Skate culture and fashion have merged over time, and the influence of figures in pop culture has changed the public's perception of skate culture, causing it to reach new audiences in the Columbia area.
The perception of skate culture was very negative in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Toole said he often faced criticism from his peers.
The skate culture aesthetic has boosted in popularity through its influence on fashionable brands, becoming accessible for everyone, said the owner of local skate shop Bluetile Skateboards David Toole.
“Skateboarders were ... more targeted, kind of hated on ... and I was beat up in school and stuff like that,” Toole said. “But during those times, you saw that skateboarders were beat up for wearing things that people didn’t think were cool, but ... fashion trends would follow skateboarding.”
Now, modern streetwear reflects the 1990s and early 2000s styles, with items such as baggy jeans and chain wallets, Toole said.
Social media sites and their trends influence skate styles, but young people now regularly switch their styles, making it difficult for trends to stick to a single audience, Toole said.
“The younger generation is less susceptible to buying fully into a trend because there’s something new every single day,” Toole said.
Early and recent influencers in popular culture also play a role in the popularity of specific styles. These influencers and celebrities created fads around skater styles, said Bluetile Skateboards photographer Joshua Robinson.
The rise and importance of shoe culture in recent years brought seasonal increases and diverse crowds to Bluetile, Robinson said.
For skateboarders, shoes have always been essential. They are important for both skating and casually walking around.
"You are clearly using your feet to do everything, so obviously, feet matter to us and what we're wearing matters," Robinson said. "And it matters from a performance standpoint. It matters from a style standpoint, skateboarding is also very much an expressive thing ... so what you wear on a day-to-day is your outfit to skate in."
The popularization of the Nike Dunk and Nike's various collaborations with rapper Travis Scott during Covid 2020 brought more customers into the shop. Currently, the rise of New Balances and ASICS shoes is bringing new customers with their similar skate styles, Robinson said.
Supreme is another primary example of the merging between mainstream fashion and skate culture. Supreme is a fashion-based clothing brand that began selling to skaters, artists and other young people in 1994, now venturing into high fashion and collaborating with well-known designers such as Louis Vuitton.
"When I was in high school, I started wearing Supreme and my homies that didn't skate at my high school were wearing Supreme," Robinson said. "And then ... I'm seeing just the casual person wearing it when I'm walking down the street, and they're probably having no idea that it's a skateboarding company."
Supreme said mainstream music group Odd Future and popular member Tyler, the Creator sparked a new wave, changing the perception of skater wear, Robinson said.
"I think that these large fashion companies understand that skateboarders can be who they are and not judged within their profession for (styles)," Robinson said. "Plus they can still go skateboarding and do what they do while being dressed down (head)-to-toe in whatever you want them to be wearing."
High-level athletes, artists and models have also incorporated street style in their public outfits, said fashion stylist and USC alumna Ashley Jenkins. She said an Instagram page called LeagueFits is where she finds fashion content about various NBA players and celebrities such as Pharrell Williams, pushing the culture for all demographics in high-fashion.
Older generations are starting to pick up on streetwear styles that come from skate culture, Jenkins said.
“It’s not just certain age groups any more. It appeals to different generations,” Jenkins said. “And clothing brands and designers realize the need for that, so they’re creating at different tiers.”
Fashion resonates and connects people through the idea of self-expression, but also with the influence of various icons in popular culture, making people feel connected with celebrities. The creative mind and expression through art is what connects many involved in both the fashion and skate culture worlds, Robinson said.
"It's all connected by the fact that art is what creates good fashion, and skateboarders are typically art-focused because we are always being artists in our own ways," Robinson said. "Whether that be through the expression on (the skateboard) or doing something else, having that creative process about ... the intentionality behind how things should look or how it should operate."