Chinese technology company Alibaba reports a surge in sales of skateboards. In China, skateboarding is considered an outsider sport or culture, not least because of its U.S. influences.
However, as Alizila, Alibaba’s news platform, writes, skateboarding’s reputation has risen since the sport became an Olympic sport at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.
As a result, sales of skateboards on Tmall, the shopping platform owned by Alibaba, increased 290 percent during the 6.18 mid-year shopping festival. According to the report, Shenzen-based brand DBH reported a 200 percent growth in sales from 2021 to 2022, which Alizila said is a paradigm shift, and Chinese brands, as well as some bigger foreign brands such as Santa Cruz and Carver Skateboard, would try to meet the interest of Chinese consumers.
At the same time, Chinese skate film production company Avenue & Son is releasing a short film on June 26. Shot primarily in Shanghai, the film not only features skateboarding at the city’s most popular skate spots but “also captures hilarious interactions between the skaters and non-skateboarders, such as security guards and elderly Shanghainese locals,” as Radiichina.com puts it.
