Yardsale

Yardsale is a British brand out of south-east London, run by Dan Kreitem. He started it in 2013 while working at Slam City Skates and filming with his mates: he wanted to show a London that didn’t look like the usual grey, and since “you don’t make money from videos,” he made T-shirts to pay for them. The name has no story behind it — it was the first thing he wrote down and it stuck. The office is in Greenwich.

History

The first money came from family: £1,500 borrowed from his dad and a £2,000 inheritance from his great uncle. That paid for the first run of T-shirts, which sold at Slam City and Palomino. The debut video, LDN-LAX, took five months to film — him in London, Stephen Spilker in Los Angeles — and premiered on 28 September 2013 at the Wayward gallery, with parts from Darius Trabalza, Curtis Pearl, David Bowens, Adrian Adrid and Jhian Namei.

What happened next is the best part of the story, and he told it himself to Free Skate Mag in 2018. After that video, Slam City came to him: they wanted 50% of the brand in exchange for money, factory access and any rider he wanted. Sceptical, Kreitem negotiated a one-year trial with a 50/50 split before signing anything permanent. Yardsale’s first boards were made with that money, but the clothing side never materialised and the decks sat in production for months. Six months in, he and his dad wrote an email ending the deal. “I wake up every morning and think thank fuck I haven’t given up 50% of my company,” he said afterwards. “50% is not your company.”

The team

Current pro models belong to Thaynan Costa, Alex Hatfield and Bear Myles. Riders who have come through include Curtis Pearl, Jake Church, Zak Mayell, Tom Delion, Paddy Jones, Charlie Birch, Sam Sitayeb, Kyle Wilson, Julian Kimura and Darius Trabalza. The videos keep coming: Fantasy Island (2014), Softcore (2015), YSLA and Hotel Romance (2016), YS (2018), East Coast and Playback (2019), YS 2 (2020), P4P and YS UK (2021) and YS 3 (2023). P4P was made to raise funds for medical aid to Palestinian children.

Boards and clothing

Decks run from 8” to 8.65”, covering pro models and brand graphics (Euphoria, Primal, Angel, Party). The apparel side carries as much weight as the boards: knitwear, jackets and trousers in a late-’90s register that has shaped half of London. It’s one of the few British skate brands people buy as much for the clothes as for the wood.

Who it’s for

If you skate in Europe and want a brand from here with a real team and a video every year, Yardsale is an easy call. Widths skew wide (8.375” and up), so there isn’t much on offer if you ride narrow. Compare it against the rest in the European skate brands guide and the deck catalog.