“You see, it’s like the old saying, ‘Everybody loves a cane.'”
A couple months ago, there was a dustup between Nike Skateboarding and Minor Threat over the former appropriating the image from the seminal Minor Threat album cover for their summer tour. I really want to go on a rant about this, but don’t have the time to. I think that Jason Kottke was right in calling it an homage.
I remember about 15 years ago that the rage in skateboarding graphics was copying a well known logo and transforming it into a skateboard manufacturer logo. The best was the NBA logo of red, white and blue lay up guy transformed into a skater doing a kickflip. These were all tweaking of the establishment. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
I remember about 20 years ago that my favorite pair of skate shoes were the black and red Air Jordans. Still the best after all these years. Nike was a part of skate culture a long way back. I can still recall a cover of Thrasher with Jesse Martinez kicking out a big judo air in a pair of Air Jordan’s.