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A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure of heading across the pond to the Big Apple to celebrate two-time SOTY Tyshawn Jones and his latest adidas Skateboarding collection. We were treated to a stacked week of skate jams and activations at the Bronx News stand, full of great vibes and even better people. Big thanks to adidas for the trip of a lifetime. It’s hard to pick our favourite part, but highlights have got to be getting to skate the iconic Brooklyn Banks, interviewing the King of New York himself, and witnessing Na’Kel switch hardflipping the D7 six block at the Hardies Six Block Showdown. Read on to get a run down of Route One’s time in the big NYC, and see our exclusive interview with Tyshawn, as well as a little edit we put together.
The first stop of the event was the Bronx Newsstand, the centre of the activation, full of exclusive product, limited-edition pieces and some of the biggest names in skating right now. It was a great vibe and good to see so many people getting out there to celebrate one of the best to do it.
A non-descript Bodega had been transformed for the event, turning it into the sickest Bronx themed newsstand. It was kitted out with bespoke Thrasher Newspapers, special edition King x Thrasher Skateboards featuring Tyshawn’s Thrasher mag covers, and a load of other limited-edition product from his other sponsors.
The gem of the activation has got to be the scratchcards. All you had to do was match three of the same icon in a row and bam, free product. We managed to get ourselves a King board, which Tyshawn kindly signed for us.
Whilst we were chilling at the Newsstand, we happened to get some face time with the man himself, and even managed to get a little interview, where we found out about design influences on the Tyshawn II, who the GOAT is, his favourite spots in New York and more. Watch the interview below:
The day of the adidas Skate Jam at LES Skatepark was looking grey. The weather was not on our side, but with LES partially underground and a bespoke Bronx News hubba being installed, we tried to be optimistic. After getting rained off during a little roll around at Tompkins Square, we hunkered down in the closest bar waiting for the sun to reappear.
It started to clear up and we got on our bikes (literally) and headed over to LES Coleman Skatepark for the adidas jam. It started off promising, with Alec Majerus putting down a monster front noseblunt down the freshly installed hubba. But it was like being back in the UK, because as soon as people started to get hyped to skate, the heaven’s opened. Not even the bridge above LES could keep out the rain.
Feeling slightly deflated, it seemed like the day was a washout. But in came Gary Rogers, the hype man of all hype men, to save the day. He whipped up the crowd and got everybody to relocate to the Bronx News van, and the product toss commenced. One of the most hectic tossing of products ever to be witnessed, as Tyshawn, Na-Kel Smith and Zach Saraceno opened heavens of their own, stood in the back of the Luton van, raining exclusive product from adidas, King, Thunder, Spitfire and the rest down on the eager crowd, meaning it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
The next day, the day of Hardies 6 Block Showdown, the sun was beaming. We knew there was going to be a good day of skating to be had. But first, a quick stop in Central Park for a mooch about (gotta be a tourist, sometimes!). But enough about that. It was time to head to Jacob Riis Houses on the east side of Lower Manhattan for one of the heaviest jams I’ve witnessed live. You would have seen this 6 block in videos, but in person it is so much bigger than they do justice. Honestly, this thing is huge.
I don’t know if the water is different in New York or the prospect of 10,000 big ones got people going, but everyone was up for it. There’s too many tricks to mention, including a few NBDs sprinkled in there, but a couple of notable tricks to get put down were Jeff DeChesare’s triple flip and 360 inward heel, Na-Kel’s switch flip and hardflip, and Jace DeTomasso’s switch FS flip. Watch the edit below to see some of the highlights of both the trip and the madness that went down.
The showstopper though, had nothing to do with skating at all. A resident of the estate took exception to the presence of Tyshawn and did everything in her power to disrupt the event, even fetching the dogs to chase Tyshawn from his own jam. Her confidence wavered though after Gary Rogers was once again the hero of the day, acting as Tyshawn’s personal bodyguard and event peacekeeper, calming the woman down to the point that she even started dancing at the top of the six block. Alls well that ends well.
There’s enough videos of the chaos, including this one from @filmerluke, circulating the socials for you to watch, so go dig them out.
Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to mention the trip without mentioning the reason we went on it. The new adidas x Tyshawn collection. The pinnacle of the capsule, of course, is the all-new Tyshawn II colourway. A shoe fit for a king, the upper is a clean white leather, wrapped in a shiny Collegiate Blue patent-leather with Adituff panelling in high-wear areas. The Tyshawn II brings together elements of icons from the adi archive, pulling in court shoe influences and continually experimenting with materials to elevate both your style and skating experience.
Adding to the freshest colourway of the Tyhsawn II are accompanying apparel pieces to have you looking your sharpest. Pair the White and Collegiate Blue colour palette with classic adidas pieces remixed to Tyshawn’s tastes. Landing at Route One are the Collegiate Blue Tyshawn Track Pants and matching Tyshawn T-Shirt.
Alright, if you’ve got this far, you deserve a little reading break. So how about a round up edit of our time in the big apple to end things? Sit back and enjoy Route One in NYC.
@route_one Route One in NYC 🍎 Huge thanks to @Adidas Skateboarding for the opportunity 🙌🙌🙌 A couple weeks ago, we headed across the pond to celebrate two-time SOTY Tyshawn Jones to celebrate his latest adidas collection. We were treated to some wild events and we tried to capture as much as we could in this edition. Sit back and enjoy some of the highlights 🍿 #skateboarding #skate #skateboard #skating #routeone #skatetok #adidas #adidasskateboarding ♬ original sound - Route One UK
