Tokidoki and Sephora invite the ladies to come skate at the NYC product launch of their collaborative new make up line.
Tina Parol was just killing the mic with "Who’s Got Your Money" while Lorena and Desiree casually played in a custom built pink and black mini-ramp. The crowd of excited fashion and beauty bloggers circled around snapping pictures and waving to the skaters, while the upper echelon of Sephora (a seemingly she-she-chic brand) were proudly standing back telling themselves, “Wow, this was a really cool idea.”
Why don’t girls have more girl-inspired product sponsors?
At the time, I was too busy gushing over Simone Legno to think about what girls in skateboarding could learn from this event… that and the dude with the donuts on a light-saber kept lurking by the mini-ramp.Simone is a branding and illustrative genius who had been a huge inspiration for me for as long as I can remember being a graphic designer. When he hooked up Pooneh Mohajer and Ivan Arnold, Tokidoki was born and they began producing their "criminally cute" line of purses, t-shirts, and figurines… makeup and eventually skateboards.
"Hey!? Is anybody sponsored by Tokidoki?"
When it comes to raising the money we need – to pursue our epic dreams – maybe we should focus on what makes us different from the boys.
Instead of expecting the same treatment or fighting for equal contest purses -we have to accept it. Girls and guys will never be "equal" – until we have to do it ourselves. Because the problem with girls’ skateboarding, is not that we are skateboarding.. it’s that we are trying to make our mark on the world via the same path the boys before us have laid. It is very much like that in all sports. Except Women’s billiards, they did it all on their own.
Understanding (briefly) the power of the "Girl Brand"
In many ways we will always be "The Side Project", but being on the side is not – out of the picture. We have as much – if not more – ability to create smarter sponsorships for ourselves that are not 100% dependent on the success of our male counterparts. We just have to think like girls. Do you have any idea what the buying power of a 12 to 17 year old girl?
- In 2002, there was 4,810,000 female skateboarders.
- As a group, Teens of
all ages spent a projected $112.5 billion dollars in 2003. - Teenagers influence over $600 billion worth of spending
- Teenage girls spend over $9 billion on makeup and skin products alone
How many brands out there market to teenage girls? makeup & beauty products, clothing, accessories, music, health drinks are a only a handful. Those are the brands (across all sponsored athletics) that girls need to start seeking out.
Girl Organizations
There’s a longer list now then ever before. Local, national and international organizations who inspire, support and unite girls who skateboard (and other sports too.)
Lorena and Desiree rip it at Tokidoki.
me and my brother are always in almost any product launch events;;”
i love new product launches, i always attend events like those because i want to see some new stuffs *;-