We recently chopped it up with Eric Koston at the launch of his latest Oakley signature collection at the penthouse of The Standard, East Village. The new collection consists of three Oakley silhouettes: the Plaintiff, Holbrook, and the classic Frogskin. Revamped with brown tortoise print and dark bronze lenses, the latest collection officially launched yesterday, and can be found online and select retailers. In celebration of Eric's signature release, VICE and Oakley hosted an intimate summer party decked out with live DJs, cold drinks, and a preview of VICE's upcoming Epicly Later'd episode which profiles the life of Eric Koston, one of the most highly regarded and influential skateboarders in the world.
Join us as we take a closer look at the latest EK signature collection, and find out what Eric had to say about design, escaping Los Angeles, and plans for the summer.
Interview by: Justin Korkidis (@say_wordyo)
It's been a while since your last collaboration with Oakley. Can you tell us a little about this?
Right after I did the woodgrain Frogskins three years ago, I really wanted to do a tortoise print. I always thought, "why not a classic?" Frogskins can be pretty bright, which is cool and fun, but I also like to tone it down.
Yeah, these are really wearable.
That was it. This was going to be a can't miss kind of thing, but they're also going to look sick.
How involved were you creatively in the design process?
The Frogskins, Plantiffs and the Holbrooks are good looking glasses. Once we decided on the frames, it was all about getting the color and the print right. I don't think people can still slaughter tortoises anymore. Also working on the logo, we thought of using something new, but I really liked the original logo.
Do you have fun with that sort of stuff?
Oh yeah, definitely. [Points to his sneakers.] Shoes, too. That's what's sick with Nike, you know? Colors come out like every month. I love that.
Is this going to develop into a full collection, or maybe any additional products?
I'm hoping so. I'm thinking these are going to do really well. We're pushing for a broader reach since I've been around for so damn long. Hopefully this will be the next step. Personally I'd like to design one of my own. Maybe even two. I can color them up all day, which is a lot of fun, but I'd like to create one from start to finish.
"What sucks is, I never had any footage of me from when I wasn't sponsored. None of my friends even had a photo camera. Our families were all broke, so we couldn't afford to document it."
How did you get involved with Vice and Epicly Later'd?
This was a pretty big honor. They were like, "'Do you want to do one?" I asked, "Well, what do you want to do?" They said, "'How about your whole fucking life?"
How hesitant we're you to get involved? I'm sure you had to divulge a lot.
Yeah, I kind of had to give up a lot. It's not that I didn't want to tell people my story, but I feel I've been out there for a while and it's sort of been documented, so I knew they were going to dig up everything anyway. They went in pretty deep. What sucks is, I never had any footage of me from when I wasn't sponsored. None of my friends even had a photo camera. Our families were all broke, so we couldn't afford to document it. I wish we could've captured all the stupid shit we did growing up, or even learning how to skate.
The trailer looks sick.
The teaser was pretty overwhelming.
Any plans for the rest of the summer?
After this, I'll stay in New York for the rest of the month, then I'm flying out to Milan and Barcelona to film for all of July.
That's that life.
Yeah, I've got to run away from L.A.
So you enjoy sneaking off to New York?
I love coming to New York, but right now, it's hard to skate sometimes. Not just because it's hard to skate, but I get personally caught up with work. The work of skateboarding is keeping me away from skateboarding. [Laughs.]
Yeah, it's funny how that goes. How do you feel about that?
It's my fault. I want to have my hands involved in everything that I create. That's the price you pay. I'm getting older now, but I want to do this stuff. If I'm not proactive about these things, nothing would get done and all I could do would sit around and bitch about it. I'm okay with it, though. There's a reward in creating something cool. It's similar, but not quite the rushing of landing a trick you haven't done, but I do have fun with it.
