SkatePal
Merch direction
2024/25
Commercial work
Merch direction
2024/25
Commercial work
A journey from non-profit skateboard organisation to a globally respected skateboarding brand.
Since 2013, SkatePal has been supporting young people in Palestine through skateboarding. After several trips to the region (transporting equipment, running skate sessions and helping with skatepark builds) I joined the team to help shift their funding away from grants to merch; a more self-sufficient model with opportunity to grow into a skate brand that can continue supporting the local scene for years to come.
Here’s a selection of the products I’ve developed and/or designed so far, working in collaboration with some very talented individuals:
(1–6)
Haraka Baraka
A phrasebook developed with and designed by Samar Maakaroun, offering a fun introduction to the Arabic language through the words and phrases of Palestine’s skateboarding community. Available here.
(7–11)
Licence Plate collection A capsule raising awareness of the apartheid road system that exists in the West Bank , in which vehicles with yellow reg plates (issued to Israeli citizens) drive freely, while vehicles with green reg plates (issued to Palestinian citizens) are forced to endure severe restriction. Available here.
(12-13)
Gaza Skate Team tee
A fundraiser t-shirt raising for founder of Gaza Skate Team, Rajab Al-Reefi. Released during the height of Israel’s miltary bombardment of Gaza, the graphic features a clip posted to Instagram showing Rajab doing a kickflip on a piece of rubble in the aftermath of air strikes. By the time a ceasefire deal was reached, the tee had raised over £25,000. Available here.
(15–18)
SkatePal x Fichier Caché A collab capsule with Tunisian lifestyle brand Fichier Caché, inspired by fruit stickers from across the SWANA region and underpinned by the shared sentiment: ‘Born in struggle, thriving in chaos’. The watermelon deck comes with a free pack of our fruit-stickers and features red plywood, to reveal a realistic melon inner when scratched.
(19–23)
SkatePal x Sabri Sundos A collab capsule with Palestinian-American textile artist Sabri Sundos. Featuring a special set of hand-embroidered tees, plus a series of workshops in NYC teaching the history of tatreez (a traditional form of Palestinian embroidery), allowing participants to embroider their own limited-edition SkatePal bag.
(24–25)
SkatePal x Habibis The Lion of Babylon (a nod to Habibis’ Iraqi heritage) and the moutain gazelle (the national animal of Palestine) are brought together in this collab series.
(26)
SkatePal x Fil In partnership with Fil, producers of artisinal Palestinian ‘Shatta’ (a traditional spicy relish), we added a new product to their line centred around the flavours of Nablus: the ancestral home of Fil and the location of SkatePal’s longest-running skatepark.
All products available for purchase via skatepal.co.uk/shop
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Since 2013, SkatePal has been supporting young people in Palestine through skateboarding. After several trips to the region (transporting equipment, running skate sessions and helping with skatepark builds) I joined the team to help shift their funding away from grants to merch; a more self-sufficient model with opportunity to grow into a skate brand that can continue supporting the local scene for years to come.
Here’s a selection of the products I’ve developed and/or designed so far, working in collaboration with some very talented individuals:
(1–6)
Haraka Baraka
A phrasebook developed with and designed by Samar Maakaroun, offering a fun introduction to the Arabic language through the words and phrases of Palestine’s skateboarding community. Available here.
(7–11)
Licence Plate collection A capsule raising awareness of the apartheid road system that exists in the West Bank , in which vehicles with yellow reg plates (issued to Israeli citizens) drive freely, while vehicles with green reg plates (issued to Palestinian citizens) are forced to endure severe restriction. Available here.
(12-13)
Gaza Skate Team tee
A fundraiser t-shirt raising for founder of Gaza Skate Team, Rajab Al-Reefi. Released during the height of Israel’s miltary bombardment of Gaza, the graphic features a clip posted to Instagram showing Rajab doing a kickflip on a piece of rubble in the aftermath of air strikes. By the time a ceasefire deal was reached, the tee had raised over £25,000. Available here.
(15–18)
SkatePal x Fichier Caché A collab capsule with Tunisian lifestyle brand Fichier Caché, inspired by fruit stickers from across the SWANA region and underpinned by the shared sentiment: ‘Born in struggle, thriving in chaos’. The watermelon deck comes with a free pack of our fruit-stickers and features red plywood, to reveal a realistic melon inner when scratched.
(19–23)
SkatePal x Sabri Sundos A collab capsule with Palestinian-American textile artist Sabri Sundos. Featuring a special set of hand-embroidered tees, plus a series of workshops in NYC teaching the history of tatreez (a traditional form of Palestinian embroidery), allowing participants to embroider their own limited-edition SkatePal bag.
(24–25)
SkatePal x Habibis The Lion of Babylon (a nod to Habibis’ Iraqi heritage) and the moutain gazelle (the national animal of Palestine) are brought together in this collab series.
(26)
SkatePal x Fil In partnership with Fil, producers of artisinal Palestinian ‘Shatta’ (a traditional spicy relish), we added a new product to their line centred around the flavours of Nablus: the ancestral home of Fil and the location of SkatePal’s longest-running skatepark.
All products available for purchase via skatepal.co.uk/shop