i have a question for you did you know  that thrasher is a skateboarding  magazine if youre a skateboarder or no  skate history youre probably doing a  face palm right now but many believe  thrasher is a clothing company and dont  know theyre actually a magazine about  skateboarding culture because in recent  years many have been introduced to this  logo for the first time via social media  and celebrity endorsements if we go to  google trends and type in thrasher well  see a sharp uptick which starts  somewhere in 2015  followed by an explosion in  but compare this data with another  skateboard magazine such as transworld  skateboarding and youll see a different  picture on top of this thrasher is still  in print well transworld released their  final issue in february 2019  so what makes thrashers so different and  why are they able to stand the test of  time while other skateboard magazines  such as big brother have crashed and  burned i believe the answer lies  somewhere in the fact that this logo has  gone through a bit of a transformation  not in terms of the way it looks but  what it stands for and represents  because before 2016 this banco font logo  was worn almost exclusively by  skateboarders but fast forward to 2022  and youll find that the thrasher emblem  has gone from an outsider signifier to  almost a fashion statement i always find  it interesting when a highly respected  protected piece of counterculture  crosses over to the mainstream and loses  all meaning often resulting in its core  audience developing a distaste for  something they once loved and in  simplest terms thats what happened to  thrasher but it didnt happen overnight  today were going to take a look at the  history of thrasher why theyre hated by  some and whether or not that hate is  warranted the history of thrasher begins  with two men named eric swenson and  fosto vitello eric swenson was born  august 4th 1946 in san francisco  california growing up he enjoyed punk  music playing guitar and repairing  motorcycles erics future business  partner fosto vitello was born three  days later on august 7 1946 but fosto  was born in buenos aires argentina  living there for the first nine years of  his childhood in 1955 his family moved  to california because of the liberating  revolution which was taking place in  argentina eric and fosto met at the u.s  army reserve in the 1960s the two bonded  over a shared passion for motorcycles  and became great friends over their time  in the reserve after getting out of the  army their first project together was  creating and selling skateboard trucks  so they opened a foundry in san  francisco called aramaco enterprises  incorporated and began producing their  first products which they called the  stroker truck which was basically a  giant piece of metal but that particular  model was a flop and didnt sell so in  1978 they partnered with richard novak  and jay sherman and co-founded  independent truck company the new  products they made under independent  looked more like regular skateboard  trucks but the selling point was they  were more durable as independent grew as  a company they began looking for new  ways to promote their products but had  limited options because the biggest  skateboarding publication at that time  simply called skateboarder changed their  name to action now and started covering  an array of outdoor activities such as  motocross and horseback riding one of  the most important aspects of thrashers  story is the time period in which they  started because by the early 80s  everyone thought skateboarding was over  just a fad that had run its course and  would soon be forgotten unfortunately i  wasnt a teenager during this time so i  didnt get to experience all of this  directly but its been reported that  skateparks all over the us were closing  and the kids just werent all that  interested in skating anymore only the  true hardcore skaters continued on and  as a result things became very protected  in the skate world a certain gatekeeping  mentality around skateboarding began the  form so when eric and fosto launched  thrasher it was at best an insane  business decision but even more insane  that it worked so the two combined their  resources to start thrasher partly to  promote independent trucks and partly to  fill the void that skateboarder magazine  left behind the first issue of thrasher  came out january 1981 and was different  than anything else that had come before  it instead of trying to be as  professional as possible and cover  topics like skate competitions thrasher  opted to fill their magazine with the  culture surrounding skateboarding which  was the perfect decision since they were  speaking directly to the hardcore  skaters who lived and breathed the  lifestyle culture the thrasher logo was  designed by the magazines first  editor-in-chief and former professional  skateboarder kevin thatcher he created  it with letter forms he bought at a  store in the early 1980s but the font  itself which he used was invented by  roger x caffon in the year 1951. its  called banco and only has upper case  letters when it comes to how thrasher  got their name look no further than pro  skater dwayne peters its unclear why  exactly they named it after him but its  known he was a lover of punk rock and  did some pretty crazy stuff on his  skateboard so id imagine that has  something to do with it  the vision and voice of thrasher came  100  from skaters for skaters and kids  quickly picked up on this they resonated  with thrashers overall attitude and  loved having one central place where  they could see their favorite  skateboarders doing stuff like this  in 1993 jake phelps was promoted to  editor after spending a few years in the  shipping department at thrasher but even  though jake passed away in 2019 due to  unknown causes his impact on thrasher  magazine is still felt and seen today  jake coined the phrase skate or die and  is credited with defining the current  look and feel of skate culture today he  is the entire reason thrasher still  exists but as an editor jake was  everything but conventional while most  magazine editors would spend time  responding to emails phone calls and  other office work jake partook in little  of this he primarily spent his days  hanging out with skaters and was always  there when someone volunteered to do a  dangerous trick for a magazine cover  shoot without fail hed be there  cheering them on he helped push skaters  to a whole new level they didnt even  know they could achieve jake was a one  of a kind and there will never be  another magazine editor like him a lot  of people say thrasher hasnt been the  same since jake passed but many also  agree that his protege michael burnett  is doing a great job at filling his  shoes michael was already handling most  of the editing work prior to jakes  passing so it was a natural fit when he  stepped into the editor-in-chief role  today in 2022  still focuses on printing magazines but  also dominates in the online and  clothing space they have the biggest  skateboarding website on the internet  and have an active youtube channel with  millions of subscribers along with their  instagram which also boasts millions of  followers the brand is known worldwide  thanks to people of all ages and  backgrounds wearing their clothes which  brings us to the final question of this  video why is thrasher hated when it  comes to thrashers relationship with  skaters in modern times there seems to  be a bit of a divided opinion some  believe thrasher is still the  publication of the actual skater and  will fervently defend the magazine until  death they respect thrashers commitment  to keeping things as core as possible  while being a big company but some  believe thrasher is now too big  corporate and have fallen far from what  they once were and they dont want to be  associated with a brand that posers wear  they think its uncool to wear a brand  worn by celebrities like rihanna and as  a result have taken their support  elsewhere but despite thrashers recent  explosion in popularity its maintained  a surprising amount of respect in the  skate world another reason people hate  thrasher is for their use of satanic  imagery and destructive attitude their  scapegoat logo is a pentagram mixed with  a goat and skateboard which has stirred  up controversy over the years its been  argued that its just them being edgy  and provocative but people who are  religious have taken issue with this  over the years thrashers slogan is  skate and destroy which sends a punk  rock anti-establishment were not you  type of message and even though young  skaters loved this it wasnt received  well by all in 1985 transworld published  an article called skate and create  criticizing destructive behavior  explaining it takes no skill or  creativity to do something like  vandalize a wall and this exchange  pegged thrasher as rebels and rule  breakers from the very beginning theyve  also never been popular among the  parents early on they began receiving  letters from angry parents they were  upset about the magazines use of  provocative language and the punk  attitude throughout which they felt was  a bad influence on their children but  the thrasher employees thought it was  funny and have continued to make parents  mad for years to come at the end of the  day i think thrasher is really cool i  think theyre real genuine and have kept  close to their values as they possibly  can while still being a huge corporation  because for some companies its hard to  stick to their values as they grow but  all things considered i think thrasher  has done a great job i think the reason  so many people wear thrasher these days  is because they know they subconsciously  know what it stands for at its core  freedom rebellion creativity and  separate from society and i think people  want a little taste of that without  being fully immersed in the  skateboarding world i believe it gives  people a sense of uniqueness and  identity that a shirt from target never  could a lot of people who wear thrasher  these days dont skate but at the end of  the day theyre still lining the pockets  of a company who seems to try their best  to keep skating as core as possible so  my question is is that a bad thing do  you think it sucks people who wear  thrasher dont skate and do you think  its hurting the skate industry or doing  the opposite let me know down in the  comments below thank you for watching  and ill see you soon