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Skateboarders are consumerist brats and have zero ecological awareness. The display of product and gear that are barely used by some pros makes me sick.
The new generation is even worse on that matter (Supreme crew, FA, Hardies dudes, etc.)
Ecology is very unpopular in the industry. The only people showing ecological awareness are considered very uncool in the culture (often rightfully so, but it's still a shame), with few exceptions.
Uncool :
- Cariuma (low carbon footprint is actually their main commercial argument)
- Element : no too sure as to where they stand, but with all the the fucking tree logos, they must have something going on (they made cruisers out of used boards at some point, they have nature camps...)
- Sole Tech and their Plant a Tree campaign.
Cool :
- Silas Baxter Neal
- pre #Metoo Kenny Anderson and his used oil-running car
- KA and Vincent Alvarez are among the few skaters I have heard talking about trying to make their board last
- pre hell-ride Evan Smith talked about that subject
- Sheep shoes
what differentiates them from the rest of the skate world besides a pre-determined narrative in your head ?
I picked those companies because they are some of the most influential to the young skaters (not necessarily most financially successful, but culturally for sure) and their teams are quite young for the majority.
I know you want to depict me as an old fuck who despises the youth, but that's not the case. I work with teenagers, some of them are very conscious (sometimes even anxious) about the environnment, even those coming from a rough background. But skateboarding is not a place where i see those conversations happening. Many other young athletes or personnalities are carrying this message, but i don't see any skateboarder among them.
Blatant materialism is obviously not new in skateboarding, I remember the 2000s when the skate industry was peaking and young Jereme Rogers, or P-Rod, Dyrdek or Koston were showing off their wealth.
But i perceive the introduction of hypebeast culture through companies like Supreme or FA, or even Primtive somehow as a bad omen for what is to follow and expect from younger generations of skaters.
I'm more than willing to change my mind if you have counter examples. Especially counter examples respected and admired by the culture. I swear that would cheer me up.