Twenty models took the red carpet wearing skateboards as clothing (literally) to represent the influence of skateboarding in fashion and more directly to mock fashion designer, Jeremy Scott for sending stolen skateboard art down the runway.

The show came as a response to Jeremy Scott’s recent debut at NY Fashion week which included pieces that were direct rip offs of Jim and Jimbo Phillips' iconic Santa Cruz Skateboard art.

“It really struck a chord with us since our entire business is based off of turning skateboards into fashion. As skateboarders ourselves, we take a lot of pride in giving credit back to skateboarding for every piece we make,” says Lindsay Jo Holmes, owner of MapleXO. “We couldn’t just sit quietly with him pulling such a kook move on skateboarding, so we sent the original skateboard art down the red carpet.”

It’s not the first time the skateboard community has been affected by plagiarism. Skateboard artist Michael Sieben’s art was recently mimicked by Target to create an entire line of youth clothing. – Furthermore, the overall style of the skateboarding subculture is constantly exploited in fashion trends that often teeter the line of plagiarism.

“Inspiration is great. Plagiarism is just wrong. Artists and creators deserve credit for the ideas they bring into this world. Shameless rip offs of their work should be shunned,” says Holmes

We have been directly affected by plagiarism a few times. One example is the nearly identical copy of our recycled skateboard iPhone case that was mass distributed and portrayed as an original creative accessory by a larger company out of southern California.

“In our case, the more skateboards that are recycled the better, so we tend to just ignore the copy cats,” explains Holmes, “After seeing the plagiarized Jim and Jimbo Phillips art, however, we felt like a statement had to be made and since we bridge a gap between skateboarding and fashion, we felt compelled to take charge”

The Vulture Couture Fashion Show and installations pointed a middle finger to the copycats, fakers, and takers of the skateboard subculture by literally bringing the spotlight back to the original source of its influence in fashion, skateboarding.

For more information email: Press@MapleXO.com