Let’s face it, We all fucking love Stickers…When ordering a new deck from an online skate shop, better be stickers in that box. When heading to your local shop, grab some new slaps! The skate sticker has been around for years. Taking full-size board graphics and condensing them into simpler designs without losing detail is a fantastic accomplishment! The company’s simple logo can be just as satisfying, sometimes, as a sticker.
So we all have taken skate stickers and plastered them on our decks, stop signs, cop cars, etc., but there comes a time, just like collecting actual skateboard decks, that we decide to start putting them into albums or maybe an old shoe box.
I would sometimes buy two of the same sticker, one for collection and one for whatever I decide to put it on! Stickers are and will forever be a staple in skateboarding!
I have been slowly adding to my skateboard sticker collection though out the years. Maybe have about 150. No direction, just collecting some old ones from back in the day that I may have had on my boards or always thought the graphic was cool!
But enough about my weak-ass collection.
A few months back, I came across a group on Facebook called “My vintage skateboard stickers” and I discovered a collector Jonas Slätt who runs the group and has to interview him about his enormous skateboard sticker collection!
Seven Ply Society -What’s up, Jonas? Where did you grow up, and what was the skate scene like in your area?
Jonas– I grew up in a little village outside Gothenburg, Sweden, in the 70″s. There was not much skateboarding where I lived, but it blew up in the spring of ’88
Seven Ply Society– When did you start skateboarding?
Jonas– I started skateboarding in the spring of ’88. My friend got a board that I borrowed for a week. I got hooked right away and bought my first board after a week. A Santa Cruz Jeff Kendall!
Seven Ply Society– Let’s talk about your extensive skateboard sticker collection. How many do you currently own?
Jonas– I don’t know. I have thousands of different original stickers from the ’80s to the 2000s!
Seven Ply Society-Like most of us, Stickers played a significant part in skateboarding. They made your board, finding that perfect placement on the deck, slapping them on windows, benches, etc. What got you into collecting them?
Jonas- Yes, indeed, We bought stickers to put on boards, edges of ramps, etc. I started working in a skate shop in Gothenburg in 1991, and I got a lot of stickers from the store & kept them in a binder. After a while, I had hundreds of different stickers, and some of my friends started to collect them as well. But after around ten years, I didn’t skate as much due to starting a family, moving, etc. I forgot about the binder for years. It wasn’t until I found it in my garage in 2017 that I started to collect again!
Seven Ply Society– let’s say UFO lands, and they want to take you to their planet, but you can only take one sticker from your collection. Which one are you bringing along?
Jonas- Oh! Hard question. Maybe a sticker of the first board I got. Jeff Kendall or Ken Park
Seven Ply Society– What sticker will you slap on their ship as they walk into it?
Jonas– A local skateboard brand named Viru$
Seven Ply Society– Nice, So in the collecting world, we always seem to be trying to find more or a specific item! What stickers are you currently looking for?
Jonas- Some old World Industries, and Some old Blind, I’m looking for many Holy grails!
Seven Ply Society- I see many collectors asking, how to store their skateboard stickers! Any good advice you can share?
Jonas- I’m looking for the best way myself. Binders, I think, are the best!
Seven ply society- Well, thanks for sticking around, Jonas. We appreciate your time and your collection! If you get a chance, go check out Jonas’s group on Facebook and buy or trade some slaps with him, I guarantee he has what you are looking for!