Blog

Go Skate Day

It's that time of the year again! Go Skate Day is on Friday, June 21 and all the major distributors are barging the city for one AWESOME day.

Over $3000 up for grabs! Starting at Plaza, heading from spot to spot, then to Strathcona to cap the day off with a BBQ/mini ramp session.

9:30AM-11AM- Vans Waffle Breakfast at Plaza
11AM-6PM- Hit various spots around Vancouver
6PM- BBQ at Strathcona
10PM- Official After Party at Fortune Sound Club (19+)
11PM- SK8 Mafia premiere at Karaoke room in Fortune Sound
12AM- Go Skate Fashion Show at fortune sound club

Joker’s Bowl Sesh

Check out the Skateboard Mag drop in on a sesh with Jake Reuter, Matt Bublitz, Colin Emery, Andy Smith, Tom Karangelov, Alan Chou, and a few other friends. Click the photo to watch the video. 

How We Kick It: Erica Mansfield of Beach Daze

Name: Erica Mansfield
Hometown: Wall, New Jersey
Blog: Beach Daze

You grew up in NY and now work in fashion in New York. In what ways has your style changed moving from place to place?
My style has always been very bohemian—my closet is filled with maxi dresses, flowy tops and bright colors. I've really enjoyed incorporating more structured pieces into my wardrobe, like a blazer with a casual dress or fitted pants with a slouchy top. I've even finally added some black into the mix.

What was it about blogging that originally made you sign up?
I went to a college that was specifically for fashion, so most of my friends and my classmates were set on working for big name designers or companies. I was the complete opposite, I had always wanted to work in the action sports or swimwear industry and I always got asked why. So I started Beach Daze during my sophomore year of college just to pull together everything that inspired me about my parallel life between the beach and the city.

Beach Daze is all about the beach, so how do you cope when winter rolls around?
This is going to sound crazy for someone living in the North East, but I actually don't own a full winter wardrobe. I still spend a lot of time by the water, and the beach is especially gorgeous right after it snows. I came up with the name Beach Daze as a term for those who live the summer lifestyle year around, but I do try to get out of the North East as much as possible in the winter for warmer climates. That's always the best way to cope.

What is your surf community like?
I only started surfing a couple years ago and I fell in love with it. The surfing communities in New Jersey and New York are so different from the west coast but parallel at the same time. It definitely takes a particular type of surfer to live here; when you're going out in the dead of winter in 20-degree weather to get a good surf in, that's dedication and passion. In the summer, it's super laid back and fun, so that's when I usually go out!

How do you infuse a swimwear-based outfit with some creativity?
I've been obsessed with cutouts and one-piece suits lately, so I've been pairing them with high-waisted shorts and maxi dresses and incorporating them into my every day outfits.  I also love throwing kimonos on and layering jewelry with my suits.

What's your favorite way to kick it?
Stance socks are the most comfortable socks I own so in the mornings, when it's still a little chilly, I'll throw on a bathing suit and an oversized T-shirt and wear a pair of Stance while I'm drinking my coffee by the pool.

Team Average

The moment you've all been waiting for is here! The full legnth video for Team Average by Monster Children is out, and guess what? Greyson got the cover!! Issues will hit stores next week or buy it now on MonsterChildren.com. 

THREADS - Shake Junt

Stance proudly presents our first installment of an ongoing video series titled "THREADS". THREADS profiles specific product collaborations, styles and collections that exemplify The Uncommon Thread. Episode 1 features Shake Junt, with a look at their brand, respective lifestyle and why we collaborated together. Get there while you can!

The Incredible, Bendable Emilie Livingston

Emilie Livingston is flexible. As one of the back-bending beauties in our recently debuted short film “The Uncommon: Contortionist,” she twisted and bent her body into painful-looking positions without breaking a sweat. But, as it turns out, it’s not always a good thing. “My doctor told me I have a heart murmur,” she explains. “It’s common with people like me because our muscle just allow us to stretch more than they’re supposed to.”

But heart—murmur or not— is at the center of Livingston’s burgeoning career as a contortionist and aerial performer. She left home in Toronto, Canada, when she was only 11 years old to pursue Olympic dreams as a gymnast, training with her Russian coaches for nine hours a day. After nine years of intense work, she uprooted and moved to Los Angeles, where she booked a job in a small French bar. She’d descend from the ceiling to perform above guests’ heads, and soon her career skyrocketed. Five years later, she’s performing with chart-topping artists like Taylor Swift and Jennifer Lopez (and kicking it in Stance women’s socks, of course). We caught up with Livingston to learn more about what keeps her moving:

How did you transition from a career in gymnastics to one in the performing arts?
Before I moved to LA, I didn’t really know anything about show business. I’d led a sheltered life growing up with my coach, being trained in Russia and Bulgaria, and while I was mature at a young age, I didn’t know a lot about what was out there in the entertainment world. I had heard of Cirque du Soleil, but I’d never seen any shows. When I came here, I was studying acting and wanted to get an agent and the first agent I found was a specialty agent. They saw what I could do and they said, “Oh, well you’re a contortionist, so we’re going to send you on this commercial.” Then I started to find other people like me and to train for contortion and aerial performance.

What are some of your career highlights?
For me, the performances that are really important to me fall into two categories essentially. It’s either with an artist that I really love, that I find fun and attractive, or that I find very entertaining—that category would have to be my work with Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift. I performed with her at the Grammys this year, and I did Justin’s video for “Beauty and a Beat” with Nicki Minaj. There are other highlights that are purely artistic. I performed with this band—Joaquin Phoenix’s sister is in a band called Paper Cranes—and they were doing a residency here in LA at this art studio. For me, it was so moving and so spiritual. That was one of my career highlights.

What is your training routine like?
I’m putting on a big show with my company so I’ve been working on new acts and doing some pretty intense training twice a day, three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening. Usually I’ll train with a partner for four hours a day. I practice handstands, contortion and aerial; I also like to run or go on the treadmill for my cardio. I feel like my muscles are tighter and longer when I do cardio, so I’ll do three miles a few days a week.

How do you inject creativity into what you do?
I try to nurture my creativity, my artistic sensibility. Whatever music I choose has to inspire me, move me, make me feel giddy and childish, or it has to be deep and emotional, then I build off that. I look for outside things, like movies—like I just watched The Great Gatsby and their love story, that unrequited love that Jay Gatsby has for Daisy Buchanan, inspired me. I’m looking to use it in my show.

Are there many misconceptions about what you do?
Most of they time I get, “You’re so tall for an acrobat!” which I guess I am. I mean I’m 5’7”, which isn’t very tall, but in the acrobatic world I guess that’s deemed tall. The funny one I love is, “Oh, do you play and jump around with the streamers?” You’re just like, No, it’s a ribbon. My aerial partner has the best story from when he was somewhere in the middle of America and someone goes, “Aren’t you the guy that goes on that tissue shit on the wall?” Like it was Kleenex or something! It’s funny, you have to have an open mind with what people have seen and experienced in life.

What are you hoping your career will look like in the next few years?
I love the idea of being able to do what I do on film, on television. For the Academy of Country Music Awards, I performed in a bed suspended in the air. The song was called “Your Side of the Bed,” and it was a beautiful blend of acting through movement in the air. I had to really act out the song. For me, that’s my dream—it’s just not that often that an artist or a movie or a music video needs to have the aerial performers express or tell stories. If there were more of that, that would be my dream come true for sure.

Watch the first video starring Livingston in our new art-directed series The Uncommon:

Win tickets to Street League: Kansas City!

It's time to make a quick pit stop in Kansas City for Stop 3 and thanks to our friends over at Street League, we have 2 pair of tickets to giveaway! Head over to our Facebook page and leave a comment on our Street League post of your predictions on who you think will be the big winner. On June 4th, we'll pick 2 random comments on our facebook page to win!

Win Dak’s Picks!

In honor of our newest Punk and Poet, we're giving away Dakota Roche's favorite styles! Click on 'Win Dak's Picks' on our Facebook page to enter. If you're not on Facebook, head over to our Instagram and enter to win. We'll pick 2 winners on Facebook and 1 winner on Instagram on June 7th. Good Luck!

Boy’s World by Skateboarder Magazine

Skateboarder is out with a spring look book with our Ragtag socks on the front page! Check it out at Skateboarder Magazine.

Kid Creature x Yoki Shop

Yoki Shop in Newport Beach is hosting an event for Kid Creature's latest project, handmade bluetooth radios made out of ammunition boxes! Come on by this Friday from 5-9pm for free food, free drinks, root beer floats, and live music. You'll even get free admission if you donate an old beach towel.

Yoki Shop
2429 West Coast Highway #102
Newport Beach, 92663