Recently, we had a chance to catch up with Spencer Goetz of Imperial Motion, who is a part of one of the radest and truest clothing companies to come out to date.  Their unique blend of one-of-a-kind graphics and cool laid-back feel is transforming the action sports industry. Take a look see what Imperial Motion is all about in the following interview.

1. What inspired the latest line?  The inspiration came from our campaign for this year, Style + Substance, which was formed on the basis that our brand has quality aspect to each piece on top of great style.  I try and base the graphics in each collection on what is happening within our company at that time throughout.

2. Who is Jesse Brown?  Jesse is an artist from Seattle that we have been working with for a couple seasons now.  He has a great style that is different than most of our graphics, but his pieces add a lot of depth to the collection and the response to his work has been really good!

3. What’s your favorite item from the latest line and why?  I would have to say our denim.  Mostly because it is the newest category in our collection and we have put a lot of time in developing it.  We will have two fits in a raw black denim coming out for spring.

4. My favorite shirt from the latest line is ‘The Two Princes’, is there a funny or interesting story for how that concept developed?  That shirt was actually a painting done by our good friend Shane Deegan, who gave us a canvas painting of that artwork which we turned into a tee.  He has a whole series of paintings that are focused around a play on famous people’s names…this one was our favorite!

5. What has been the response to the ladies line?  The ladies market has been tough for us…lets face it, does anybody know what women want!   We have actually backed off for a couple seasons and are working on releasing a collection for Spring/Summer 2011 with a new direction and full line of cut N sew.

6. How does it feel being sold in such large and unique retail stores such as Urban Outfitters?  We feel so fortunate to be working with retailers like Urban.  It has been a great way to broaden our customer base and step outside the box of our traditional design.  The biggest part is having a good relationship with our accounts, and the people at Urban have been great to work with.

7. What type of individual do you look for when sponsoring athletes?  We look for athletes that are blazing their own path in the sport that they do.  This is the foundation of our brand and it is important that our athletes have the same approach. We don’t have the budget to throw money at our athletes at this time, so we help them out where we can and look to find those who believe in the future of the brand.

8. How important is art to Imperial Motion?  Art has been a great way for us push our boundaries graphically.  We work with a lot a really talented artists that have completely different styles but are still able to communicate our overall message.

9. What’s a day like in the Imperial Motion office? haha just about everyday is different around here.  There are a lot of different personalities here which makes it a interesting environment to work in…there’s never a dull moment thats for sure!  One thing that is unique about our brand is we actually do a lot of our own production in our warehouse.  We have a couple screen presses where we do all our T-shirt and sweatshirt printing.  We are able to be more flexible with sampling and production this way.

10. What can we expect from Imperial Motion in the next couple of months?  Over the next couple months we will begin shipping our Spring/Summer collection which will include, tees, light weight fleece, headwear, walkshorts, boardshorts, denim, and other knit tops.  We are also really excited to be teaming up with some different musicians for 2010.

Imperial Motion

Pushing skateboarding as far as it pushes us — Scoff Skateboarding…

It all started with an idea and passion. Add a little kick ass from an entrepreneur leadership class.  Then mix it with practicality and necessity.  Last drop a hit of craziness and Scoff skateboarding became the brainchild of Jason Huewe.

“I’m a very creative individual;” Huewe said.  “A guy with crazy ideas.”

That was 2004.  Those crazy ideas have led to very practical needs.  Huewe, a skateboarder since Jr. High, noticed a constant need for all skateboarders that nobody in the market was providing–shoe laces. Not any ordinary shoe laces, but laces that could withstand the torture a skateboarder puts them through.

“What is the first thing that wears out when skateboarding>”  Huewe said.  “Shoe laces would always come untied, ripped, frayed.”

Through trial and error, Huewe created a technique to re-enforce first the tips of shoe laces and eventually the entire lace.

Broken down, the Skatelace is 2 to 3 times resistant to abrasion, guaranteed not to fray in reinforced areas, and when finished the lace is stiffer than normal. This allows it to grip the majority of the lace holes in your shoes keeping them tight when untied and even after the lace breaks. The last 8 inches of the skatelaces are left untreated from the process to make it easier to lace your shoes.

They are the only lace to combine the 3 aspects of abrasion resistant, non-fraying abilities, and gorilla gripping technology into the single lace. They go through our own in house reinforcement process that actually bonds the threads of the lace, giving it its high fray resistant abilities. This also means that the lace can withstand high tensile strength even after being broken. For example, the skatelace breaks and instead of tying it back together (or throwing it away) you can grab a stapler and pound 3 staples into the 2 broken ends of the lace and continue skating. Having no worries of the lace becoming unraveled by the pulling staples due to fused threads, the staple would actually be more likely to bend and come out before the lace unravels. (From www.scoffskateboarding.com)

Out of this world. Something that seems so common place, had not been approached by any major shoe/ shoe lace manufacturers.  Scoff Skateboarding has begun business to business talks with major brand names from a wide market–not just skateboarding.

Huewe’s philosophy; “keep everything simple and bold.”  Scoff’s Skatelaces are the perfect example of this.  A simple need with a bold application.

Round two, enter the Scoff Project.  Goal: build a mega mini ramp.  Huewe got his idea of putting a mega mini ramp in his parent’s backyard from various threads online.

“Had some old wood, started at eight foot,” Huewe said.  “A year later, I thought I want to make something legit and film it being built.”

Thus the inception of the Scoff Project. The first attempt started with no plans, no sponsors, just friends and an idea.  Built, but not “legit” enough.

“Version 2.1, six months passed.  Started trying to get sponsors,” Huewe said. “October 4, 2007 started construction with 20 plus volunteers–skateboarders, filmers…”

The Scoff Project since has gained the likes of Grind TV, Birdhouse, and Monster energy drinks.  After many a hiccup and $2,000, the project is 3/4 complete.  To push through and finish, Scoff Skateboarding has been trying to raise money through their website and sales of t-shirts.

All the progress and work has been documented through film–with hours and hours of video.

Scoff Skateboarding, has rolled with the punches, but always maintained its identity.  With state of the art shoe laces in route to mass production, Scoff continues to innovate with another 5 or so projects/ideas waiting at the helm.

“Setting a high standard for ourselves we made a promise to develop the most practical, eduring, and original innovations.” (from www.scoffskateboarding.com)

Shoe Laces un-wrapped:

The Scoff Project : 1st Test Run:

Check out more at: www.scoffskateboarding.com

The Scoff Project You Tube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/skatescoff#p/u

Be the first to check out the latest gear from IPATH’s 2010 Spring Line. Bill from IPATH breaks down the vulcanized sole, stash pockets, and the cat low, just to name a few. Perfect for any skateboarder or trendsetter.

Right off the release of the Zoom Air Paul Rodriguez III check out the latest video from the campaign…keep your eyes open for some special guest