ZOO YORK PAN-EUROPEAN CATEGORY EXTENSION ANNOUNCED

Iconix Europe has extended its licensing program for Zoo York with a 3-year pan-European deal in partnership with UK-based licensee Rolling Thunder.

Making its debut at the 2020 Olympics, skateboarding is seeing a resurgence at retail with a rise in demand for hardgoods that cater to an increasingly diverse demographic to include beginners and more casual riders as well as avid street skaters and professionals.

Zoo York has launched a wide range of both completes and skate decks across Europe via key European distributor Centrano. With the use of original heritage graphics which have been customised for the boards, this collection gives a nod to the brand’s East Coast history. Creating an entry level board to encourage younger generations to get involved in the sport as well as producing pro boards which will facilitate the professional skaters who follow Zoo York, the collection consists of 14 complete skateboards and 18 single decks which have launched across Europe into retailers such as Titus, Rollersnakes, Blue Tomato and SkatePro.

Zoo York, the original East Coast skate brand, was named after the notorious subway tunnels underneath Central Park Zoo, which came to be known as the ‘Zoo York Tunnel’, or simply ‘Zoo York’, a hangout for skaters and early graffiti artists in the late 1960s and 1970s who would sneak into the tunnels at night and who likened themselves, as they climbed around and congregated together for wild nights out in this subterranean environment, to the animals in the zoo above ground. By the dawn of the ’80s, the term Zoo York had come to firmly symbolize NYC’s underground sect of artists, b-boys, skateboarders, punks, and their various creative off-shoots. The Zoo York revolution was in full effect as graffiti writers bombed trains and skateboarders staked their claim to now legendary spots like Astor, Washington Square, and the Brooklyn Banks.

In 1993, OG skateboarders Rodney Smith, Eli Gessner and Adam Schatz teamed up to found the East Coast’s first true skateboarding-inspired lifestyle brand – Zoo York. The trio siphoned creative inspiration from NYC’s rapidly evolving skateboarding, hip-hop, and graffiti scenes to produce a variety of culturally relevant products, utilizing the brand’s heritage graphics and iconic ‘crackerjack’ logo, that were dark and gritty like New York City. What started off as a simple line of decks and T-shirts steadily grew into a full-blown streetwear collection marked by military surplus, urban-athletic styling that was designed to withstand the city’s rugged terrain.

Today, Zoo York is a highly evolved, globally recognized brand with unbreakable East Coast attitude and dialect. As it has since day one, Zoo’s product line continues to be heavily influenced by skateboarding, graffiti, hip-hop, punk, and everything in between. The Manhattan-based brand proudly serves up a wide range of casual, utilitarian looks for men and women that fuse authentic military-influenced overtones with iconic Zoo York City imagery. Additionally, the company continues to be backed strongly by original graffiti artists, designers and some of the biggest names in the skateboard community globally.

Daisy Laramy-Binks, Managing Director - Iconix Europe commented:

‘Zoo York is the ultimate nostalgia brand to have come out of the East Coast skate movement and it therefore goes without saying that a European skateboard range would be the perfect complement to the successful European apparel ranges in market. The Zoo York graphics bank provides our partners with unrivalled access to original heritage skate artwork, and these graphics have been reworked specifically for this skate range. The range caters to both pros and casual skaters alike and represents the latest in our rollouts of the brand as we continue to partner with licensees on Zoo York in categories such as apparel, footwear, bags and more across Europe.’

Steve Douglas, Managing Director – Rolling Thunder

‘I have been lucky enough to have worked with so many amazing skateboard brands and I have always had respect for Zoo York. Zoo York represents East Coast vibe and attitude and has defined the vibe of New York City skateboarding; I am happy to be bringing Zoo to Europe and making the boards available at retail with the help of Centrano’