Brand History - Sour Solution

Join us as we take a look at the rich history of one of Europe's finest skateboard brands, Sour Solution, exploring the brand's origin story and extensive library of groundbreaking videos. Who said learning can't be fun?

Photo: Simon Isaksson with a precarious wallride shot by Gerard Riera

A long time ago in a land far, far away - Trollhättan, Sweden, in 1999 to be exact - there existed a company named Sweet Skateboards with their team of talented European skaters. The brand was started by a local guy, Thomas Löfgren, who dreamed of owning his own skate company. After hooking up local skaters with free boards for the initial few years, Sweet eventually released their first video, ‘Sweet Vacation’, in 2006 which showcased the brand to the world and helped them gain popularity in Sweden and beyond.

However, things didn’t stay sweet for long as the company grew larger and Thomas began selling off parts of the company to different investors, leading to unrest amongst the team’s skaters who wanted to keep the company focused on the skating, rather than prioritising the business aspects. According to members of the team, the skaters and their activities had always been separate from Sweet’s general operations and the increasing involvement of investors only served to heighten these divisions.

Photo: Björn Holmenäs switch wallie crooks shot by Samuel Ashley.

Ultimately, the situation at Sweet turned sour, and most of the skaters who rode for the company decided to abandon Sweet and start their own brand where they could do things how they wanted to. And so, in a move reminiscent of the birth of Blind from Vision, Sour Solution was born from Sweet with the new team hoping to distance themselves entirely from the image of their former brand. Led by Sweet team manager, Björn Holmenäs, and Sweet alumni, Erik J Petersson, Daniel Spängs, and Kristofer ‘Koffe’ Hallgren, the boys started rounding up people to join their new team. One of the first new additions to the team was a young Josef Scott Jatta, who they knew from local competitions. Josef was accompanied by Jonas Skroder, a seemingly quiet boy who they thought would help to mellow out the chaotic Josef, only for the pairing to have the opposite effect with Jonas turning out to be a 'devil in disguise'.

The next to join the team was Nisse Ingemarsson who, despite being thought of by the team as a skatepark kid from Stockholm, immediately fit in with the boys on a trip to Barcelona. Nisse was followed by Gustav Tønnesen who the team were also initially tentative about due to fears of him being ‘too good’, however he quickly became an essential part of the team despite his initial quietness. Finally, the boys recruited UK legend Barney Page, 'secret weapon' Simon Isaksson, and no-comply connoisseur, Albert Nyberg, to complete the Sour Solution team that remains largely unchanged to this day.

Photo: The Sour Solution team. Aren't they handsome?

In 2015, Sour Solution burst onto our screens with their first full-length video offering filmed by Jonathan Lomar, ‘The Sour Solution’, immediately establishing themselves as one of the most exciting companies in the game with their unique approach to skating. We've already talked loads about this video so if you want to hear more then head to the blog to read our full review of Sour's seminal full-length video. A couple of months later, Sour followed this up with a bangin’ 10-minute edit, ‘Suckness’, which pokes fun at Supreme and William Strobeck, both in the name - playing off the Supreme video, ‘Sickness’ - and the video’s introduction which mimics Strobeck’s signature style of filming.

The year 2016 marked a change in Sour’s videos as the multi-talented Gustav Tønnesen took over from Jonathan Lomar as the brand’s filmer, making his cinematic debut with the ‘Sour Promo’. Gustav laughs in the face of filmers and skaters around the world as he kills it behind the camera as well as in front of it, alongside strong performances from Nisse, Simon, and the rest of the lads. 2016 also saw Sour appear in the Transworld ‘Cinematographer Project’ video, as well as the ‘Sergio (cava brain)’ edit, filmed by Jack Thompson, which features another jab at Supreme with Nisse’s uncanny Ben Kadow impression, as well as mach-10 hillbomb lines from Josef, and a mind-boggling ollie one-foot back-foot from Albert. I know it doesn't make sense written down but just watch the video. You'll see.

In 2017, shortly after their ‘Sour Valencia tour’ video, Sour released their 20-minute Instagram compilation video, ‘Instagram Killed the Video Star’, which features the perfect blend of serious hammers and silliness. It’s no secret that the Sour boys kill it on the 'Gram, but making a 20-minute long video out of Instagram footage is no mean feat, especially one this good.

2019 was possibly one of Sour’s most productive years ever as they came through with their second full-length video, ‘The Sour Solution II’, which featured parts from all the Sour legends alongside some of the brand’s newer skaters: fierce French powerhouse, Oscar Candon, and the effortlessly stylish, Vincent Huhta. We were pretty big fans of Sour as it was but these new additions are two big, extra-juicy cherries on top of an already bangin' sundae. Also, shoutout to Simon’s ludicrous last part which delivers some of the most creative street skating you’re likely to ever see. Barely two months after the release of ‘The Sour Solution II’, the boys put together another bangin’ 15-minute video, ‘Sick But Suck’, as well as a series of raw ‘Sour Files’ featuring unused and behind-the-scenes footage from the videos. It's not often that a brand will follow up a full-length with another lengthy video offering, but then again, Sour aren't your usual brand.

Although we haven’t seen a full-length video from Sour for a couple of years, they released a hilarious promotional video for their collaboration with New Balance Numeric earlier this year which saw the return of Jonathan Lomar behind the lens. The skit sees Nisse playing the role of a rural Scandinavian farmer skating through the forest in his clogs before taking a nasty slam, prompting the farmer to make himself some more appropriate footwear: the Sour Solution x New Balance 379 Mid-top Modern Clog.

We’ll be taking a closer look at more of Sour’s videos later this month, but for now, you can check out our rundown of Sour’s latest drop, or head straight to the shop to browse the full collection of Sour skateboard decks and clothing available at Cardiff Skateboard Club. Safe.