Introducing: Tired Skateboards
It takes only a flying glance at the ‘70s retro-style drawings, vibrant colourings and hybrid beaked-humans pasted all over the vintage-shaped decks and pastel-toned attire to understand Tired Skateboards’ ties to the great Piet Janssen. Launched in partnership with long-time skater Brad Staba in 2014, Tired Skateboards exists solely to honour the collective’s ode to skateboard veterans, the guys that are aching for days after a skate session and those in the market for a genuine good time. Representing a state of mind more than age, ability or anything else, Tired is designed with respect for the die-hards and for those that love the Dutch designer’s kooky sense of contemporary creativity.
Nicknamed Tired as an active reference to artist-come-skater-come-businessman Piet Janssen’s laid-back skate-style, the brand is no stranger to the skate game. Housed under Big Time Distribution alongside Staba’s own SkateMental and Brian Anderson’s 3D Skateboards, Tired celebrates a wealth of skate-centric character - much of which filters down not only from sister-brand by Parra’s quick-witted legacy and iconic Nike SB affiliation, but from California-born Staba’s endearing character and outlandish spirit - think Thrasher’s ‘Skateboarding 101’ and the 10 year old ‘Nervous Breakdown’ edit. Speaking for both by Parra, originally dubbed Rockwell by Parra, and Tired, Janssen describes the conceptual and liberal-thinking aesthetic as something that ‘holds no backdrop, letting people digest and free-willingly place it within their own socio-cultural context’.
Taking inspiration from cocktail-culture, polo-necked golfing aesthetics and co-founder Piet Janssen’s passion for mythological meanderings, SS21 for the expressive Tired Skateboards crew couldn’t have come at a better time. Keeping creativity alive with block-tone colourings, contrasting mix-ups and with avid reference to cult-like obscurites, Tired’s latest and debuting drop here at Flatspot introduces a number of essentials into the mix. All-cotton tees such as the Bloody Tired T-Shirt pair well with insulative layers such as the Long T Logo Pullover Hoodie and the Embroidered Golf Logo Crewneck, whilst headwear accessories and nostalgic-shaped 7-ply decks are accurately styled with the brand’s skate what you want, how you want mindset in mind.
Coming full circle to mirror 2018’s ‘Tired and Destroyed’ release from the Tired Skateboards Thrasher Magazine saga, the brand celebrates yet another collaboration with the San Francisco-based publication powerhouse. A play on Thrasher’s Skate and Destroy mantra, the graphic-led release turns its attention to font-face etchings more so than to Piet Janssen’s usual oddity-offering vibe for a classic and nostalgic sense of appeal. Graffiti-style embroidery and neutral-hued colourways tap into Thrasher’s old-school allure and street-wise character, whilst the collection’s subtle quirkiness keeps Parra and Staba’s unprocessed design style in tow with tradition.
Although host to no physical team, eclectic skaters such as Pete Spooner, Marsha Howard, Thomas Merior and Micheal Condello find themselves common-place alongside skaters of all abilities from across the world, with Tired’s ‘everyone is part of the team’ ethos addressing the very nature of evolutionary skate-culture in its rawest form. Dedicated to ‘the guys breathing heavily after one ollie’, ‘the guys the same age as the security guard kicking you out of the spot and to all skateboarding enthusiasts who will never have a career in skateboarding’, Tired’s unhampered and free-wandering creative spirit is something that continues to unite, inspire and challenge the contemporary structure of the modern-day skate scene.
Shop all Tired at Flatspot.
