Pop is Amsterdam skateboarding. Everything it does, from the biggest collaboration down, is rooted in that. If its 10 years in the game have proven anything, it’s that you don’t have to be a traditional skate company to represent what the culture stands for. Over a decade that has seen the worlds of skateboarding and fashion collide, Pop has been a catalyst for bringing people together, giving the local riders and co-creators with them from day one a global voice, while growing its extended family from Benelux to the world. This book is the coming-of-age story for a way of life, not just a label. And for the crew who have grown along with them.

As a skate distributor Pop Trading Company was already a unifying force, reconnecting Amsterdam’s splintered scene by sponsoring a team and organising the Bring Your Own Beer Skate Sessions still going off today. The brand it evolved into is just as community driven. Now a crossover label balancing grown-up menswear with hoodies and tees that carry more than just logos, it’s always homegrown artists whose work features on them, team riders in the shoots, and local musicians soundtracking their videos, with Amsterdam as the backdrop. Whatever the project, you instantly know this is Pop. A visual handwriting synonymous with the city. Intuition is the secret. Following instinct in lieu of a masterplan and approaching every

opportunity from the perspective of what fits Pop, not a skateboard brand. Separating itself - and the wider culture - from tired stereotypes. Working on ideas that always seem personal, never obvious. Finding new ways to tell their story that are naturally humble but still mess with traditional perceptions. Sharpening the focus that comes with getting older. More than just a logo, or a shop, or a skate team, or a fashion brand, or an art collective, or a community, or even friends and family. Really, Pop is a feeling.