IN MY EYES – A twenty year global retrospective of 686 presents “1993”

Skateboarding was my life from the mid 80’s to the early 90’s. There wasn’t day that would go by where I wasn’t street skating somewhere, somehow. I grew up skateboarding in Hermosa and Venice Beach around the likes of Rocco, Jesse Martinez, Natas, Vallely, Jason Lee, Eric Dressen, Dan Peterka and a grip of other local rippers. Powell Peralta and Vision ruled the skate world back then but something was missing. The core of skateboarding is about doing shit yourself and not giving a damn what others do or think. This rebellious nature resonated with a lot of skateboarders so Steve Rocco decided to make a statement by starting Blind Skateboards with Mark Gonzalez. The name “Blind” was a jab at Gonz’s former sponsor, “Vision.” They looked at corporate America and the “Big 3” skate brands (Powell, Vision, Santa Cruz) as made up of everything that skateboarding shouldn’t be. This was best communicated through their graphics, ads and having legends like Gonz, Jason Lee and Rudy Johnson charging forward. OG Blind artist, Marc Mckee, recalls, “When Blind and World first started there were no limitations on what we could or couldn’t do.”

Besides the mind blowing designs that Marc created, what I remember most were the “Dear George” ads that publicly made fun of George Powell at a time when Powell was still the biggest company in skateboarding

The more Blind called people out, the more popular it became. Blind was a huge influence on why I got into snowboarding as it reflected the raw nature and unwritten rules of being free to do whatever the hell you wanted to do. I started shredding in the mid 80’s but it wasn’t until 1993 that I truly transitioned from skateboarding into snowboarding on a full time basis. For our 20th anniversary, Marc brought it back for me and created insane hand drawn sketches of 686 that bit off what Blind did (which in turn bit off what Powell did). Here’s a collage full of some legendary graphics that Marc personally made

Look closer

Like what you see? Check out one of the upcoming joints we did for this winter. Get it while you still can.

The Ltd Blind x 686 Anniversary Jacket