Everything Shines in a Beautiful Light

There are days that are meant to remembered in a better light than others. It’s during those days when special things happen – things that stay with us for a long time. Whether it’s being together with cool people, seeing new stuff, absorbing new influences, or being away from home. All the elements click together and the magic happens. On that note, it’s not possible to create those kinds of days on demand because otherwise mankind would probably try to have them every single day. But then again, there are some formulas at work in skateboarding that will definitely increase our chances of embracing some significant moments.

In the minds of skateboarders, enjoying a great day means something different; like enjoying a day with friends, skateboarding, and watching some great tricks unfold.

Meanwhile, autumn has arrived here in Germany. The sun sets earlier and it’s getting colder day by day. For this reason, we brought together the shop crews of SHRN, Civilist and, Arrow & Beast for a get-together in Munich, to make the most of these days when everything shines in a beautiful autumn light. The crew consisted of Sami Harithi, Colin McLean, Giorgi Armani, Mario Ungerer, Joscha Aicher, Yaw Kyeremeh, and Erik Müller – all together representing a great mix of styles and cultural backgrounds in the tour van. The occasion for the meet-up was the launch of the Nike SB HO’15 collection.

The results of this epic journey is presented in this PLACE x Nike SB Special Feature “Call It a Day.”

filmed by Kamil Krzesniak & Matthias Reich
edited by Kamil Krzesniak

The Uniform. The Look

Every person has their own “look”. Some of us are more conscious about the way we look than others. Clothes serve many different functions, depending on the desired results: They keep us warm in cold environments. They camouflage us in a jungle, desert, or urban environment. And they can draw attention and put a spotlight on us – if attention is what we really want. And when two skateboarders meet for the first time, they might be able to tell what kind of tricks the other one likes just by looking at each other’s shoes.

Photos: Conny Mirbach

Because we as skateboarders are part of our own subculture, you could argue that we wear a uniform – a certain style or combination of clothes that sets us apart from other subcultures. Nowadays, defining your own style within the skateboarding community is more important than ever. How else are you going to stand out from the rest of the pack when the level of skateboarding is at an all-time historical high?

Skateboard clothing is all about the finer details. It always is – and always has been.

The bottom line is: Clothes should make you feel comfortable in your own skin. When you put together your outfit for the day, it reflects the way you feel in that particular moment.

Meet Up. The Session

Skating the streets every day and night was and is something we love. You get kicked out of spots, have run-ins with the police and get into confrontations with “concerned” citizens. For this time in Munich, we‘ve been pretty lucky, although we were a crew of 15 people. There was only one bust, which was actually funny: The female security guard screamed so loud at us, that we had to laugh out even louder. “Feierabend!”

Photos: Conny Mirbach & Benni Markstein

But there are also a lot of cool girls around, and you get to explore the city and chat with a lot of interesting people. A friend recently told me:

If I see somebody sitting on the street, I feel like they’re dirty but when I see a group of skaters sitting on their boards that seems perfectly normal.

The Gallery. The Makes

As we mentioned before, there are affecting formulars in skateboarding. First of all, bringing some highly talented skaters together (the more the better) in the right environment – meaning great skate spots – has been proven to make some magic happen. Secondly, making sure that everybody likes to hang out with each other is key, so everyone will motivate one another to go big and bust out. Thirdly, just grabbing a coffee and going with the flow works wonders as you can see in the following gallery:

Photos: Leo Preisinger

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