Remember the first thing you bought at your local skate shop?
For weeks you had saved your allowances, even mowed the neighbor’s lawn for a little extra, and now it was time to decide between that World Industries tee featuring Wet Willy, the one from Blind that had the famous Reaper on it, and that Droors longsleeve. The Hook-Ups sweater, with its hentai inspired graphic, was completely out of the question. Your parents would’ve had you return it the instant they saw you in it; an act so shameful just thinking about it sent chills down your spine. Basically, any graphic designed by Mark McKee was beyond limits. Browsing through the clothes racks was an adventure unto itself: behind every t-shirt, behind every zip-up sweater, there was waiting an unexplored world of cool items that you felt you absolutely had to own. Once you had settled for what to buy, you darted back home, rewatched your bootlegged copy of Shorty’s Guilty,put your rugged DC Lynx on, and headed back out, your worn-down Alien Workshop Jason Dill pro board mall-grabbed in your hand. It was time to show to your friends, who were already chilling at the spot next to the public library, what you had gotten at the coolest place in the universe, the local skate shop. You felt like a million bucks.
Today, you get your fix online, clicking through pages upon pages of items. There’s a fuckton of it, but something’s missing: the wonder and excitement that comes from the first-hand discovery of something totally unexpected. You can afford most that retro 90s and early 2000s looking stuff, but you’re already seeing diminishing returns from buying any of it. It’s cool, for sure, but what you’re looking for is the real deal.
That’s were Bonkers Vintage comes in.
At the moment, we’re experiencing a renaissance of all things 90s and early 2000s, a time when skate graphics were so provocative, some mall skate shops refused to sell them on the grounds that they weren’t exactly family-friendly. Some efforts are made to replicate the distinct aesthetic of the time; yet, simply copying the nefarious irony of such great artists as McKee or Sean Cliver often lacks the venomous punch from back in the day.
Our new service, Bonkers Vintage, is all about making accessible skateboarding’s colorful, controversial, and sometimes beautiful past. A cooperation with Mannheim-based shop Shemonster Vintage, owned and run by our good friend Bernhard “Bernie” Glimm, Bonkers Vintage aims at delivering authentic, original skate stuff from back in the day. Whether you’re looking into buying vintage apparel to complete your collection, or you’ve stumbled across old stuff that you’re eager to sell, Bonkers Vintage provides a platform for anyone interested in skateboarding fashion beyond what’s new and shiny. Even if you weren’t around in the late 90s and early 2000s, you might find our vintage items interesting — it’s always a good thing to learn about history, anyway. Some items you’ll find on Bonkers Vintage are excessively worn, others are as good as new. Some brands we don’t usually carry, and others don’t even exist anymore. Whatever the case, each piece is a witness to a part of skateboarding history.
Bonkers Vintage will go online on our web site tomorrow (20th June) at 12 noon CET.
