SK8THING - THE LOW KEY DESIGNER BEHIND BAPE, BBC AND CAV EMPT
The fashion industry’s spotlight undeniably tends to attract big egos.
While many of today's designers leverage their image to stir up hype around their product, a second type of creative exists in the industry, to which the opposite applies:
preferably speaking through their design, they operate in the shadows rather than searching the spotlight. Sk8thing is one of this type, and yet his contribution to streetwear’s past and ongoing evolution is greater than you might think.
Shinichiro Nakamura, better known as Sk8thing, was born in Tokyo in 1969. Relatively little is known about his childhood, except for the fact that he received no formal art education. It wasn’t until Hiroshi Fujiwara eventually introduced him to an early Apple computer, that Sk8thing immediately dived into its graphic design software. He quickly made a name for himself as the graphic designer of Tokyo’s streetwear scene, his first big move being the invention of BAPE together with Nigo after a 5 hour “The Planet of the Apes” marathon. There, Sk8thing was responsible for a lot of the early graphics.
In 2003, he would get to know the man with whom he would start his own brand years later: Toby Feltwell from Mo’ Wax. After joining BAPE, Toby also introduced Sk8thing to Pharrell Williams as a graphic designer for his new streetwear labels BBC and Ice Cream, for which Sk8thing not only created the early seasons but also the famous logo. Working together at BAPE and BBC/Ice Cream, Toby and Sk8thing discovered their collaborative potential and laid the foundation for establishing Cav Empt together with Hishiyama Yutaka years later.
Cav Empt was born out of the darkness Tokyo fell into due to power saving measures after the earthquake in 2011. Over the years, it evolved to be the kind of brand that manages to stay in the twilight zone between underground insider tip and avant-garde hype. Being a very multifaceted brand, C.E’s success of hitting this sweet spot stems from several reasons, one of which is Sk8thing’s unconventional, almost subversive graphics. With inspirations drawn from cyberpunk, science fiction, philosophy and more, Sk8thing tells a story of consumer criticism and a technological dystopia through his illustrations. A story that already begins with the mere name of the brand: “caveat emptor”, a legal term, also inspired by the science fiction novel “Ubik”, meaning “buyer beware”.
About the Author
Mark Gilcher is a student from Germany who just wanted to write about stuff he genuinely enjoys while trying to collect experiences as a writer - so he reached out to sabukaru. More specifically, said stuff mostly revolves around fashion, hip-hop and culture, but besides that he also enjoys talking politics, social work and the great outdoors.
