Since starting out as a humble bedroom project, Yardsale Skateboards has rapidly grown into one of the best UK skate brands thanks to their impeccable team, premium clothing and refreshingly tropical take on London skateboarding. Managing to effortlessly blend premium, high fashion vibes with pure, authentic skateboarding without ever coming close to selling out, Yardsale offers a pretty perfect example of how to start a skate brand and we're always hyped to be supporting them.
HISTORY OF YARDSALE
Founded in 2012 by London-based skater and filmer Dan Kreitem, Yardsale XXX originally began as a way to sustain his film-making, as filming skate videos alone isn't exactly the most lucrative enterprise at the best of times. After (understandably) getting sick of flogging overpriced trainers in Size and eventually leaving his job there, Dan landed himself a job in London's Slam City Skates where he helped film the team and eventually started Yardsale.
Through his Slam connection, Dan managed to sell the first load of Yardsale T-shirts through the shop, helping to establish the brand's reputation early on. The shop even approached Dan with an offer to own half of the company in exchange for help with funding and manufacturing, with the first batch of Yardsale decks being made out of the Slam factories. However, this partnership didn't end up working out and Dan decided to go his own way, keeping 100% control of the brand - which, in hindsight, was definitely a smart move.
Since then, Dan has remained in full creative control of the brand, personally designing all their product, handling the production process and still filming and editing their videos to this day. Despite having no experience in fashion and only a D in Business Studies to his name, Dan has managed to take Yardsale from its humble beginnings to being one of the most stylish, sought-after skate brands in the UK, if not the world, so he's clearly been doing something right.
YARDSALE SKATE TEAM
The Yardsale team has been somewhat of a petri dish for British talent over the years, with some of the finest UK skaters of the modern age rising to fame among their ranks. Most notably, Charlie Birch and Kyle Wilson skated for the brand before making the move to Palace, while Darius Trabalza also featured in many of their videos before gaining Atlantic Drift fame.
In more recent news, the brand announced their first ever pros with UK legends, Alex Hatfield and Bear Myles, being surprised with their debut pro boards at the premiere of their new 'YS 3' full-length. The Yardsale skate team currently features their new pros, Alex Hatfield and Bear Myles, alongside Curtis Pearl, Kelvinas Litvinas, Stanley Pradel and former Enjoi pro, Thaynan Costa, who has also recently been turned pro for the brand.
YARDSALE SKATE VIDEOS
With the brand being founded off the back of Kreitem's love of filming, it's safe to say that Yardsale's skate videos have played a huge part in cultivating the brand's unique identity over the years. Motivated by a desire to portray London in a different light to the typically grey videos of yesteryear, their videos have always brought some much-needed summery vibes to the big smoke with soothing colour palettes and sunset skylines that make a nice change from all the smog and misery usually associated with the city.
While the aesthetic may be unusually tropical for a UK skate brand, the locations featured are quintessentially British with the Yardsale team going above and beyond to scope out niche spots, placing a heavy emphasis on crusty brick banks - which even lead them here to Cardiff to skate Redbanks. In search of these coveted grails of British skateboarding, the lads have been known to scope out promising-looking estates on Google Maps, even daring to venture into the depths of Woking in search of spots. Desperate times call for desperate measures I guess. But at least, on top of being incredible skate videos, some of their early offerings could make valuable case studies for anyone hoping to study the effects of urban degradation.
Despite their strong London roots, Yardsale has never restricted itself to just one city, or even one country, with their first full-length video featuring clips filmed between London, Los Angeles, Paris and a smattering of other European destinations, while somehow managing to seamlessly blend the disparate climates into one. Since then, they've also come through with videos filmed in Paris, Budapest, Taipei, Mexico, Tokyo and Seoul as well as an East Coast tour of the US.
Since their first ever video,'LDN-LAX', right up to their most recent full-length, 'YS 3', Yardsale's videos have always had a distinctive vibe to them thanks to the unique colour palettes, impeccable editing and choice soundtrack selection. Often opting for lo-fi electronic beats, the song choices work hand-in-hand with the visuals to really help give the videos their tropical, romantic feel. These are skate videos you can watch at an afters.
YARDSALE SKATEBOARDS AND CLOTHING
From Tony Soprano-esque tracksuits to Y2K tribal designs, it's not just Yardsale's videos that pack tonnes of flavour, with their clothing also matching their carefully curated aesthetic. Yardsale produce a wide range of tees, hoods, pants, jackets, caps, beanies and more with VICE describing their aesthetic as somewhere between LA jogger chic and mid-80s Mafia casual-wear, meaning loads of velour tracksuits, zip hoods and pastel colours.
As well as producing a wide range of premium uppers, Yardsale pants are some of the most popular on the market with styles including the Goblin and Phantasy jeans rivalling the likes of Polar with their flawless baggy fit. But that's not to say they limit themselves to denim, the brand are constantly innovating when it comes to their trou, branching out into other styles of pants including joggers, slacks, cargos, shorts and even GORPcore-certified Outdoor pants. Check out our full Yardsale Jeans Fit Guide to find out more about the different styles and how they fit!
Alongside all their premium clothing, Yardsale also produce a load of top-quality skateboard decks which feature a wide array of equally stylish designs, ranging from their usual 90s and Y2k inspired aesthetics to more surreal and futuristic offerings. Bizarrely, Yardsale's decks also commonly feature references to the legendary 'Alien' film franchise, with graphics inspired by the films' eponymous xenomorph creature and its iconic poster with the tagline, as well as other trippy sci-fi aesthetics that are sure to appeal to everyone's inner nerd.
On top of their own standalone clothing, Yardsale have also come through with some incredible collabs over the years, working with some of the biggest brands and designers both inside and outside of skateboarding. From their early Yardsale x Vans shoes to their more recent collabs with legendary designers like Yardsale x Sergio Tacchini and Yardsale x Rick Owens, Yardsale always bring that combination of core skateboarding and high fashion with high quality products and unique designs that set them apart from other brands.
Yet, despite their clear fashion influences and collabs with legendary designers, Yardsale have always maintained that they're not some hypebeast fashion brand and that skateboarding is always at the core of what they do. As a result, Yardsale clothing and decks are only available from skate shops (like us), or direct from their website.
Keep your eyes peeled for when new Yardsale product lands in store and make sure you subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know - you'll also get 10% off your first order with us!
