Joe Hinson 'Britannia' section

We saying heroin is still UK?

I have a take on this.

My angle is that social media and the internet has for some done entirely away with the need for photos in mags or even placement/backing by mags for video releases as a media partner to help push it.

Johnny Giger, Force Wheels, Jamie Griffin, and even Alex all exist outside of the traditional skate media system and I’m not sure they care at this point.

My reasoning is that: if we were to talk about UK media only, someone like Alex Decunha (102k) doesn’t particularly need Grey (68k), TSC (11.5k), North (18k) and Vague (46.1k) to put himself out there in terms of coverage.

I’m excluding Free as they are pan-European and Thrasher as they are (apparently) global but if we were to allow some cross-over of followers (so, people who follow more than one of those four mag accounts) then Alex’s reach is likely greater currently than ALL UK skate media combined.

I’m not saying that Alex never wanted a photo in a mag but I do feel like there was a point where Alex felt like - or was being told that - he was being ignored and kinda just went and did it off of his own back and whether by design or by luck, gained a heavy following.

…and that following he has (I presume), thinks he is cool enough to be interested in.

Which sort of makes any form of cool guy-ing even dafter in 2021…because you have a kid with 2-5 times the following who isn’t chasing you for photographs…and you think that you are cool guying him?

I think a lot of people and brands are having a hard time getting their head around what the skateboarding landscape looks like in 2021. And thats exactly why Cariuma exists. And thats why Palace exists. And Yardsale. And Braille. And why Alex has more followers that half your favourite pros.

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Whilst I don’t disagree with a lot of that, Decuna is on force wheels and has been in Revive videos. They have 4 million subscribers on YouTube, if 2% of those subscribers then decided to follow Decuna on IG then that’s his base right there. Comparing his following to that of the UK brands who haven’t advertised in braille or revive and aren’t “global” doesn’t fly

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Can we take a moment to appreciate the flag used by Darkstar for this English skater’s Britannia section is in fact the Australian flag?

Edit - sorry I just saw your G’day comment.

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Good point. Also worth mentioning that when it comes to influence, it isn’t necessarily the biggest follower base that is the most influential. It’s the most engaged and targeted. A brief and unscientific click through his followers suggests that Alex Decunha has a random as fuck audience.

Yeah, thats a really fair point.

So, remove them and you are left with Palace and Yardsale, right? And then the point still stands.

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Slightly relevant aside: Met a kid at the park skating a Braille blank board. £30 plus £5 for grip! Apparently they also have a UK warehouse now.

Crazy how this is all happening outside of the traditional industry as LS was saying.

Are you telling me you weren’t privy to this deal all this time?

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Thank you for the tip off. Copped!

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Oh wow so we’re going to start seeing braille stuff over here? Given how big the YouTube skate companies are meant to be in terms of followers and sales I’ve still never seen any of their boards in the wild

Skatehut have stocked remive for years, but thankfully I’ve never seen one out there either (however I do have limited contact with other skaters). I suffered one of their videos about 7 years ago and that was enough.

That Britannia vid is gnarly, ultra crust.

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Are Cariuma available in the UK from skate shops?

As far as I know, they are a direct brand mainly and don’t go through skate shops (by choice) only selling via Selfridges, etc.

I’ve only seen one pair in the wild and I think they may have been given to the skater.

wouldn’t have thought so, seems a bit early for them, i’m surprised you’ve actually seen some in person

They’ve been around and active in skating since September 2020 so going by even the heaviest pre-order deadlines for most brands, they should have dropped a summer season in stores a couple of months ago.
But they’d also have had stock available for stores right away so it should be even sooner…if they were selling via skate stores.

My guess is they have zero interest in that which kinda ties back to my big post last night.

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They and Revive have set up sites to serve the UK and EU.

Both run by ‘Mercury Brands Limited’.

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"Skateboarding B2B distribution

100% Skater owned and operated"

Looks like they have an office right by the Oval Space manny pad in Hackney (Sort of in between Mile End skatepark and Raemers Park) and warehousing in Leyton…

London takeover.

still though, i see a lot of skaters out and about, i pay attention to what boards they’re riding because i’m a grom at heart - never seen a braille or revive

you know what I see a lot of? penny brown accels (or similar) with a flip deck. 90s revival

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Without doxxing the owner (whose name is freely available with the company’s info), his public insta doesn’t scream skateboarding.

Yeah, I saw a bunch of DC, etnies and éS in the skatepark yesterday and have been seeing that stuff more and more. Been a while since I’ve seen Lakais…or a Flip board.

Braille are charging money for their trick tip videos?! What a dick move. Although I guess anybody skating Braille or Revive doesn’t have any real human friends to keep them right and advise anyway.

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