INTERVIEW BY: JOHANNES SCHÖN
ARTWORK BY: NILS TROSTMANN
Let’s properly introduce you. What’s your name and where are you located?
My name is Nick. I’m from Florida and grew up skating around the Tampa area. I started skating at a young age in the late 90s and was then heavily influenced by the skating fashion/culture of those days. I’m glad to see some of that style coming back, but I still think some of those fits should stay in the 90s/early 2000s, haha.
“In fact, some of my first posts on the page were from my personal findings. So then I started to notice in the comments of various posts (…) and thought maybe others might care about the data I had collected.”
We’ve been talking about this for a while, probably since you were at 4k Followers. Your stuff has been blowing up lately. What got you into starting this page?
Honestly, the idea for this page started from my own curiosity. Prior to starting the page, I used to ask various skaters what pants they wore from my personal account. Once I started getting a few lucky replies, I would save the info and usually go off and purchase the pants they replied with. In fact, some of my first posts on the page were from my personal findings. So then I started to notice in the comments of various posts that I wasn’t the only one asking these questions, along with other questions (i.e. board size, shoes, etc) and thought maybe others might care about the data I had collected. I once heard a wise person say if you want any business to be successful you have to have a genuine personal interest in the product. I think the success of the page is due to my own interest and there’s nothing better than scoring good info on some of the most elusive pants out there. Most who follow may not know but I take huge pride in posting only factual information. Per my own rules, I must confirm the pants with the person wearing them before posting them. The account started as a small hobby but now has grown to take up a lot of time during the day. I get tons of DMs for requests and I always try to answer all of them. With that said, I have a bit of a personal bias and if I don’t personally care for the fit and the trick then I won’t post it or even bother finding out what the pants are.
You once told me there is a bigger philosophy to this account. Can you go into detail about this?
Maybe I think too much about this stuff since I run a pants account but I think there is something really special about finding a good pair of pants to skate in. I can recall trying to mimic some of my early skateboarding icon’s style and feeling amazing while I was on my board. On the flip side, if you were wearing something you weren’t too stoked on you might have a bad session. I always felt like if you look good, you feel good and your performance on the board will be better too. I dare to say fashion in skateboarding is just as, if not more, important than technical skill. You can watch some dude blast off a simple ollie with some great pants on and be more stoked than someone with a shitty fit doing something more technical. Hell, look at Gino – it might be more than just the push, it could be the fit and the push that really make him magical.
Agree to a certain level that the fit is very important. Of course, style comes from the whole body’s movements but the main stuff happens with your legs. Starting in the late 90s/early 2000s you have experienced many different fits? Did the pants get too tight for you at some point?
Coming up in the late 90s I definitely started with the baggy fits at a younger age. Things got way tight for me as time progressed into the 2000s…too tight! I’m glad to see things flipping direction a bit now. I think it makes sense as there was literally no way to go any tighter in some cases.
What are your personal go-to pants?
Lately, I’ve been a huge fan of the Carhartt WIP Master Pant. But to be honest some of my everyday wear are a simple pair of black Dickies Duck Carpenter pants. You can’t go wrong with Dickies, a tried and true classic. I’ve been searching for the perfect, semi-unique/high-end chino. So far I haven’t found the perfect pair, maybe it doesn’t exist. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever be satisfied with just one pair.
“Polar is dominating the market right now and the Silvertabs are highly sought after because of their limited availability.”
Give us a top 5 of pants you would say are requested the most and could be considered most sought after right now!
Ha well, as anyone knows who follows the account it seems like nine times out of ten the requested pants are Polar Big Boys. So I would say those are definitely number one. After that, I would say: Levi’s Silvertabs, Polar Surf Pants and probably Dickies 874. Polar is dominating the market right now and the Silvertabs are highly sought after because of their limited availability. I try my best to mix it up and don’t post a lot of confirmed requests I get because they end of being Polar Big Boys. The comments get a little negative when I tend to post those too much, haha.
Pontus is killing it!
Where do you think trends will go in the next months/year? Wider? Tighter?
I’ve seen a trend towards bigger lately, but I wouldn’t be surprised if things flatten out and have a clean straight fit for awhile. I think there might be more consciousness these days to looking like a total dork with some pants that are way too big.
“I don’t think tight is coming back anytime soon. Skateboarding tends to leads fashion and now that non-skaters are on board with the tight pants, it’s time for us to lead in another direction.”
How long until we are back to tight ripped pants?
I don’t think tight is coming back anytime soon. Skateboarding tends to leads fashion and now that non-skaters are on board with the tight pants, it’s time for us to lead in another direction. In the non-skateboarding world, there is some really gross pants fashion going on.
We should go weird, just to spoil the fashion industry.
Why do you think pants play such a big part in style?
I think because it’s the trickiest part of a fit to get right. Anyone can throw on a t-shirt and some shoes, but getting the right fitting pants that work for you is tough.
What pants would you pick if you had to pick a pair for the rest of your life? Keep in mind, trends will change and you would need to wear that shit to weddings as well!
The first thing that comes to mind is Dickies or some similar standard chino. If you have a well fitting pair of chinos you can basically do anything in them. You would have to be careful to not have something too oversized because odds are that won’t age well.
Words to live by. Thanks! We will keep following your journey!
Thanks Pocket!