Journal
Doyenne - Making Skateboarding More Accessible
Question, who springs to mind when you think about a typical skateboarder? For most, it’s probably a white male, right? Don’t worry, it’s not your fault if that’s who. In skateboarding and, let’s be honest, across all sports (especially extreme sports), there is still a frightening lack of representation of women & other minority groups. Skateboarding, even as a subculture is still largely male-dominated, and for something that’s supposed to celebrate individual expression, there still seems to be limited space available for women, the LGBTQ+ community, and those with disabilities. Surely anybody can grab a board and just… go out and skate, right? Well, it’s not that simple, actually. Blame Tony Hawk if you like, but we’ve found ourselves in a bit of a problematic loop anyway, which begins at the local skatepark. The lack of role models within these minority groups (especially intersectionally) to draw inspiration from makes it so much harder for them to join in. It’s fair to assume that a young adult male approaching a skatepark filled with other young adult males, would feel far more comfortable in this space compared to, say, a queer black woman, right? So why is this the case…There’s a certain intimidating nature to a skatepark. For one, it’s the sport itself. Skateboarding requires a huge amount of confidence. It’s an extreme sport, it’s dangerous! Skateboarders often need to have the guts to throw themselves down a concrete ramp, or slide across a metal rail with sheer confidence to avoid potentially deadly injuries. This bravado doesn’t come naturally to a lot of people, especially those who have experienced plenty of rejection & ridicule throughout their lives - be it team sports, or even socially.This is where Doyenne come in. The women (remaining anonymous) that run Doyenne in Glasgow, Scotland, have been taking an ‘act local’ approach since launching to creating a much bigger space for women, the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities to enjoy skateboarding. In general, Glasgow is one super friendly city, so it’s not a bad place to start. Whether on or off the board, in or out the bowls. Strength truly is numbers here, and through community they’ve given these minorities some new bearings, helping them navigate a new and exciting sport that belongs to all - not just white men. The other side to the Doyenne story, I guess their raison d’être, is in the global efforts. Not only are they bringing together locals to get into skating, they also make beautiful, bold, non-gendered clothing, that splits profit with chosen organisations across the globe. Their new collection - which just dropped this week - supports Free Movement Skateboarding, who empower the young refugee population of Athens through skating. Previously Doyenne have supported (and continue to support) the following organisations, which you can learn more about below. - SkatePal, which supports young people in Palestine through skateboarding - Concrete Jungle Foundation, who use skateboarding as a tool to stimulate positive personal and social development for underprivileged youth- Skateistan, who we’ve talked about HERE- Visibility Scotland, a local charity that supports people with sensory loss in ScotlandIt’s sad that exclusion still exists pretty much everywhere, but where there’s community and positive role models, we can break out of this loop and give something like skateboarding back to who it belongs to. Everyone. Why did you start Doyenne? When I was growing up as a female skateboarder, the clothes that I was wearing were made by brands whose teams were made up of pretty much all males. The people in the adverts in the magazines and the people they sponsored were all male. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still wear these clothes, but I wanted to also wear clothes that would represent me as a female skateboarder. That didn’t exist yet. Why do you think skating has been so overwhelmingly male? I mean it all stems from the Barbie / Action Man thing right? Growing up, girls had toys and products advertised to them that had nothing to do with extreme sports and anything 'rad'. Boys had Bart Simpson. I think because of this, not only do the guys think girls won't be into skating, but also the girls have felt like they never belonged on the scene in the first place. There’s also always been the assumption that well, if they wanted to then they would just… skate. The thing is, skateboarding doesn't even have to be this crazy, deadly, grazen-kneed sport. It can be chill as well. If you just wanna cruise around on your board, it doesn't make you any less of a skateboarder. How do you think Instagram has helped? Instagram has helped a lot as it puts everybody on the same platform. Before that, and before youtube, skaters only had the best of the best on TV whilst watching the X-Games, and in video games and it seems like an impossible skill. But now, more and more accounts are posting videos of beginners, and what’s amazing about Instagram is seeing beginners, women, queer skaters and those with disabilities progressing. I’m a beginner, when I see somebody get reposted that’s at my level, that’s the most inspiring thing to me. It makes me think “oh, actually I could do that”, whereas if I was watching pro skaters all day, even if they’re women, I’ll think it’s amazing but you know, I can’t really attempt that today. If you don’t have the representation near you, if you’re the only beginner at the skatepark then it’s hard. People learn from each other, that’s the thing I love about skateboarding. On Instagram there is so much representation of people at different levels so it’s so much easier for beginners to feel that a certain trick might be possible. Tell us about the clothes! We spent most of our time just choosing the colour palette to be honest. We try to be really colourful, we love pastels but we also want to make sure we have plain colours, and dark colours to ensure that there’s something for everyone. We make sure we’ve got some white, some pastel, some milder colours and some dark. We always like to pop the collection with some illustrated pieces too, so collaborations with different artists is super important to each of our collections. We just did one with Cindy Whitehead who was one of the first pro female skaters! We reached out to her and wanted to use this photo and put her name to it. For decades it's been used by so many people as a stock image without credit, and we wanted to take this and make sure her name was printed next to it so that she would be talked about. What's been the highlight of running Doyenne so far? We just love seeing the support we get from all over the world, it's amazing how that's possible now with social media. We receive DMs from kids all over the world, and it's crazy to think that someone must have paid super high prices for postage just to represent our clothing and the community. That's so cool to see. What advice would you give to the competent skater to help encourage the beginners in the park? I just always always say to the 'good' skaters in the park to remember what it was like when they were younger, and when they couldn't ollie. And skateboarding should be about sharing and passing on skills, that's what it's all about. You can check out Doyenne’s new collection online HERE, or follow them on Instagram HERE. Photos by @bgracephotos & @yoiain, lookbook styled by @lulaproctor. Cover photo by @_serenabrown
Our Top 100 Tracks of 2018
2018 turned out to be a bit of a rollercoaster with music. We felt the tragic passing of some true greats (Scott Hutchison, Aretha Franklin, Mac Miller to name a few), but with the losses we did have along with them some fantastic gains. At Tens, our music tastes are admittedly a bit all over the place. Not one musical genre can be classed as our favourite, but we're open-minded, and anything is worth fighting over the Sonos for. Selections tend to range from '90s dance classics, Ethiopian jazz, old video game soundtracks... However, surprisingly not much of that has been released in 2018... In this playlist we've put together our top 100 releases from this year in alphabetical order. So please follow and enjoy nearly 7 hours' worth of our favourites!
Work Anywhere ~ Marty Bell, Co-founder of Tens ☀️
Moving to Barcelona, surrounding yourself with interesting people and exploring new cities, our Co-founder, Marty talks all things remote working. Living in the sun has always been a big motivator. I love Scotland to bits, but after months (or years) of walking to Tens HQ in the pissing rain, I found myself fantasising about living somewhere that I could actually wear my Tens. The jokes write themselves about running a sunglasses company in one of the least sunny places on earth. At the start of June this year, I packed my life into surprisingly few boxes and moved to Barcelona. I’ve been attracted to the whole ‘travel the world with just your laptop’ thing for a while and felt that we, at Tens, could really take advantage of the fact that we run an entirely online business. If we sell online, and we chat between our team online – why not just go fully remote? If you want to work from Glasgow, cool; if you want to work from a wooden cabin in the middle of the Andes, go for it (as long as it has a fiber internet connection). A remote team split across the world, living wherever they want, feels a lot more like the Tens way to do things. I’ve been inspired for years by the community at NomadList, and by people like it’s Founder, Pieter. There’s a wave forming in the tech scene, with talent realising they can ditch their super expensive housing in San Francisco and move across the globe to highly affordable places like Chiang Mai in Thailand whilst retaining their San Fran salary – their money now goes 4 times further. It’s easy to see why so many people are taking the dive into remote working. It also makes sense to me as an employer; why limit yourself to a local talent pool when you can pick from a remote, global talent pool? The chances of you finding the right people increases considerably. Most of all, I needed a break from my regular routine. I get restless after doing the same thing day-in-day-out for too long, so it was time to switch things up. So, why Barcelona? 1) It's close enough to home to jump back to Scotland (home) for friend and family occasions. 2) It's a short (and normally cheap) two hour flight to London. I can leave my apartment at 6AM and be in central London for 10AM. I can be over and back on the same day. 3) It has everything. Tech, arts, business, nightlife, beach, city. You name it, you can find it here (or you can get to it very quickly). 4) But mostly because a few of my friends moved here 4 years ago (shout out Antonia & Jenni!) and have established a pretty big crew that I knew I could get to know. A wonderful group of friends from different countries and cultures served on a plate; I’m very fortunate and thankful for that. It’s often difficult to make friends in new places, especially as you get older. That last one is important, like really important. When we first started talking about remote working, my girlfriend and I weren’t too excited about living without a close friend group around us. I’d read a lot about remote working on Reddit, and my general impression was that travelling continuously while working is great for the first few months, but the novelty wears off fast for many, and it can become pretty lonely. But luckily, that hasn’t been the case at all. “Having a fantastic life outside of work hours would massively help me through the more challenging times inside of work hours” So far, this summer has been one of my best to date, and spending time with such a diverse group of friends from different countries, cultures, sexualities and careers has been extremely valuable to me. Running your own business can be pretty mentally taxing at times, and part of my rationale for moving to the sunshine was a hypothesis that having a fantastic life outside of work hours would massively help me through the more challenging times inside of work hours. That has most definitely been the case. There’s no stress reliever quite like jumping into the sea and floating around aimlessly for a while. On top of that, exploring a new city feels good for the soul, multiply that by 10 if you leave your phone at home while doing so. Being in an entirely new environment feels like a new lease on life, a bit of a hard-reset, and a chance to build some habits I’ve wanted to form for a while. “There’s no stress reliever quite like jumping into the sea and floating around aimlessly for a while” One of the things I like most about remote working is that you’re constantly adapting as you go, which works well for me. There are, absolutely, challenges that come with making such a drastic change, but the fun comes from working things out to experience the lifestyle you want to have. First of all, making the move was expensive. The move was much easier and more seamless than I think anyone would realise, but the costs do rack up. Our apartment in Barcelona required a payment of 4 months rent up front (2 months deposit, 1 month agency fee, 1 month rent). The rent isn’t cheap here either. We also discovered that the apartment was an empty shell other than a bed and a couch, so we had to fill it with some essential ‘stuff’ (slightly against our will, we’re trying to avoid buying much ‘stuff’ thanks to The Minimalists). After spending our time finding somewhere to stay, and finding our bearings, I then had to figure out how to actually do this remote working thing. Communications with the team were spotty in those first few weeks, but with apps like Appear.in, Slack and Zoom (never use Skype again) we’ve been able to make it work well. Luckily, around Barcelona, there are loads of great co-working spaces like Aticco, OneCoWork and MOB which is 100x easier than trying to have an important call in a busy coffee shop. These co-working hubs also tend to be full of startup founders, creatives and fellow remote workers, and often run events that help you get to know like minded people. If you prefer working at home (but still want to get to know more remote workers) Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz are great new ways to meet people. Here’s some links to websites & apps that have made my life considerably easier: 💵 Revolut - The best mobile bank for travellers. 🤝 Meetup - Find local events that interest you and meet new people. 🌍 Nomad List - Discover the best cities to remote work from. With over 100,000 remote works around the world in their community, there’s always someone to answer your questions about any given place. I love the members-only Slack channel, which has a channel for every popular destination with a constant flow of daily discussion in each. This is my first port-of-call whenever I need to work something out. ✈️ The podcast Zero to Travel has some great episodes that may inspire you, check it out here or search for it in your favourite podcast app. And here’s a few places you can look for jobs that you can do remotely (most sites are very tech heavy, but don’t be put off. Non-tech roles do come up often. I would suggest registering for alerts and/or sticking the site in your bookmarks bar to check each day. You could also get creative with Google Alerts to catch a role before someone else finds it. ➡️ Remote OK - https://remoteok.io/ ➡️ Remote.co - https://remote.co/ ➡️ We Work Remotely - https://weworkremotely.com/ Six months in, I’ve hugely enjoyed the move to remote working, and have had one of my best summers yet. We’re comfortable in Barcelona for the near future, but who knows where we’ll end up next. I’m sure it won’t be long until we’re ready for a new adventure. Are you working remotely from somewhere incredible? Afraid of making the jump? Drop me a line on Twitter: @marty. You can also catch me on Instagram: @marty.jpg PS: If you'd like to chat to us for our Work Anywhere series - hit us up i@tens.co
Surreal Deals This Black Friday
Score those sunglasses you wanted in our Black Friday Sale 🎁 There’s only one thing we’re looking forward to more than summer and that’s Black Friday. We’ve got some amazing things planned for 2019 (which we can’t tell you about just yet) - so let's see 2018 off with a bang! We’re doing our biggest Black Friday sale yet with some surreal deals 💸Set your alarm for Tuesday 20th November (yeah, we’re starting early) to pick up those Tens you wanted for some amber-tinted Winter sun or serious après-ski style points 🔥🔥🔥Here’s a sneak peek at some of the styles on sale... Black Classic£45 / €45 / $65 Crystal Bailey£45 / €45 / $65 Sundown Ashton£45 / €45 / $65 Black Harper£45 / €45 / $65 Caramel Scout£45 / €45 / $65 Oystershell Cooper £45 / €45 / $65 - Basically, everything's going to be at this price, so visit our store and pick out your favourites, ready for the launch of our biggest EVER sale next week.
Meet Our Very Own 'Phodographer'
So what do we at Tens get up to at the weekends? Could be a bit of exercise (sometimes), partying with friends (definitely), getting some headspace in the outdoors... maybe trying out that new bar that has that new mango IPA we're really into right now. What about going up to strangers in the park and taking photos of their dog? Well, our community & operations manager Iain does just that! Inspired by popular account 'The Dogist', Iain spends the weekends wandering around our town of Glasgow and meets ALL THE DOGS. Iain caught up with BBC recently to talk about his side-project, The Dugist... When did you become the Dugist? Why did you start? I’ve always been obsessed with Instagram. I found that most of the photos I was posting on my personal account were of dogs, so about a year and a half ago I started a new account that was just STRICTLY dogs, as I had enough content to keep a good flow. One of my favourite accounts on Instagram is The Dogist, it’s this guy in NYC that took the ‘Humans of New York’ theme and used it to document dogs. My account is basically just a Scottish rip-off of this. I’ll probably update the username soon if it grows, but it seems all the good dog-related usernames are taken! Would you say there is a knack to it? Would you share some secrets as to how you get the perfect shot? Not really, every dog is completely different, and you learn new behavioural traits each time. Some dogs are very good girls/boys and will just sit and stare straight down the lens - they’re the dream. Others - especially puppies - will run in circles and jump all over you with their muddy paws. Which, don't get me wrong, I love as well but in those situations I just need to make sure I take a LOT of burst ,shots with a high shutter speed. My camera shoots at 10 frames per second so I get the shot eventually. I’ve taken up to 200 photos of a single dog before to get the right one! Most people have a pretty decent digital camera in their pockets these days, I highly suggest using the burst feature on your smartphone and just going out there and taking as many photos of dogs as possible! People are usually delighted with the attention you give to their pups. People say working with animals is a nightmare…how do you get them to stay still? Funnily enough they become extremely curious when the camera shutter starts. As soon as the first click goes it gets their attention. To get their attention initially I basically just make high pitched whistling noises, and click / wave my fingers next to the lens to get them to look. From then they’re totally fascinated! Often the owners will have treats or toys on them so that can help too. Always been into photography? I always have been, and have always had a camera close by. It’s only really in the past few years I’ve gotten really into it. Instagram as a platform has helped inspire me to shoot more, it still is an incredible place to share and engage with a community. Do you ever get paranoid if you have left your camera when out and about? (What happens if you miss that perfect dog shot) I literally carry my camera with me everywhere. Wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without it! So nah! What do your friends and family think? Supportive? Yea they’re super supportive. My mum doesn’t even have Instagram but I send her all the originals via WhatsApp. It definitely does make me a bit distracted when I’m out with friends at the pub though. If I spot a cool dog from across the bar I’ll literally leave my group without notice and go make friends with it for a bit. Sorry pals! What is the usual response? It’s overwhelmingly positive, who doesn’t love dogs? Yea that was on the Facebook group Dogspotting (highly recommend joining), it’s always heartwarming to see hundreds of people tag their friends and partners in the photos. Sharing the dog love is what it’s all about really! What do you love about dogs? It’s the unconditional love and happiness. There’s a quote at the end of Marley & Me that always makes me cry…. "A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water log stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?" What’s the future for the Dugist? I’ll keep growing it, and hopefully one day I will have met all the dogs in Glasgow! Follow @thedugist on Instagram. Iain shoots on a Sony A7iii w/ 16-35mm
Escape to the West
by Iain MacLennan The allure of fresh air, clear skies and breath-taking landscapes provide a strong attraction that any photographer would find difficult to ignore. Equally, finding untouched and beautiful wilderness has become increasingly challenging in our ever connected modern world. The west coast of Scotland however, is one of the last few places within the UK that manages to achieve that raw sense of disconnect whilst still remaining within a reasonable drive to civilisation. With an unlikely convoy consisting of a 1998 Land Rover Defender and a similarly aged soft top Alfa Romeo we set off west from Glasgow, in search of turquoise blue waters and soft white sands. Driving the old West Highland Way through Glencoe is a must if routing towards the coast. Glen Etive and the striking Buachaille Etive Mor are impressive as you pass through and well deserved of the fame garnered from their feature in “Skyfall”. On reflection relying solely on an “intensive” recce of the coastline with Google satellite maps (and just a little bit of local knowledge) was probably not the best method of planning a weekend trip. Nonetheless we traversed west with a Landy full of whisky, beer and BBQ in hope of finding that perfect spot. Close to our target area we were hindered by roads and terrain unsuitable for the low profile of the mighty Alfa. With a quick shuttle run system in the 4x4 we managed to move the squad (and more importantly the booze!) cross country in to where we hoped we would find our untouched beach.After a short walk in we were not left disappointed. The headland opened up to reveal the most stunning and pristine cove, complete with glinting blue waters and even a small white sand beach. Tents pitched, we were straight into the water with our tinnies of Tennent’s in hand to celebrate our unlikely success. Watching the sun set low over the islands of Eigg and Rum was one of the most spectacular scenes I have ever witnessed in the UK. Turbulent dark clouds mixing in with the piercing sunbeams of the fiery red sky provided the perfect backdrop in which to share a dram or two with friends not often seen.Darkness fell and the sky eventually cleared to reveal the majesty of the Milky Way stretched out above, thousands of stars visible in the light pollution free skies. Fortuitously Mars was in its perihelic orbit and close enough to shine extremely bright in the night sky. This is what any landscape photographer craves for! Unsurprisingly it turns out that setting a tripod and capturing long exposures are much more difficult after half a bottle of the finest Scottish single malt… Iain is a serving British Army helicopter pilot with a passion for photography. Checkhis work on Instagram at @imagesbyiain.
Infrared Palm Springs by Kate Ballis
“I had a mirrorless Sony camera converted for infrared, bought a variety of coloured filters and the results completely changed the way I viewed the place, and beyond that, it provided me with a window into another world.” Where tropical palms and modernist architecture meet the martian-like desert, Palm Springs isn't already too far from an alien world. With a method of camera wizardry and a fantastic eye, Palm Springs is transformed into a brand new, exaggerated hyper-coloured light. An almost alien landscape devoid of normality. Mid-twentieth century automobiles are found sleeping by empty roads and bubbling red pools contain nothing but novelty floats. All adding to the sinister nature of this other-worldly set. The ‘greenery’ in the set really pops through this modified camera, as the infrared spectrum of light emanating from the plants normally sits out with the humanly visible spectrum. Kate told Wallpaper magazine that ‘Adventure has to be the best part of my job,’ she says. ‘I’m constantly planning the next destination to photograph and finding ways to capture that place’s story in a way that feels as unexplored as the location itself.’ We love Kate’s mindset of seeing things in a new perspective, that’s why we were so enchanted by this alien-like photoset. Cameras can be modified to shoot in infrared by removing the infrared blocker from the sensor assembly, but often this is permanent. If you want to give this a go yourself, there are many tutorials on YouTube. View the full set on Kate’s website here.
Best of the Month - Vol. 11
Despite tundra-like conditions hitting our small country this month, winter is technically over! With a new month comes a new roundup of our favourite stories, photos, accounts and music that we've been uncovering to keep us cosy as we prepare for a very exciting spring / summer launch. Enjoy! Best of the Web Ikea partners with Hasselblad in an effort to offer more “inspiring” prints for its frames. Are you sick of the black-and-white-but-the-taxis-are-yellow prints of Times Square too? Grandfather becomes Spain's oldest Erasmus student. He is 80 years old, has suffered a heart attack and quadruple bypass, but this month, Miguel Castillo will head off to start a new semester as an Erasmus student in Italy. This flooded river in Bonito, Brazil turns a somewhat ordinary jungle path into a crystal clear underwater world. “Svart” from Norwegian architecture firm 'Snøhetta' is the first Arctic building to be built according to an energy standard where more renewable energy is produced over its lifetime in total than would be required to build, sustain daily operations, and demolish the building. Here's the winner of the urban category in National Geographic's photography competition 2018. See all the winning images here. Tens Soundtrack Here are some of our office favourites, mostly new, some old. Who else should we be checking out? Visit our profile on Spotify to check out our previous months' soundtracks. Who to Follow Here are some of our favourite accounts to follow on Instagram. If you know anybody that we should be following, let us know! This month we've got @kateballis, @jamies_jungle, @accidentallywesanderson, @josselin & @peggyseyes. #TensMoments At Tens we put our community first, no matter what it is that we're up to. Here's where we share some of our favourite customer photos with Tens from the last month. We love seeing your tags with Tens, so be sure to tag us in them for your chance to be featured! Photos submitted (in order) by @middlevancleave, @alexander_kirk, @hanphn, @urbantraveller & @humansafari.~What things have you discovered this month? Are we missing anything? Message us on Facebook with suggestions!
Venice Beach, 1976
Load up some Donna Summer in a new tab and take a nostalgic trip back to a sun-drenched Venice Beach. '76 was the summer when outdoor roller skate rentals were introduced for the first time. What started out of an old mail truck from a parking lot soon became a global phenomenon - and it didn't need a viral video to get noticed. Thanks to a newly installed bike path, the rise of disco music and the invention of the polyurethane wheel, rollerskating on the street was now viable. This happened to be the same year Dogtown and Z-Boys staked their claim to fame. No smartphones, no notifications, no worries - just blazing heat, ill-fitting tees and the hum of the rolling wheels on warm asphalt. This was the beginning of the outdoor rollerskating revolution, and the rebirth of Venice, or "Venice Beach" as it became to be known. A couple of years down the line, Mayor Tom Bradley declared Venice, "The Rollerskating Capital of the World", making it the most popular California tourist destination second only to Disneyland. These original photographs are a representation of this vibrant decade, and offer a peek into the joy shared by those of who were lucky to be there. Photos by Mark
