{"id":261291,"date":"2020-02-23T08:15:48","date_gmt":"2020-02-23T08:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-458273-1435032.cloudwaysapps.com\/?page_id=261291"},"modified":"2023-11-04T07:22:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T07:22:25","slug":"alex-olson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nocomplynetwork.com\/alex-olson\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Olson"},"content":{"rendered":"
Alex Olson’s ability to skate anything in his path, at the kind of speed you should really be wearing a helmet to handle, saw him landing memorable video parts for Girl, Lakai, Nike and Supreme from the early-2000s onwards \u2013 but it was arguably his flair for fashion and his famously strong opinions that attracted a fanbase from outside the world of skateboarding.<\/strong><\/p>\n After turning pro and getting involved in art and modelling, Alex was left feeling creatively unfulfilled, so started his own clothing brand, Bianca Chandon, and a skate company, Call Me 917. I had a chat with him about all that, as well as why he left Girl and Lakai, his thoughts on skating being added to the Olympics, and a whole lot more.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’m in New York.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yeah.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Actually, it was more through going to a new school.<\/p>\n Skating was what people were doing in my grade, and what better way to introduce yourself than to say your dad’s a pro skater?<\/p>\n Also, there was another pro skater with the same name, and they all thought it was him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I got on in 2005 \u2013 I was 19. But, being 19, I felt like I was kinda old at the time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I was stoked, but I didn’t like the way the older guys were acting and stuff \u2013 it kinda rubbed me the wrong way. Or maybe I wanted to go the other way… I don’t know, I’m a contrarian by nature.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mainly Ty Evans, the editor and filmer, and the owners, Rick Howard and Mike Carroll. At that time, skating was street-oriented \u2013 it wasn’t pool, it wasn’t full of ATV skating, like it is now; it was different.<\/p>\n Not to toot my own horn but I was one of the few people at the time skating all-around \u2013 I skated transition and street. The level now is crazy, but at that time there weren’t those kinds of kids.<\/p>\n Fully Flared took like five years to make. After you work on something for five years and it’s not the way you want it, or how you saw it, how you envisioned it, things start to get tense.<\/p>\n Skaters are probably somewhat insular, introverted people to begin with.<\/p>\n It takes a certain kind of individual to pound themselves into the concrete and be fine with it, you know, and when things don’t come out how you like, there probably will be issues.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What happened was, Gravis was going to start, and I was going to skate for them because Dylan Rieder \u2013 RIP \u2013 told me they were starting a skate programme. I was like, “Gravis?! Really, dude? Out of all the companies, you’re going to skate for them?” Dylan said, “Yeah, but we have creative control to do what we want.”<\/p>\n I told Rick and Mike that Gravis were going to pay me X amount of money more than they were paying me at Lakai. We’re talking like $6,000 a month more. I was like, ‘I can’t really turn this down,’ and they were like, “We’ll think about it. We don’t want you to leave, but we can’t compete with that.” Then they came back to me and said, “Maybe go skate for someone a bit more reputable and cooler, like Vans.”<\/p>\n I was like, ‘Okay, cool.” My friend Robin worked for Vans and she said, “I’ll read your contract,” and then she said, “Let me give you a bid” \u2013 so it was, like, Nike, Vans and Gravis at the time.<\/p>\n She persuaded me to go Vans \u2013 and also Mike and that wanted me to go rather than to go to the other two.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n After Pretty Sweet<\/em> came out, in 2012, I had a different vision of how I saw skateboarding.<\/p>\n Polar came out with their promo, and Palace had started… that was a point where I was like, ‘This is refreshing \u2013 it’s not big videos and cameras. No special effects or crazy camera angles.’<\/p>\n Those two companies were doing their own thing on their own small scale. I was like: ‘Wow \u2013 I want to be a part of that movement and that vision of skateboarding.’<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n When I started Bianca, in 2014, it was trying to be something that was the opposite of skateboarding.<\/p>\n Skateboarding brings people to fashion, fashion brings people to skateboarding. I was trying to do something different.<\/p>\n I achieved that \u2013 that was the goal. But that was the main focus at the time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yeah, it was the success of Bianca and the fact it was in all these boutiques and that I was making one-off boards, but there was no team at the time.<\/p>\n So I thought, ‘Maybe I need to start a sister company that could be in skate shops and have a skate team.’ Let it be this other thing, like how Ralph Lauren has Polo and Commes Des Garcons does Play.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Through my dad and my mom.<\/p>\n My dad more so, but my mom is into clothes and fashion too.<\/p>\n My dad is heavily into his own style, and is very conscious about his sense of style and what he wears.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I don’t really deal with the team. I hate having a company, I don’t like it. It sucks. I’m over it. I’d leave everything at a second-hand store if I could, and you can buy them all.<\/p>\n I dunno \u2013 it’s not fun, I don’t enjoy coming into an office.<\/p>\n There’s nice parts, obviously \u2013 the validation of your creation, that’s always nice. But it’s not the must fulfilling thing, I’ll tell you that much. But it’s one of those things \u2013 it’s like a ying and yang. I wouldn’t know if I hadn’t explored it all, and went there and got to the other end and seen it for myself.<\/p>\n I’ve achieved what I’ve wanted to achieve, if you know what I mean?<\/p>\n It was never about money \u2013 it was about creating something and getting accolades for that work. But after you do that, you’re like: ‘What am I doing now?’<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n No, I just create everything by myself \u2013 but I have a team of people over in LA to help with stuff over there. But it’s one of those things \u2013 it’s challenging every season: you don’t know what’s going to sell or not.<\/p>\n Fashion is a tough business, and it’s not really a glamorous business either.<\/p>\n I’m thinking back on it, and I’ve had celebrities wear my designs, sometimes \u2013 maybe not the ones that you may want, but they have done it.<\/p>\n But even though I’ve had those things that people strive for, when they happen, you’re like, ‘That’s great. Okay, what’s next?’<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It’s kinda like a group effort about who gets put on the team and who goes about doing what \u2013 there’s no one person running 917. But there is a team manager and filmer and editor called Logan<\/a>, who does all of that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\nWhere are you right now, Alex?<\/h1>\n
You’re originally from California, right?<\/h1>\n
Did you get into skating through your dad, Steve<\/a>, who was a pro in the 1970s?<\/h1>\n
The Steve Olson who skated for Shorty’s? Amazing. How old were you when you got on Girl and Lakai?<\/h1>\n
What do you remember about filming for Lakai’s Fully Flared?<\/h1>\n
Who were you rubbing against at Lakai?<\/h1>\n
Why did you eventually decide to leave Lakai?<\/h1>\n
Right. When and why did you leave Girl?<\/h1>\n
Is that what you were going for when you started Bianca Chandon<\/a>?<\/h1>\n
Was it making boards for Bianca that made you think about starting Call Me 917<\/a>?<\/h1>\n
How did you first get into fashion?<\/h1>\n
What’s the hardest thing about running two brands? Being a TM or coming up with ideas?<\/h1>\n
Do you have an in-house design team?<\/h1>\n
Yeah, it never stops. Who helps you run 917?<\/h1>\n
You’ve filmed a lot with Bill Strobeck<\/a>, too. How did you first meet Bill?<\/h1>\n