Much closed-door (and open-door!) discourse has been made about how evasive skateboard productivity can be to outsiders in Japan. Not that there haven’t been countless incredible Japan edits starring foreigners — but there is always an expectation v.s. reality thing to new arrivals. Navigating busts and crowds is a more algorithmic endeavor there than in other premier skate destinations, hence a palpable difference in how otherworldly the homegrown videos from Japanese locals feel.
🎨 Graphic by Francesco Pini
📊 Ballot Count by 4PLY
The results are in and we now have a snapshot of skateboarding in 2025, as voted on by QS readers. Unlike past years, when there was sometimes only a few vote split between first and second place, ties, etc., for the most part, everything cleanly landed where it landed this year.
And it should be said that this listing was voted on between 10:30 A.M. on Monday, December 8th until 5:30 P.M. on Friday, December 12th. Chris Joslin’s “G-Ma” part, which would earn him Thrasher‘s S.O.T.Y. trophy, was released around noon on Wednesday the 10th. Zion Wright’s part was released the morning of Thursday, the 11th. A similar thing happened the year that Miles Silvas won S.O.T.Y. But one hill we will gladly die on is that nobody wants to talk about year-end recap stuff in the following year. We will extend eligibility to any parts that came out starting December 8th into next year’s ranking.
To anyone just joining us: This is NOT a selection curated by QS staff. Editors and contributors can vote, but this was tallied across hundreds of publicly submitted ballots. If you’re interested in the methodology, 4PLY broke down how we tally the votes ✨
Ty Beall via Skate Jawn #68 and his part in Chrome Zone (2023), on account of New York moving towards discontinuing the green shed scaffolding, in favor of a less-ugly alternative. Can’t think of a ton of tricks on these things short of this and Jerry’s 5050 in Bag of Suck, but good riddance.
“I’m mainly happy that Tompkins is still there, it’s repaved, kids still go there, and it still has a similar vibe.” Slam City Skates has a pretty awesome longform interview with Sage Elsesser.
“Holllllyyyy shitttttt. Is that Jahmir? Yeah! And he’s making me listen to Bronze 56k Radio ALL DAY.” Jahmir Brown provides the guest mix on the latest installment of Bronze 56k Radio. The Graham Denver commercial is so fucking funny. 20 minute mark. Nooooo.
There is a distinct energy to a skate tour video. Not “we got an Airbnb in Paris for ten days and this is what we filmed,” but a genuine sprawling tour — more along the lines of lightning-in-a-bottle magic first brought to the world by landmark projects like the DC Super Tour and Harsh Euro Barge. Those videos created a vibe that every crew of skateboarders ripping around a continent has been chasing ever since, even if they are too young for those projects to have been part of their formative years. It’s all in the spirit they instilled.
We teamed up with our friends at Carhartt WIP and “Giddy” series architect, Romain Batard, to bring you “Snacks In Progress: The 2025 World Tour.” The only caveat is, that we didn’t actually go on tour — we just managed to compile every bit of outtakes, water bucket fiascos, European #spotporn, B-roll, unseen and maybe-worth-seeing-again footage from the past ~year’s WIP trips to create a fun companion piece ahead of whatever summer travels you might have lined up. Features a lot of QS favorites. Hopefully, it feels like a tour, or at least inspires you to go on one with your buds ;) Shout out Ragers Inc.
Thanks to everyone who grabbed something from the webstore ❤️ Should be caught up on shipping orders soon. Available at skateshops worldwide now.
Everyone who has logged years skating Tompkins has an immediate answer to “what’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen walking into the Tompkins bathroom?” Let’s see if the $5 million they put into renovating it keeps it from becoming the tenth ring of hell again. Now open!
“Yeah, I think that when you show everything, it allows more people in. There are people I know who don’t skate who have watched this and for them it’s like a hero’s journey or something: You’re watching someone go through something, and you can maybe sympathize with me, or maybe think I’m insane, but you get that I’m trying really hard to do something. You don’t need to understand the context for the tricks to get that.” The menswear SubStack, Blackbird Skyplane, got the elusive Bobby DeKeyzer on the horn for an interview about his new part.
