10 Skate Brands That Influenced Streetwear

Influence is impossible to quantify, but it’s safe to say that skateboarding had a massive impact on streetwear. Skate brands had been pumping out graphic tees, ripping off corporate logos, and repurposing sports and workwear for decades before streetwear cemented itself as a category. The skate industry birthed an ecosystem of companies that basically didn’t exist outside of specialty stores. In the ’90s, as skating rose in popularity, the aesthetic they developed—designs that borrowed freely from punk rock, hip-hop, rave culture, and so on—began to surface in broader street fashion.

The designers behind each successive wave of streetwear brands had almost certainly come in contact with skating. Alongside influences from hip-hop, graffiti, and the downtown scene, elements of skate culture showed up in releases, sometimes subtly, other times less so. Streetwear brands also operated like skate companies, producing small quantities of clothing and selling them through limited channels.

Still, skating’s influence on streetwear dates to the ’80s, and some of the companies that helped shape it vanished more than 30 years ago. We can’t list all of them, but here are 10 skate brands whose imprints are all over contemporary street fashion.