hi, you reached the website of some guy who is in deep love with skateboarding but pissed off by its industry.

April 2, 2013 1:06 pm

[ some visual site updates. ]

had some visual enhancements. nothing big, but over the time there will be some more to come. just come by and take a look!

this is posted by: sub-stance

January 12, 2010 1:28 pm

[ ten years of sub-stance. ]

wow, its unbelievable, but sub-stance just turned ten (whois: Created On: 1999-07-22 15:26:45 GMT). still many things kept the same, which is good.

so, what’s up with sub-stance?

since the beginning sub-stance was more of a project i did with the kind support of my friends. it started out because i got aware of the slave-like production conditions in the third world, and the fact, that more and more skateboard companies offshored their production to these countries for more profit.
the endless recycling of design clichés lend from punk, hiphop and skateboard traditions was another reason to do something more personal.

it’s not aimed to be profitable. i think the problems arise with being profitable. you have to act market driven and do things you don’t wanted to do in the first place. so the idea is not to sell but to give away stuff for a donation or trading.
because i have a regular job to earn money for a living, i don’t have to meet any standards but mine.

we are to small to produce our own blanks, so we searched for a really good, sweatshop-free factory.
our decks are blanks made by jart, which are produced in spain using canadian hard rock maple with the most advanced production processes. they are very nice folks with quality products.
since the beginning our shirts are made by american apparel sweatshop free in the usa. that was at a time when aa was only a startup blankshirt provider. as an option we have fair-trade shirts.

every shirt or deck is individually handmade for the donor. we have no stock. because of this we don’t use silk-screen printing which makes more sense for high volume productions. instead we use various other technologies like heat transfers, vinyl cutting, hand sewing and stamping…

i encourage everyone to make his own stuff. the scene would be much more fun and individual, and this would overcome all the generic crap we see today.

this year wasn’t very productive because of my main job, but i’m looking forward for much new stuff and posts in 2010!

many thanks for your kind support all these years. keep up keeping it up 😉

this is posted by: sub-stance

July 3, 2008 8:48 pm

[ review. ]

it seems like the folks at xbookstorecorex reviewed sub-stance.com. unfortunately it is written in polish, which i don’t understand. google translate wasn’t very helpful either. nevertheless thanks for your effort!

this is posted by: sub-stance

December 31, 2007 12:55 am

[ in depth. ]

the story of stuff. awesome done edutainment.

this is posted by: sub-stance

October 28, 2007 4:13 pm

[ genius of the crowd. ]

fabulous words by charles bukowski.

this is posted by: sub-stance

August 21, 2007 4:00 pm

[ broken social scene. ]

crazy things happen here. in a few weeks three of my oldest skatebuddies will leave or have already left to find their luck in australia, spain and munich. now skate sessions will get much smaller.

but nevertheless all the best to my bros, i hope we will still find ways to shred together!

this is posted by: sub-stance

2:37 pm

[ rebel without a clue. ]

join the rebel sell! go buy your own rebellion. spent all your money on stuff and clothing to be sure you will get the authentic rebel look.

but what happens when there are more rebels than average people? is being average the new rebellion? or may it be that you just can’t buy rebellion?

this is posted by: sub-stance

May 28, 2007 2:49 pm

[ skateshoes. ]

what is a skateshoe? is it defined by its functionality or is it just a special look?
since the beginning there were shoes claiming to be made for skateboarding. but skateboarders had a long tradition in using stuff that was not especially made for skateboarding.

skateboarders had freely chosen what they wanted to skate, what worked and what fitted. may it terrain or clothing.

products from nike, converse, adidas or puma got used for decades, but these companies were never aware of skateboarding. it wasn’t a market for them and they didn’t support it.

nowadays it is different. these same industries see a market and buy themself into the scene to give their mass products a more alternative image. and skateboarders seem to follow…

so i searched for a real alternative, and found it at “vegetarian shoes”.

i’m very happy with this shoe. and it’s environmentally friendly, vegan (vegetarian?), made in portugal and perfect for skateboarding.
unfortunately as most skateshoes they take some time to get broken in.

this is posted by: sub-stance

April 21, 2007 6:28 pm

[ sub-stance decks… ]

you wonder why there are less posts over the last weeks? this is because i’m busy finalizing the board section.
here you find some samples of all the stuff we created and destroyed over the years (T-shirts will follow). it reflects our love for simplicity and d.i.y. ethics but also the hate for the usual visual stereotypes of corporate skateboarding.
oh yes, the price! well, you decide. just donate what you can spare. it’s based on honesty. sneek preview

this is posted by: sub-stance

August 22, 2006 2:02 pm

[ american apparel, facts and fiction ]

it’s always the same in the capitalistic world. at first there is a company with a new idea and industry watchers will rate it commercial suicide. next you have the “i told you so” version if the company fails, or the “we have to react!” version if it suceeds.with american apparel it is no difference. in a time of outsourcing, aa started with their los angeles based textile production, and the industry had a good laugh. the common sense of the time was to produce in third world countries to make more profit with all its unethical consequences. furthermore aa promised sustainable- and sweatshop-free products, until then seen as an uneconomic market. within a few years aa has grown to a multi-million dollar corporation with a rapidly growing market share.now the industry want a piece of the cake, the media want stories, the unions want new members, and the customer want to be confirmed he is still buying the right thing. this resulted in a big media buzz and its hard to get the complete picture. especially dov charney’s odd personality feeds the fire. so what is fact or fiction? i for myself had a hard time researching and finally found this very well done article by knowmore.org with many relevant sources.in the end you have to decide for yourself. personally i don’t care for their ad campains. where is the difference between the aa campain and other fashion ads? fashion ads suck anyway and i started buying aa products even before the stores and campains.aa product quality and variety is still fine, it is still produced in los angeles, in the meantime the average pay for an employee on the sewing floor even rised to $12.50 compared to a few cents in china and there is comparatively much support for the workers. these are still my key points for buying aa. and regarding the sexual harassment stories: there is so many information thrown together without context, it is hard to value. for instance, the jane article excluded the important fact, that the writer had a relationship with charney.so i’m still fine with aa products but will observe the ongoings. meanwhile charney should really think before he act. there are others waiting in line to provide sweatshop-free clothing without sex scandals:

this is posted by: sub-stance

July 31, 2006 12:28 pm

[ misfits ]

ok, i confess, i am one of the few people who, while listening to punk/hardcore, don’t like the misfits. the sound never kicked me, but they obviously had an excellent branding. so good, that nowadays it’s everywhere and completely out of context. skulls, just don’t do it.

this is posted by: sub-stance

April 27, 2006 11:11 am

[ fashion For rebellion. ]

isn’t this the perfect title for the product sold by the industry today? unfortunately it was not my idea but from a great hardcore band called street trash. think about verbal abuse, bad brains and even a bit dead kennedys, but no, they are definitly not yet another replica band.
if you don’t know them already, check ’em out here and here.

this is posted by: sub-stance

January 12, 2005 1:21 am

[ subconscious mind ]

have you ever noticed that you can guess good weather by its sound? sitting around in the dimmed office forces me to trust my ears. there are so many details. sounds are crisp and you can hear planes, especially the small ones who are limited to good weather conditions. everything sounds bright and louder than the average winterday. the ultimate call for skateboarding! can’t wait…

this is posted by: sub-stance

November 14, 2004 1:17 am

[ life, but how to live it ]

hey boy, the secret trail to mhuellerland starts right here. just follow it, you won’t regret…

this is posted by: sub-stance

October 10, 2004 1:11 am

[ nachruf ]

du merkst, daß du alt wirst, wenn die todesnachrichten im freundeskreis zunehmen. ein satz, den man immer wieder mal im verwandtenkreis hört. leider ist er nur zu wahr.
“markus bange ist tot”. wohl einer der anrufe, die ich nie vergessen werde, und am liebsten nie gehabt hĂ€tte.
es ist nicht mal ein jahr her, und wenn ich daran denke, fehlen mir immer noch die worte.
markus gehörte zu den wenigen menschen, die mich durch meine vielleicht prĂ€gendsten jahre begleiteten. ich erlebte mit ihm bmx und skateboarding, hardcore und punk, reisen und freunde machen, szenen grĂŒnden und dinge bewegen.
haha, aus scheisse gold machen, keiner konnte das so gut wie er.
er war der kontaktfreudigere von uns beiden. kein telefonat, in dem er nicht berichtete, wie er jemanden in irgendeinem sauerlÀnder kaff mit skateboard gesehen und angesprochen hÀtte. viele leute lernte ich nur durch markus kennen. er war der geborene networker und durch und durch ein optimist.
ich will hiermit die chance nutzen, und auf diese website mit diversen fotos von ihm aufmerksam machen (danke, gĂŒnter!). eine kleine zusammenfassung seht ihr hier: rip

this is posted by: sub-stance


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