Some call it skateboarding’s bible. Other have astutely observed that it’s ‘Vogue, but for degenerates.’ Whatever title you’d like to bestow upon Thrasher Magazine you can get your monthly fix here at Division 24 Skate Store.
After years of popularity and becoming a nationwide fad in the United States, skateboarding hit a near-death decline as the 1970s came to a close. In 1981, Thrasher Magazine emerged from this bleak period as skateboarding became firmly embedded in counterculture.
Founded by Fausto Vitello and Eric Swinson, the San Francisco businessmen who established Independent Trucks three years prior, Thrasher was the first magazine under High Speed Productions – a publication house which would also create the seminal SLAP Magazine alongside arts and culture title Juxtapoz.
Originally under the editorship of Kevin Thatcher (who once wrote the sterling piece of advice that “If you feel radical when you grind a curb then, by golly, you are radical”), Thrasher’s most renowned figurehead is current serving editor, Jake Phelps. Phelps’ career began in 1986 by writing product review columns in a blunt manner - always unafraid to mock brands for their stinginess or providing him with insufficient information on their merchandise. Eventually, Phelps transitioned into working for Thrasher’s shipping department where Vitello took note of Phelps’ cutting character after consulting him for advice on potential photos to be published.
By 1993, Phelps was given editorial control of Thrasher Magazine – a move which reinvigorated the publication and birthed the grizzly ‘Hall of Meat’ segments with other columns and features like ‘My War’, ‘Firing Line’ and ‘King of the Road’ introduced under Phelps leadership over the next two decades.
Arguably, Thrasher’s most notable introduction to skateboarding culture is the coveted ‘Skater of the Year’ award first bestowed upon Tony Hawk in 1990 and then to other icons including John Cardiel, Brian Anderson, Geoff Rowley, Arto Saari, Grant Taylor, Ishod Wair, Anthony Van Engelen and many more.
In recent years, Thrasher’s soft goods have almost become a brand in itself and alongside monthly issues we’ve got you covered for a range of t-shirts, hoodies, windbreakers, hats and other apparel boasting skateboarding’s favourite piece of Banco font.
