Skating was something rebellious to do as a kid. Your parents would tell you to be careful and not get hurt. So you would rebel and skate and get hurt – while looking cool in the process. We were the bad kids with ripped pants and shirts, coasting around town like we owned the place. Defying shopping centre signs saying ‘No skateboarding on premises’ by grinding everywhere we could. Sticking up our middle fingers up to parents, security and police. It was all part of being a skater.
Skate attire was simple back then. Big t-shirt and baggy cargo pants – none of this skinny jeans bullshit. Stussy was my trademark skate-clothing brand. Others sported Independent, Alien Workshop, Blind, etc. I was always Stussy, and I still am.
When Shawn Stussy retired from his company and sold his shares to Sinatra back in ’96 I was just 9. But I always had the utmost admiration towards the man. I would look through old Stussy catalogues and wished to own the shirts he designed. So when Shawn came out of retirement last year to start S/Double I was ecstatic. I was finally going to wear something created by the man himself – and in his own garage for that matter.
I’ve grown up with the Stussy brand, now I plan to grow old with S/Double. My first shirt: a print of Shawn’s old Citroën DS Convertible.
Visit: www.s-double.com