skateboard street

Skate And Surf Wear With An Environmental Impact

The fashion industry is a troublesome one to break into for any businessman. The surf wear industry is even stronger than most. Boardriders of all persuasions are some of the most difficult purchasers around. The first thing you must to have if you’re going to try and sell to board sports enthusiasts is credibility. If you do not ride yourself, they won’t want to understand you. The second thing you want is style. There are lots of companies out there that posses both credibility and style, a couple of these brands that spring to mind are Volcom, Billabong, Matix, DVS and Rebel 8.

Right now Im going to zoom in on on where Matix in particular has come from as they are home grown from the roots up with a wicked story because the creators of this brand lived and breathed the industry a long time before they got involved in this side of it.

Tim Gavin and Daewon Song are the driving force behind Matix. This fact alone instantly gave their company street credibility withing in the skate world when they set up it in 1998. Both Tim and Song were and still are today professional skateboarders who got sick of shredding their clothes every time they pushed their limits on their decks. They made a decision to do something about it and created their own line of clothing for skateboard enthusiasts.

When they started the brand, the guys knew what they wanted: Cool, hard wearing skate wear that also had a good cause and gave something back. That is exactly what they did. As their company grew, so did their scope. Now Matix makes clothes and other gear for surfers and snow boarders, too. They have taken on new talent like Marc Johnson and Gabe Kling. These fellows have pushed the brand to greater heights without sacrificing the functional integrity of the initial vision.

A cool thing that this label does like a number of the other big names out there in the skate world is cross the conventional limits as they are totally committed to the environment and making the world a cleaner and greener place. That is the reason why when you purchase a pair of their boardshorts, it comes with a bio-degradable trash bag. They would love every single pair of board shorts to act as a memory jogger that it’s our collective responsibility to clean up the planet.

That was a bold move and one that might plainly have backfired with rebellious youth, but like other brands such as Rip Curl, Billabong and Hurley who have this environmental philosophy they didn’t think twice and simply did not care. They did it because they cared and needed to use their influence in a good way. It’s a tribute to the power of integrity that they managed to get their message across. What the brands who take this approach are actually making an attempt to say is this, if every single person did their bit, even something as petit as picking up one piece of litter at your home beach it really can make a huge difference on the grand scale.

Jacob Symes makes a full living from reviewing up-and-coming as well as established brands in the surf clothing as well as snowboard industries. He has also written many articles about mens skate shoes, their affect on the environment and the brands that are actively involved with them.

SKATEBOARD – Street Sorcery