Stingwater, that new NY-based label your trendier friends are talking about, sure is confusing. According to our research, it’s the brainchild of one Daniel Kim, 2016 Quartersnacks Skater of the Year (QSSOTY). If you have seen Colin Read’s Spirit Quest, you probably came across Daniel Kim. If you haven’t seen Spirit Quest yet, do yourself a favor, stop reading this nonsense right the fuck now, head over to YouTube and watch it. Anyway, back on topic: In a dated Quartersnacks interview Kim was asked about the nature of Stingwater. His answers were nebulous, if not outright esoteric. Fatigued, the QS interviewer eventually let it go, but Bonkers wouldn’t be your favorite shop slash investigative skateboarding business blog if we hadn’t tracked Kim down and asked him some questions of our own.
Turns out Stingwater was founded in 2016, on Martin Luther King Day to be specific. Kim mentioned the well-known words “I have a dream” to us, leading us to believe that Stingwater is his dream. Stingwater, he further claims, means “something speshal,” without elaborating on what he thinks is “speshal” or why he refuses to spell correctly. The weird spelling extends to Stingwater’s tagline, “GROE,” which apparently means “Getting Ready tO Evolve.” It’s all really trippy and New Agey, but there are no tie-died shirts or anything hippie like that, so we guess it has that going for it. But they do sell $5.800 “Speshal” water, which is probably what rich New Yorkers use to spray into their faces on a hot summer’s day. We still don’t really get what Stingwater is all about, but the mystery surrounding it is enough to keep us intrigued. Maybe it’s a 12 Monkeys kind of eco underground revolution scheme, maybe it’s the next cool thing hanging vis-a-vis Gucci at Dover Street Market. Maybe it’s both. It sure is bonkers, which is why select Stingwater items are now available at our web store and in our shop in Frankfurt.
