Sk8thing

18/1/23 | 8-10 mins | Fashion History

Call him the Ura-Hara tax man

In the late 90s and early 2000s, Harajuku was rife with tastemakers bringing their own perspective on, what they would have considered, a somewhat dull world. This caused a melting pot of boundary pushing aesthetics to be born out of this era, many of which are still having culturally significant effects to this day. One of these is the Ura-Hara style, blossoming out of a concoction of American influences – military, film, punk, and motorcycles just to name a few. While we all know about Nigo (Bape), Jun (Undercover), Tet (WTAPS), Shinsuke (Neighbourhood) and Hiroshi (GOODENOUGH/Electric Cottage), there was one other who much less vocal at the time, working behind the scenes. His name is Sk8thing.

Sk8thing & Pharrell via Grailed

While he has become a more recognisable figure ever since interest in Ura-Hara has exploded in recent years, he was much less so during the beginning. He was akin to the tax man. Never really had a face you could identify, but he sure did have a hand in everything that was going on in 4-Chome Street, Harajuku. Although it may not seem apparent at first, due to the individual appeal that all the brands from that scene provided, he played the graphic design kingpin of the area. He provided graphics for Bape, GOODENOUGH, Undercover, WTAPS, Bounty Hunter, Neighbourhood, among many others. When taking a step back though, it all seems to make more sense, an overarching graphic style was evident across these brands in the early days, although it was seamlessly integrated to their given aesthetic.

To bring more light to the type of person he is, an interview from Interview Magazine in 2010 is probably the best place to start. From the beginning it was obvious that he values his privacy and prefers to contribute from behind the scenes. He stated that he doesn’t have any desire to do interviews and enjoys working for brands with a visible figurehead, so he doesn’t have to show himself. He was also a machine, working alone in his studio, opting not to travel with people like Hiroshi, and rather staying in his routine to grind through his ever-growing backlog of designs he put on himself to do. Other than that, all we got was that he likes pizza. While this interview is now nearly 13 years old, and his work-rate has most definitely slowed, it still speaks to the role that he played during Ura-Hara’s golden era, even if he never has shown his face.

Sk8thing & Pharrell via The Interview Magazine

Since he has been part of many ground-breaking projects during his time on earth, it is only right to dive into some of the most culturally significant ones, starting in 1990.

1990 - GOODENOUGH (aka GDEH)

Scan of GOODENOUGH Profile in "The Last Orgy" Magazine via Sabukaru

It was fresh out of the 80s, and the already well renowned DJ at the time, Hiroshi Fujiwara, had taken Sk8thing under his wing. While the reason is unknown, Sk8thing managed to convince Hiroshi to start their own clothing brand. From there, Fujiwara then changed Sk8thing’s life by teaching him a basic level of graphic design on his Mac. They eventually started the label which aimed to produce premium graphic tees (a novel idea at the time), while keeping them scarce and pricing them in the same ballpark as high fashion. For the two, no other brand was ever good enough, so they made this, the one which was. This brand was truly ahead of its time, and it is easy to see how Sk8thing propelled himself forward from here.

1992 - A Bathing Ape in Lukewarm Water (Bape)

Nigo in his House Tour via Vanitasism

Nigo and Sk8thing watched 5 hours of Planet of the Apes, and then Sk8thing did his thing. He managed to create the beginning of one of, if not, the biggest streetwear brand to ever come out of Japan. After opening NOWHERE store in Harajuku, Nigo was curating brands, but none were his. Jun was doing Undercover in the other half of the store, but Nigo wanted something of his own. He can thank Sk8thing for that, with him ultimately producing the name and initial graphics for the first run of tees which hit shelves in NOWHERE, selling out almost immediately. The name for the brand was a play on the Japanese idiom – “A bathing ape in lukewarm water”, which is someone who complacently overindulges. A perfect name for the brand and their demographic.

2005 - Billionare Boys Club (BBC)

Nigo & Pharrell via NSS Magazine

By this time, Bape had become a worldwide success thanks in no small part to Sk8things graphics and contributions to the brand. One of the people responsible for bringing it into the mainstream in the west was Pharrell. While working at Bape Sk8thing made connections with Toby Feltwell through common interests, and this was the beginning of a creative powerhouse duo. Toby moved to Bape in 2003, leaving Mo’ Wax records, where he had formed a relationship with Skateboard P. Pharrell got to the point where he was interested in starting his own label. Toby introduced Sk8thing, and the rest is history. He is responsible for a countless number of the iconic BBC graphics, although it is its own entity, you can really see the cross-over in influences and design languages between the BAPE and BBC collections around this time.

2007 - The Changes

"The Times They Are The Changes" Exhibition at the Mu Gallery via Mu Gallery

Jumping across the Pacific to Melbourne, Sk8thing built relationships with some of the most influential Australian designers of the modern era, Shauna Toohey and Misha Hollenback, aka PAM. During 2005, Perks and Mini was doing a drive to get their products into the Japanese market. While they were extremely successful at doing that, eventually opening a store in 2006, they also became acquainted with Sk8thing while they were there. Both Sk8thing and PAM are known for their outlandish and free-flowing graphics, it seemed like it was meant to be. From there they went on to form a collective with Fergus Purcell, called “The Changes”. While info on the collective is quite scarce, they managed to put together an exhibition in Milan called “ITALIENS” in 2007, while also producing a mixtape for Slam Jam. In 2008 they produced another exhibition called “The Times They Are The Changes” in Mu Gallery, Eindhoven, Germany. A tee was also produced to go along with it, with only 150 units, and it was very true to both PAM and Sk8thing’s design languages.

2010 - Human Made

Nigo & Pharrell via Sole Collector

Nigo and Sk8thing were considered a formidable duo in the streetwear space at this time, and it seemed that nothing could touch them. However, Nigo was acutely aware of the fickleness of the fashion industry and decided to branch off into another venture, called Human Made. This label was more vintage americana, and military inspired, and yup, you guessed it, Sk8thing was there for the ride. He was responsible for contributing to the original idea, along with producing the graphics and advising for the brand. While at the time the move may have been seen as strange considering the strength of Bape, it was crucial to Nigo’s legacy, as it is now his only label, and carries more interest than its predecessor in the current day. This is another instance where Nigo has Sk8thing to thank for his efforts.

2011 - Cav Empt

Image from Cav Empt's FW15 Lookbook via I-D Magazine

to all of Japan were destroyed, resulting in power shortages and technology outages. Cav Empt was born out of the realisation of the fragility of the technological infrastructure which had been created and weaved into the soul of the world. It brings the future, the past, the innovation, and the dangers of the internet and technology together as a Sk8thing illustration. With Sk8things good friend, Toby, along with Hishiyama Yukata also working on the label, it was set to become a cult classic from the beginning, and that is exactly what it did. Initially boasting some of the most difficult pieces to get in the scene, while also rising at fantastical rates to the top of the underground scene, it has now become a mainstay among Japanese fashion enthusiasts and beyond.

While Sk8thing has grown over the years and will likely ultimately begin slowing his contributions to the fashion industry as he ages, the impact he has had on the scene is unmatched. Having his hand in 5+ major Japanese labels and creating his own, all while faceless, is a feat to marvel at. We also must remember he has no formal training and was taught by a DJ in the 90s on a Mac how to design logos. Crazy how the best things come from the most unexpected places.