We’re way into the latest offering from South London indie brand Blast Skates. It’s a collaboration with none other than PlayStation, one that harkens back to the good old days of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and highlights era-appropriate gear. They’ve done some rad collabs before — the Long Live South Bank one was fire — but we all grew up on THPS so we’ve got a real soft spot for this one.
Each Blast x PlayStation Playable box comes with one tee, one wallet, one web belt, one pair of socks, one sticker pack, and one “Button Basher” enamel pin pack. The four pins are, of course, the X, they Y, the O, and the square that you’d find on a PlayStation controller. We were lucky enough to catch up with Blast headman Matthew Bromley to chat about how the collection came to be, and how incredibly limited it is. Get it while you can! – SKATEISM
Obviously your designs draw heavily from kind of retro video game imagery, but how did you end up working with Playstation Playable?
Blast Skates were asked to be a part of the new Playstation Playable project which supports creatives like myself, bringing one-off projects to life. We worked together on some ideas and concepts and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater came up because it’s been a big influence of mine, I ran with it and put the collection you see together!
Your press release mentioned Tony Hawk, a game that definitely got me into skating. How does THPS 1 play into the collection?
100% that game and subsequent volumes influenced a whole generation of skateboarders. Without running the risk of sounding like a dinosaur, things were different then and the internet/social media etc wasn’t what it is now (obviously mags and vids were they way to find out) but that was one of the most exciting ways in which to learn about what skateboarding was! The trick names, riders along with the brands associated and of course the style/clothing!
What inspired the wallet/chain and the military style belt? Just their presence in late 90s/early aughts skating?
These items at the time were the accessible low priced items that made you feel like part of that tribe!
When you went anywhere and saw another person wearing skate shoes (with rips and holes in them!) a web belt hanging down on their baggy jeans and a chain wallet, you KNEW they were a skateboarder and you KNEW they probably religiously button bashed their special bars to the max [laughs].
Are there really only 50 sets total? Will people be able to buy any items a la carte after the 50 boxes are gone, like the buttons or socks?
Yeh there was only 50 boxes made, and there was a free prize raffle to win them and some were gifted to friends and family of Blast Skates. I was so stoked with how it all came together and it was really fun to design!
I think you might see the wallets and belts be available via blastskates.com and all good UK skate shops soon!
Any other cool details about the collection that people should know about? Sustainable manufacturing, handprinted boards (I assume yes?), secret invisible ink South Bank treasure map on the sticker pack, etc.?
Well I put all 50 boxes together with my own very hands, so there’s that! The items were screenprinted by Repro Print Co. in southeast London and Dan Joyce shot the look book Instagram slide-thru.
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Follow Blast on Instagram (@blastskates).
