GLOBE COLLABS WITH SESAME STREET — Deck Collection For “Yellow Feather Fund”
Photography: Joey Shigeo
WORDS: Stu Gomez
Most skateboarders know Globe as a venerable shoe company, but the brand also produces a full line of skateboards. In a collab released yesterday, Globe partnered with the Sesame Street "Yellow Feather Fund," which provides early education to millions of kids in need (in part through projects like the WASH UP! global health initiative and Autism: See Amazing In All Children).
The Globe X Sesame Street collection features six different deck designs (each featuring characters from the original run of the children’s show), with two completes in cruiser and longboard options.
We caught up with Dave Gitlin, Globe’s Senior Skateboard Designer, to get the lowdown on this warm and fuzzy collab. As you can see below, the Globe design team had a lot of fun with this project!
What inspired Globe to partner with Yellow Feather Fund?
Skateboarding is inundated with collabs and licensing stories—one iconic brand partnering up with another. Sesame Street reached out looking for partners as they gear up for their 60-year anniversary. Most of us grew up with the characters in our lives, so the warm spot in our hearts for Big Bird and Cookie Monster was already there.
That being said, we’re getting very specific about who we partner up with these days. Looking beyond the spike of income licensed product can generate.
We realized that Sesame Street is so much more than a TV show we all grew up with. It’s a non-profit organization whose goal is to educate children, regardless of socioeconomic boundaries. The Yellow Feather Fund is the way they communicate the worldwide initiatives they’re involved in. Like creating tools to help families with autistic kids, providing education to Syrian refugees, and teaching kids in Africa ways to avoid contracting and spreading disease.
While we love the characters, we also feel really good about helping the Yellow Feather Fund in all the good they do around the world.
Are you able to disclose the percentage of sales that will be donated to the fund?
Because of Sesame Street’s non-profit status, we’re not actually allowed by law to contribute a portion of sales. Instead, we’ve donated a lump sum of money to the fund. It should be in the neighborhood of our net profit from the board sales—perhaps even a bit more. And, hopefully by spreading the word, we’re encouraging others to contribute as well!
_How did Globe decide on the shapes for each character? _
Well, that’s the fun part really. The way the characters are sort of sprouting from the tail almost dictated the best size for each character. Oscar and Cookie Monster are easy, but Elmo and Big Bird took some consideration. Plus… Elmo on a mini cruiser just kinda seems appropriate.
Visit the Globe site for more info on this collection, and read up on The Yellow Feather Fund while you’re at it.
