Skateboarding Stickers

Skateboarding Stickers' Popularity

For as long as there has been skateboarding culture, there have been skateboarding stickers. While stickers were originally introduced as a convenient way for skateboard brands to advertise, skateboard stickers were soon adopted by skate enthusiasts around the globe and turned into essential items of skateboarding equipment.

Having stickers as an essential element of skateboarding culture makes skateboarding unique when compared to other sports, hobbies and pastimes. No other sport places as heavy an emphasis on stickers as skateboarding does, and skateboarding enthusiasts rate stickers as serious and valuable commodities. For many, the biggest problem that comes from finding the perfect vinyl-faced skateboard sticker is deciding where the sticker should be placed. Given that – particularly for teenagers – skateboards are relatively expensive, skateboarding stickers have long been the cheapest item for sale in a skate shop, making them accessible to enthusiasts of all ages.

Skateboarding stickers came into their own in the 1980s, at a time when skateboarding was the realm of the uncool. Despite teenage skateboard enthusiasts being ostracised at school, creative types would design their own skateboarding stickers. With bold designs and bright colours, skateboard stickers were the first part of skateboarding culture to become mainstream.

For serious skateboarders, skateboard stickers have other uses than simply decorating a skateboard deck. An early form of currency for young skateboarders, stickers have also been used as emergency repair tape and, of course, as a way of advertising a preferred skate brand. For some, skateboard stickers form part of a larger collection, while for others, stickers – once acquired – quickly find their way on to a skateboard deck.

Many regard skateboard stickers as such an essential element of skateboard culture that's it becomes almost impossible to ride a skateboard that is not adorned with a selection of stickers. Skateboarding stickers personalise a skateboard and bring it to life, giving skateboarders of all ages the practical means of designing their own skateboard to match the unique tastes.