“Design in China”​ e21 – AVENUE & SON: The Paradise For Skaters

AVENUE & SON is a skateboard company which was established in 2014 by three professional skaters from Shanghai. As the first skating culture representative in China, AVENUE & SON began interacting with customers in pop-up shops, collaborating with top fashion companies, and broadening the definition of skateboarding culture as early as 2016. It has collaborated with several international companies, including Dior, Fred, Louis Vuitton, Off-White, and Palace. Expectedly, AVENUE & SON became one of the cultural crazes among young people in China. Over 20 professional skaters, both local and international, are sponsored by AVENUE & SON, which has amassed millions of admirers in a short period of time.

AVENUE & SON’s first flagship shop and street structure park opened in Taikoo Li Qiantan in Shanghai. The commercial complex Taikoo Li Qiantan is focused on the idea of wellness, fusing established luxury brands with street culture, art with current fashion trends, and skateboarding as a way of life. The brand’s tagline “from street to avenue” embodies the street culture ideals of freedom and individualism. To obfuscate the conventional distinctions between the street and mainstream cultures and enable visitors to concentrate on the cultural and artistic components of skating, the team behind the brand built the first marble skate park in the world. The park offers a quality and imaginative venue for products originating from street culture. Furthermore, the location includes a gathering area for skaters both inside and outside, building on the youth’s love skating The street-structure park serves various purposes, including cafes, pop-up events, recreation, and, of course, skateboarding. The recognizable street light symbolizes the brand’s urban aesthetic and illuminates the road through the night. Additionally, the sleek, modern architecture of the business building contrasts sharply with the delicate metal slats bearing the brand’s name. The two stairs and the modest incline in the center resemble famous scenes from Shanghai’s streets.

The AVENUE & SON flagship shop is a creative platform that interacts with the street skating community and is based on the brand’s street-rooted DNA. Skaters participated in the lookbook photoshoot, product design, models, video production, and marketing campaigns. Video is required to capture this interesting activity. Therefore, the space’s focal point is a big screen showing the brand’s videos. The clothing display area is located behind the screen, and clients wander around it in a circle to guarantee that all goods are visible. Skateboards have been produced in the country for other bands for a long time, but AVENUE & SON is the first homegrown brand that’s bringing focus on the sport in a more inclusive and experience-focused way. It’s just one of the many examples of how Chinese brands are changing the narrative of what ‘Made in China’ really means. For brands like AVENUE & SON, the focus isn’t simply to make skateboards and sell them, but to create a cultural impact that just so happens to be good for business too. This is happening all over China through different products.