Skaters

Although skateboarding is believed to have been invented in the 1930s, it was not until the mid 1950s that skateboarding began to develop into the sports/style pastime that we know it as today.

Skateboarders (skaters) originally took their dress of sneaker-style trainers, baggy shorts and shirts from the existing Californian surf culture. This was in marked contrast to rollerskating, which peaked in popularity in the 1970s. Rollerskaters were closely allied to disco and maintained a more mainstream presence, whilst skateboarders found themselves increasingly marginalised. This was in part due to the speeds that they travelled in pedestrian areas and the perceived damage they caused to public spaces and street furniture. Municipal attempts to contain skateboarding at the peak of the craze in the 1970s resulted in purpose-built skate parks like that currently found at the Level in Brighton.

Skaters today have many different dress styles usually affiliated to their music preferences. The skater outfit in Brighton Museum's Renegade collection is more typical of the late 1990s logo-based style with loose fitting jeans, shirt and t-shirt and is perhaps more defined by the activity of skateboarding than by the wearer's music taste.