Palace

Palace started as an in-joke and ended up on fashion week guest lists without ever ditching its skate team. Lev Tanju founded the brand in London in 2009, alongside Gareth Skewis and Marshall Taylor, naming it after the run-down Waterloo flat his crew, the Palace Wayward Boys Choir, ironically called “the palace”. That Southbank scene is still the DNA of everything the brand does.

History

The rise was quick. By 2012 Palace was stocked in Supreme’s New York and LA stores and picked up “European Skate Brand of the Year” in Berlin. The first standalone shop opened in London in 2015, with flagships now in New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Seoul and Hong Kong. In 2018 came a British Fashion Awards nomination in the Urban Luxe category, next to Supreme and Off-White, plus a Ralph Lauren collaboration. The 2022 Gucci collection via Gucci Vault merged the Tri-Ferg with Gucci’s double-G and brought the brand’s first womenswear. adidas has been a partner since 2014 (Reebok did the first sportswear collab in 2013), with the 2019 Juventus fourth kit kept secret until Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates revealed it moments before kickoff against Genoa. In 2025 the first Nike collaboration was announced.

The team

For all the fashion noise, Palace is still built around a proper street team. Original and early riders Lucien Clarke, Rory Milanes, Danny Brady, Chewy Cannon and Charlie Young are all still on the programme, and Clarke made history in 2020 as the first pro with a Louis Vuitton signature skate shoe. They ride alongside Lucas Puig, Benny Fairfax, Heitor Da Silva, Jamal Smith, Shawn Powers, Kyle Wilson, Jahmir Brown and Ville Wester. On the historic side: Olly Todd and Karim Bakhtaoui from the early days, and Blondey McCoy, who left to focus on Thames.

Boards, graphics and video legacy

The Tri-Ferg triangle, designed by Fergus “Fergadelic” Purcell, is one of the most recognisable logos in skateboarding and streetwear, and the whole visual identity leans on 1990s British TV graphics and VHS camcorder texture. That same lo-fi sensibility runs through the brand’s videos, largely shot on VHS, edited in-house and released free online — a body of work that earned a “Long live VHS!” from Thrasher and keeps landing recent full-lengths on the magazine. On the board wall, pro series for the core team sit next to seasonal Tri-Ferg graphics, while the Gucci and adidas Juventus decks became instant collector pieces.

Who it’s for

If you want a deck with genuine London street pedigree, instantly recognisable graphics and the bonus that limited drops hold their value well with collectors, Palace delivers. For the wider picture of what’s happening on this side of the Atlantic, see our guide to European skate brands.