A Radical Collection of Vintage Skateboard Advertisements

Skateboarding first came into prominence in the late 1970s, as was portrayed in the 200 film Lords of Dogtown. However, it was not until the 1980s that skateboarding would begin to become the sport that it is recognized as today. This decade was the coming of age era for many of its legendary personalities as well – Hosoi, Hawk, Vallely – and symboled the first theime in which skateboarding as an industry began advertising both more as a lifestyle, than a sport. Pro models were being produced, and brands were being created and grown on the backs of these young skateboarders. Below are 15 of the most radical skateboard ads from the 1980s:

Christian Hosoi – Hosoi Skateboards

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After a stint with the Bones Brigade and turning pro at the young age of 14 with Sims Skateboards in 1981, Christian Hosoi went on to create his own brand – Hosoi Skates, in 1984. Most decks produced under this moniker featured his signature ‘hammerhead’ shape, and they were so popular in the US and Japan that they were widely counterfeited at the time. As one of the most popular skater’s of the 1980s, Hosoi’s brand completely epitomized this era of flamboyance, style and attitude. And as a result, Hosoi and his brand became synonymous with the high-flying, charismatic skaters of the vert era.

Tony Alva – Alva Skates

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This ad, circa 1980 features one the most influential skaters of all time, and owner of Alva Skates, Tony Alva. As one of the original Z-boys, Alva was the first World Champion of skateboarding in 1977. Later that year, he turned his back on the big skateboard manufacturers, and parlayed his recognition as a skater, into success with his own eponymous brand – featured above.

Mike Vallely - Santa Cruz

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This late 1980s ad features Mike ‘V’ Vallely pulling a huge front side air, courtesy of Santa Cruz. It is interesting to note, that he was one of Powell’s biggest skaters at the time. So, this ad is sort of an anomaly. It’s also cool to see Jim Phillip’s screaming hand artwork. Vallely is one of the few skaters that has been fortunate to sustain a 20+ year career, during which he remained both active and popular as a skateboarder.

Mark Rogowski – Vision

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This late 1980s ad features Mark “Gator” Rogowski shortly after he renamed himself “Gator Mark Anthony” (as a slight to his real father, which he did not know). Rogowski was a fan favorite among skaters in the 1980s, but started to lose popularity during the rise of street skating. Rogowksi lived a loud rock-and-roll lifestyle during his heydey, and was at one time the face of Vision Skateboards. Today, he is perhaps most widely known for having murdered a women in March 1991.

Vision Street Wear

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Vision was one of the most innovative skate brands of the late ’80s and ’90s and is responsible for helping to build the multi-billion dollar skate shoe and apparel industry. Featuring team riders such as Nash, Gonzales and Gator, Vision was first pushed to customers as a fashionable skate brand for and by legit skaters.

Natas Kaupas – Etnies

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Natas Kaupas is widely heralded as being one of the first true street skateboarders. The above graphic for the then-France based brand, Etnies, shows one of the first examples of a shoe model being designed, worn and marketed by a professional skateboard – today simply, known as a pro model. Etnies was known to have picked Kaupas for this campaign because of his then recent rise to skateboarding fame, around 1987.

Steve Cabalerro and Alan Gelfand – Powell Peralta

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This ad features a very young Steve Caballero circa 1980, at the young age of about 16 and Alan Gelfand (creator of the “Ollie”), aged about 17, slinging hardware and accessories. The two were some of the earlier members of the Powell Peralta Bones Brigade, and helped to set the stage for, and subsequently helped to revolutionize skateboarding in the early 1980s.

Per Welinder – Powell Peralta

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This ad features the Sweden-born (and later co-founder of Birdhouse Skateboards) Per Welinder, the only skater to have the distinction to have beaten Rodney Mullen in a Championship. This ad, circa 1985 was produced at the height of Welinder’s success and shortly before his ‘Nordic Sperm’ pro model deck was released. Welinder would go on to co-found Birdhouse with fellow Bones Brigader, Tony hawk in 1992.

Tony Hawk – Bones Wheels

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Tony Hawk was skateboarding in the 1980s. After winning his first contest in 1980 at the age of 12, he turned pro for Powell Peralta at 14. He then went on to become the most popular skater of the decade; ads such as the one above (circa 1986), for Powell Peralta’s Bones brand of wheels did well to feature the world’s most popular skater at the time. Note: this ad also features Hawk’s famous PP Hawk Iron Cross deck, which is one of the most popular boards of all time.

Tony Hawk – Powell Peralta

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This 1989 Powell Peralta ad was one of the last ads featuring Hawk, and shortly before Peralta’s departure in 1991. There is a definite style change in this ad – which features a more adult Tony Hawk (21) attempting to look dark and brooding – from the Bones ad that preceded it on this list. It also shows the parallel importance of street and vert skateboarding during this transitional time in the sport, with mention of Hawk’s placement in the various categories.

Lance Mountain – Powell Peralta

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Lance Mountain was and remains skateboarding’s ‘nice guy’. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was not a womanizer nor did he have a public drug problem. He was content with skateboarding and being a little bit weird. Even though a bit creepy, his boards were a nice addition for the family-friendly Powell Peralta brand, which at the time featured mostly skull-themed board graphics.

Jason Jessee – Santa Cruz

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Jason Jessee is one of skateboarding’s most unique icons of all time. From obscurity, to infamy in just a few short years Jessee’s wild approach to life and skateboarder was a marketing department’s dream. According to Tony Hawk, Jessee skated faster and got more than any other, and it’s wonder why Santa Cruz was happy to have Jessee as the face of their brand during the mid to late 1980s. Now a motorcycle enthusiast and a world-renown sculptor, his pro models are still successful, especially in Japan where Jessee remains has a huge cult following.

Steve Olson – Santa Cruz

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While Powell Peralta was the most important brand of the 1980s in terms of market share, Santa Cruz has always been – and remains – a popular brand in its own right. During the late ’70s and early ’80s, the Santa Cruz team featured riders such as Steve Olson (above) and Duane Peters, who were among the first skateboarders to embrace the then-burgeoning punk scene as well. This famous Olson “checkerboard” pro model deck featured became synonymous with punk rock enthusiasts and is one of the brand’s most popular selling boards of the time.

Zorlac

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Started in a two-car garage in 1976, Zorlac was never one of the big skateboarding companies. The brand, still continues to make decks to this day, although there have been stints in which boards were not produced for several years at a time. The brand has always embodied a strong DIY ethic, and has always been on the weirder side of things. As is featured above, their ads differ from the rest of the pack, in that there are no big-name pros endorsing the products, and the artwork is hand-drawn.

Rodney Mullen – World Industries

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This 1989 World Industries advertisement was one of the first from the company that would take over significant industry market share, and become one of the largest brands in the 1990s. Started by Steve Rocco and Rodney Mullen, the latter of which became the figure head of the brand in the early days, they capitalized on his popularity and his being a well-respected skater in the community. But with that said, World Industries went on to be one of the most notoriously-ran(with ties to the mob) and seditionist brands in the industry.