Skater "Pontus Alv" Goes Converse

Pontus Alv is one of the most legendary European skateboarders. He has made history with his DIY skateparks, his creative skating and his films like "In Search of the Miraculous" and "The Strongest of the Strange". After launching his own brand "Polar" some time ago, there is news again: Pontus is now supporting Converse Skateboarding.
 
In this short interview we find out a bit more about the collaboration and why Converse shoes have always had a place in his heart.

---

Pontus, how did your choice of Converse come about?
Converse is definitely one of the classics in this field, it's a brand with a lot of tradition and history. I've always been a fan of anything that is timeless, so never really goes out of fashion. Then recently I ended the relationship with my former shoe sponsor and started looking around for a new partner. But since I generally only ride for companies or only want to represent those companies that I really like and believe in, the list of candidates was honestly quite short. In the end, I chose Converse because many of their ideas and approaches coincide with my own. After all, sponsorship is ideally about building a good relationship, a kind of foundation on which you can realise creative ideas and visions. For ten years, my mission has been to give back to the skateboarding world, to inspire other skaters and to show different possibilities and perspectives of what skateboarding can be. I'm still going full throttle on this and I can't imagine anything changing in the near future. I'm sure that together with Converse I can do a lot of incredibly exciting and inspiring things and do a lot for the scene. Giving back to the younger generation will always be at the top of my priority list; for me that is the most important drive of all. I can still remember the first time I saw Converse in this context, and that was right from the first trick in Guy Mariano's part in the legendary "Mouse" video. He does a switch bigspin flip in dark blue One Stars, and he also wears them during the first line on the benches in Venice - I was hooked by then at the latest. Later, in the same part, he also wears dark blue Dr. Js, and I can't get this image out of my head ever since. This classic nineties look is simply unbelievably casual, even today. My shop sponsor at the time even provided me with a pair of One Stars, but they were such a nasty green! Ever since that day, I've always wanted a pair in dark blue.

 

Your own company Polar Skateboards is going through the roof right now, the last promo clip hit like a bomb. Is Polar, and especially the video clips, in a way the logical continuation of what you did with your films "The Strongest Of The Strange" and "In Search Of The Miraculous"? Or do you have completely different plans with Polar?
In general, the name Polar Skate Company stands for a platform. It is our platform where we can realise all our ideas and visions. The two films I realised laid the foundation for this, and Polar is the next chapter in this story, so to speak. Nothing has really changed, except that we now also offer products and express our approach in graphics, advertisements or, for example, with a team. There, too, it's basically about inspiring other skaters, even motivating them to motivate themselves. With Polar, I want to show what a skate company can be today. And our creativity comes into play in a lot of different ways - in the artwork, in the photography, in the filmed parts and so on and so forth. It feels great to finally have the right channel with this platform to be able to do all these things easily. I make the decisions and we really only do what we like or believe in. I just hope that our approaches get something rolling and they influence a little bit the direction skateboarding is going. And of course I also hope that at some point we will at least earn some money with it, so that we can then in turn finance more cool skateboarding projects.

 

What exactly drives you? You're always making new concrete ramps, art, films, you have your own company - why all that?
I started doing it because I was frustrated and pissed off about what was happening in skateboarding, how things and the business were developing. Out of that frustration came "The Strongest Of The Strange", which in turn led to the next film, "In Search Of The Miraculous". First the darker side and then the lighter side, but the bottom line is that I just can't relate to a lot of things that happen in our culture and in this business. I don't like the way a lot of companies approach it and I don't like the way they present skateboarding. And I can't just sit there and watch this culture neglect. (Although of course there are always cool things happening in this culture!) So my main drive is to show alternative ways, to present a different image of what skateboarding can mean and be - or at least to show what it means to me. In a way, this applies to everything in life, because if you love a thing and really believe in it, then you have to be willing to fight for it when everything else seems to go down the drain. At the end of the day, I just want to contribute and promote skateboarding, push the next generation and teach them how I understand this culture.

Are there any concrete plans for the future - for you, with Polar and with Converse?
There are a lot of plans with both Polar and Converse. At the moment, however, we are still waiting for spring to finally arrive; as soon as the sun is back, life can really start again. Of course, we will continue to do our thing: Building concrete ramps, getting our boards out to the people, capturing it all on camera, travelling a lot and meeting and skating with locals all over Europe. Specifically, more ramps are being planned around Malmö, and together with Converse we have the opportunity to build new spots in completely different corners of Europe. The most important thing is that we just keep doing rad stuff and make this whole skate culture as alive and exciting and radical as possible. So even less sleep, and even more work on it. Stay hungry and motivated!

– Pontus Alv