Augie Galan & Geoff Heath: Acapulco Gold | Hypebeast

Having been an integral part of the contemporary NY skate scene, how have things changed over the years. Has New York stayed relatively the same in terms of style and approach? Has the commercialization of skateboarding had an overall impact?

GH: The commercialization of skateboarding has had a big effect on NY.  It is more acceptable here in NY.  The one thing that has really helped skateboarding here in NY is the economical downfall of the financial markets.  There aren’t as many security guards at the skate spots because the large companies are making cuts across the board and they have bigger problems to deal with.  NY has been a controlled area years now but the city has been slippin’ back a little.  The rules are relaxing and you can get away with things that you could not get away from before.

AG: Skating in NY has been around before I got into it and I have always respected the people and personalities that make it what it is.  Over the years the faces may have changed in the city but the scene has just gotten bigger and better.  The only thing was for a few years I thought the focus was off of the local talent, as there were a lot of transplants from Upstate, Ohio, and the Mid-West coming into the scene and defining it for themselves, which is cool, because it was a new phase in the progression.  However, one of the main reasons we started our contest series was to promote the growth of the local scene, all five boroughs.  When I go back to when I started skating it was all about the boroughs.  Manhattan had  the kids comin’ outta Stuy Town and LES, and Queens had the kids from Woodside, Jackson Heights, Astoria, and Forest Hills, while Brooklyn had Park Slope and Sunset Park heads doing their thing, and you can’t forget the Jersey kids who were always in the background ripping it up.  Now with the popularity of skating at an all time high, we get to do the same thing on a larger scale.  Skateboarding gets commercialized every 10 years so I think this is nothing new, it’s just brings new people into the fray.  It’s a progressive sport and it has to evolve.  It will always be the punk rock shit to do but these days I look at it more like a professional pastime.

With New York arguably the mecca of so many vibrant subcultures including so-called streetwear, much like skating, how has streetwear changed in your eyes? While the skate world has seen some benefits are there any parallels with streetwear?

AG: Styles progress over time, and along the way people slap names on them.  Skateboarding is an activity and a lifestyle, I think it has both form and function and that’s why I’ve always been into it. The label “Streetwear”  is something that in part has come out of our desire to merge the skateboard lifestyle with the urban sophistication and trifeness we grew up around.  One definitely feeds into the other.  I always thought that skateboarding started it all, but then you go back to the Surf culture of the 70′s in Venice, Ca and you see the connections, then punk and hip-hop got thrown into the mix, and along came skateboarding, and clothes were huge again in the 80′s and everyone decided that that was the way they were going to define themselves, and the 90′s exploded with creativity and then we learned how to sell for ourselves, and now we’re here.

GH: I have been in the streetwear market for a long time.  The one thing that I can say is that the variety of styles has grown. What I mean is years ago you would only have t-shirts and hats.  Now you have shoes, suits, jackets and everything else under the sun.  It is nice to see such a wide variety of products done on a small scale.  With all of these diverse styles going around the market this will only help to grow the acceptance of the talent in the streetwear market.

You guys are both heavily entrenched in the culture, where do you draw your inspirations? Would you say they change pretty frequently or have they stayed pretty linear throughout?

GH: This is the question where everyone shows off and says that their inspiration is some high art in a museum or some rare photographer.  The truth for me is I get my inspiration from everywhere. I go to the little kids clothing section in Macy’s and to the high end boutiques and finish up in the hood stores. I also read as many blogs as possible, look at as many magazines as I can.  I watch all kinds of TV from the History Channel to Dora the Explorer. I listen to every bit of music that I can get my hands on. I like the radio, satellite radio, mixtapes, and any other place that I can hear music. I don’t listen to just one kind of music. Right now I am into early soulful house music from the 81-85.  Last week I was listening to Merle Haggard.  That is one thing I know for sure, you never know where your inspiration will come from.  

AG: Gettin’ up in the morning and being able to do my own thing is inspiration enough for me.  All the other stuff is just dressing on the cake. Between me and Geoff music is the main bond. We listen to all types of shit and I was lucky to have come up in an age of great stuff. My approach to the direction has always been the same, stick with what I like and what I think others will like to wear, and then add my own touch to it and Geoff will throw his thing into it, and vice versa and we’re done. I’ve never tried to re-invent the wheel but I’ve always tried to make it better. I might look into a new interest or inspiration but I’ll never let go of the ones that made me who I am. Your work should be your art, and you have to approach your art with discipline. Word to Big Bird.

To finish things off… any last things you want to want to say? What’s upcoming from AG?

GH: Yes I have a few last things to say and I quote  ”Just, I guess, I like class. I don’t mean rings and cars and clothes. I mean just people who you can just tell have class by looking at them.  You know, just the way they handle themselves and the way they walk.  I like people with class”. – Pete Rose

AG: Give a man an inch and he’ll take a mile.  El que mucho abarca poco aprieta.  Finally, we have a lot of great things planned for AG in the future and when we think of them we’ll let you know.  Thanks again for the interview.