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Vulture Couture 2013

We hosted a fashion show as a statement against plagiarism. 

Twenty models took the red carpet wearing skateboards as clothing (literally) to represent the influence of skateboarding in fashion and more directly to mock fashion designer, Jeremy Scott for sending stolen skateboard art down the runway.

The show came as a response to Jeremy Scott’s recent debut at NY Fashion week which included pieces that were direct rip offs of Jim and Jimbo Phillips' iconic Santa Cruz Skateboard art.

“It really struck a chord with us since our entire business is based off of turning skateboards into fashion. As skateboarders ourselves, we take a lot of pride in giving credit back to skateboarding for every piece we make,” says Lindsay Jo Holmes, owner of MapleXO. “We couldn’t just sit quietly with him pulling such a kook move on skateboarding, so we sent the original skateboard art down the red carpet.”

It’s not the first time the skateboard community has been affected by plagiarism. Skateboard artist Michael Sieben’s art was recently mimicked by Target to create an entire line of youth clothing. – Furthermore, the overall style of the skateboarding subculture is constantly exploited in fashion trends that often teeter the line of plagiarism.

Inspiration is great. Plagiarism is just wrong. Artists and creators deserve credit for the ideas they bring into this world. Shameless rip offs of their work should be shunned,” says Holmes

We have been directly affected by plagiarism a few times. One example is the nearly identical copy of our recycled skateboard iPhone case that was mass distributed and portrayed as an original creative accessory by a larger company out of southern California.

In our case, the more skateboards that are recycled the better, so we tend to just ignore the copy cats,” explains Holmes, “After seeing the plagiarized Jim and Jimbo Phillips art, however, we felt like a statement had to be made and since we bridge a gap between skateboarding and fashion, we felt compelled to take charge”

The Vulture Couture Fashion Show and installations pointed a middle finger to the copycats, fakers, and takers of the skateboard subculture by literally bringing the spotlight back to the original source of its influence in fashion, skateboarding.

For more information email: Press@MapleXO.com 

 






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NIKE video!

Did you know we were part of a video for NIKE about "makers of the world"?

Wieden+Kennedy came to our workshop here in Portland and filmed our hands in action. It was fun seeing so many people in here at once... At one point there were 17 people here with cameras, and lighting, and sound equipment, and stylists. It was a blast.



To find out more about the project... check out their Tumblr and watch this teaser video! 


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SkateBacks Material

We went to the PS Stix factory to get hands on with our project of recycling the industrial waste of skateboard manufacturing. 
Paul Schmitt breaks it down for us in this video clip... 

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SkateBack for your iPhone!

The wait is OVER!!

It's finally time to announce our exciting collaboration with our friends at Grove! 

We made a SkateBack for your iPhone 4 and 4S from recycled industrial skateboard waste!!

Each week, one skateboard factory produces enough waste material to fill a city bus. By teaming up with Grove, we’re using this material to create a 100% post-industrial material product for the iPhone 4 and 4S.



At approximately 1/16 of an inch thick, SkateBacks protect the iPhone from damage while coupling the sleek Apple design with classic skateboard aesthetic. Unique is an understatement. Our SkateBacks are made at Grove’s workshop here in Portland, OR, with a combination of high-tech machinery and good old-fashioned handiwork. Three general color types are available to choose from: Calm, Neutral, or Vibrant. However, each SkateBack is as singular as a snowflake - no two are exactly alike! 


Material Sourcing

The SkateBack evolution works like this: from raw skateboard waste at the PS Stix factory, to eye-catching ply with us at MapleXO, and finally to cell phone accessory at Grove. PS Stix owner Paul Schmitt, of Costa Mesa, CA, has been manufacturing skateboards for nearly three decades. His company makes more than 4,000 skateboards a day, 200 per hour, that’s more than three per minute. We've been working with Schmitt on recycling his waste for years. 



Working with Grove to make these SkateBacks has been a great way to jumpstart our next big projects in the works with recycling industrial skateboard waste. This is really just the beginning! -Lindsay Jo 

Only $49... get yours now! Get all three while you're at it! 

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AndrewJive.com

He's at it again!

Andy's, of AndrewJive.com, been in the MapleXO woodshop all week (literally... like, he doesn't sleep!) working on a stop motion video with MapleXO pieces!

I can't wait to see the whole thing... here's a little sneak peek!





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MapleXO + YoBeat Money Clip!

Another collab kicks off today here in Portland, Oregon with MapleXO and YoBeat!

We teamed up with YoBeat (The largest independent snowboard site!) and made these über rad money clips from recycled skateboards. 

They look cool, feel nice to hold, keep your money organized, they're recycled, andddd they're made from the hard-working hands of not just one but TWO of Portland's small businesses. 

ONLY 50 available! Hurry and get them today at:  YoBeat.com


(**hundos not included)

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Recycled Skateboard Bracelets

People Magazine just featured our recycled skateboard bracelets "bangles" in their 2011 Holiday Gift Guide section of their current issue!!!


So stoked to see these pieces created by our hands in our dusty little wood-shop in Portland, make it into the pages of a magazine that reaches the hands of 3.75 million people per issue!

Get your recycled skateboard bracelets here !!!


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Launching MXO:raw

It's finally available! Our new line, MXO:raw!

   


We've been hard at work creating this line for the past year and are so happy with how it turned out. To give you an inside scoop of all that went into making this line... I thought I'd share the story:

Of course it started with collecting tons of decommissioned boards to deconstruct. 


We spent months prototyping new product ideas and experimenting with pieces of skateboards.

 (<--- Spencer and Brent, hard at work)

We got our vision for the line and put some real blood sweat and tears into it making the products. Literally!

 (<--- intern becky // aka:b-rex)

With our vision for MXO:raw figured out and the products for the line taking form, we redesigned our workshop to get us better set up for production.

 (<--- me and B-rex)

We teamed up with Jason Ehlers to start the leather work and had a blast working with him in every step of designing these pieces. (Thanks Brent for connecting us with Ehlers!)

 

To test out our new designs and to also celebrate the beginning of this new line, we had a pre-launch pop-up-shop at the Breeze Block Gallery in Portland, OR. It was a blast and tons of people came out! (thanks Paige for hosting the event!)



Now it was time to get the line photographed, cataloged, and ready to show off as a completed, perfected collection.

Luckily we know some hot babes that were down to get photographed to show off our wears.


And finally after hours and hours editing the new lookbook at various Portland coffee shops  (my favorites being Heart Roasters, and the Detour Cafe), the line was finally finished!

And with that... we give you MXO:raw


Get yours favorite pieces here!

Thanks for helping us save skateboards from the landfill!

xo!

Lindsay Jo

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