With skater-inspired spreads popping up in glossy fashion mags on the regular and high fashion editors seeking makeovers from professional skaters, there's truly little doubt about the influence of this one-time slackers' sport over modern style. Which makes WeSC's latest collaboration a timely and on-trend one. Teaming up with Stereo Skateboards—a California-based skate crew founded by Jason Lee and Chris Pastras—WeSC has created a 22-piece capsule collection of graphic tees, logo ridden sweaters and five-panel caps that mines a shared love of functional clothing and throwback skater style. For actor/comedian Lee, this latest endeavor is a nostalgic one, harkening back to his rag tag days as a pro-skater long before hitting prime time TV rotation. We spoke with Lee, Pastras and WeSC CEO Joe Janus about finally bringing their brands together after 22 years of friendship and skate's new-fangled influence over fashion.
Closing the gap between the skate and style worlds
Jason Lee: "For so many years [those in the fashion world] weren't paying attention to us. It took a long time. Since the early '90s, there was such a gap between skateboarding and the art and fashion worlds. I like that it's more common now. Remember back in the early '90s, when skater style was super baggy pants and super extra large t-shirts? It was a good day when that started going away. The stuff that WeSC is making now, we were basically wearing the thrift store version of this back in the day. That's basically what it is. The shit that's here is what we would've wanted to find in the early '90s. That's why we made this collaboration."
Mining the '90s for creative inspiration
Chris Pastras: "We have a 22-year history, so we looked back at what the most important era for us was. When we launched in the early '90s, we created a video called "A Visual Sound." We worked with a photographer who shot a bunch of Super 8 and 16mm still photographs, which at the time was creative and unique. Our influence was jazz documentaries and Blue Note Records' cover art. The creative marker for us was the early '90s, so we set up the collaboration around these images from that time."
Taking skate style to the mainstream
Joe Janus: "It's more about momentum. If skate has an influence now, it'll have an influence forever. I don't think skating is going anywhere. As it becomes more mainstream but keeps its root with cool people out there doing cool things, you'll see more individuality and when you see individuality, those individuals will affect fashion."