haves, even for those who are typically weary of the graphic t-shirt.

3) Cargoes: One of the more memorable door-guy moments in recent history was Big Rob from Lit denying someone by telling him, “Between the cargo pants and the laptop bag, it’s not happening tonight.” That was in 2008, when Lit was still somewhat relevant. Now that it is no longer relevant, perhaps it switched places with the previously frowned upon cargo pockets, which have crept their way back into relevancy and wardrobe rotations among the T.F. faithful.

#PHATSTYLEZ #OFFICIAL

March 16th, 2012 | 1:22 pm | Daily News | 3 Comments

“What the hell is this Phat Stylez thing about?” has been a common question on Instagram these past several weeks.

One of our key editorial departments, the QS Fashion Desk, recently moved out of our main office and took it to the streets. Teaming up with a team of passionate fashion bloggers led by Sweet Waste and Jack Sabback, they have been covering the world of sweatpants, camo, vintage skate gear (with a particular emphasis on skate brands that catered to white dudes who like rap and big asses), anything Galen has ever worn, 1990s rap record label merchandise, and everything that wouldn’t file under your generic Nike/Polo/Supreme Tumblr* ran by some 19-year-old with 3K posts on the Hypebeast forum. PHATSTYLEZ is not concerned with any of that — think of it as a Sartorialist for skateboarders who listen to too much Young Jeezy, but with no tweed, cobblestone streets, or any of that garbage.

*Though we have been adamant about Tumblr being pure shit for quite some time, The Fashion Desk was never the most web-saavy department at Quartersnacks (only the most fashionable.) Therefore, it was necessary to employ the most remedial content management system known to mankind.

It’s still in an infancy stage (“The movement is picking up steam…it’s getting streetwear followers”), but pretty soon, it will be an endless stream of the phattest stylez imaginable. So without further ado, skateboarding’s first (probably, right?) fashion blog — PHATSTYLEZ.NET.

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BREAKING NEWS: Lil’ Wayne “Over” Skateboarding?

December 27th, 2011 | 3:15 pm | Daily News | 14 Comments

2011: “Skinny pants & some Vans…” 2012: “Camo shorts & snowboard boots.”

On Christmas Day, Lil’ Wayne attended the Lakers’ season opener against the Chicago Bulls with his current love interest. The striking part of this occasion was not Derrick Rose shitting on the Lakers on their home court with with 20 seconds left in the 4th (as lovely as a Christmas gift as that may have been), but Lil’ Wayne’s odd choice to wear camo shorts and snowboard boots. Yes, snowboard boots. In L.A.

Quartersnacks has been covering how Wayne’s influence permeates into skateboard culture since the beginning (see here, here, here, here, or here), and this may be the most shocking development yet. It is possible we are jumping the gun here, but this could indicate three things…

#1 (and the most likely scenario): Lil’ Wayne is over skateboarding due to a miscalculation that equated skateboards (i.e. “white boy shit”) to higher levels of disposable income. Upon realizing most skaters are broke as hell, Wayne’s marketing team re-strategized his involvement with “extreme sports” to cultivate to the higher income bracket associated with snowboard equipment and lift tickets. We look forward to hearing skate references replaced by snowboard ones in whatever this winter’s equivalent of “Look At Me Now” might be.

#2: Lil’ Wayne is taking a break from pushing his pro-skateboard agenda during our winter off-season, and merely attempting to tap into an alternate, winter-friendly snowboard market while we are left to pay less attention to skateboarding (thus more to partying and watching Netflix.)

#3: Lil’ Wayne is back on drugs. The Weather Channel reported that it was 72 degrees in L.A. on Christmas, yet he is wearing snowboard boots. That certainly sounds like a richer version of the New York crackheads who wear bubble goose jackets in July. This also means that many impressionable urban teens who purchased the hood’s beloved ‘Lo duck boots at the onset of winter will be switching to Burton boots midway into the season. No, really. You ARE going to see kids making rounds shopping on Broadway and Lafayette Street wearing snowboard boots with tight sagging pants by mid-January.

This once again proves how far ahead of the curve Chris Brown (who sported snowboard goggles in his video earlier this year) is. If the pattern we observed between Chris & Wayne as it relates to “extreme sports” holds true, Wayne should be riding a scooter by April.


Supreme