This Means DAWN: PACCBET Skate Film in Los Angeles

The new season of the Gosha Rubchinskiy-backed brand PACCBET launches with a skate film that defies the gravity of geopolitics. A zine titled “Goodbye America” and the brand’s lookbook complete the three-part project.

In February 2017, the PACCBET skate team traveled to Southern California to meet with American skaters Dolan Stearn, Julian Klincewicz, and their crew. During the road trip, they effortlessly collided their respective worlds into a short documentary in collaboration with INRUSSIA, weaving through California’s concrete and rubble surface. Despite the fact that Russian-American relations have tensed up into a Cold War redux, PACCBET’s designer, skater and Gosha Rubchinskiy confidante Tolia Titaev, insists: “The film really doesn’t have an underlining political message.” The documentary discreetly proves that perhaps geopolitical borders matter less than territories of kindred spirits. Rubchinskiy said it best when he told 032c: “I’m sick of politicians faces.”

032c’s Eva Kelley spoke with PACCBET’s designer and skater Tolia Titaev about the trip and what skating means in California versus Russia.

Eva Kelley: In the film you say that you were inspired by the skate videos of Julian and Dolan. What were you trying to tap into during the making of the film that you liked about them?

Tolia Titaev: Julian and Dolan are close friends of mine. Every week I used to watch their YouTube videos of them skating and chilling shot on VX handyman film. Then Julian started filming on VHS and I really liked it. Dolan is a really cool skater, I love his style. I was used to following them and I was really happy to meet them and make this California tour.

Did your expectations of the trip match reality?

It was exactly the same! Everything was as amazing as I expected. There is just one thing I regret: missing the Sequoia park. We drove for five hours to get there from Dolan’s, but arrived at night. It was snowing so we couldn’t see anything and just ended up going back down the mountain all the way to LA. I had already seen it, but I really wanted to show it to the guys from the team.

Do you notice any big differences or surprising similarities between SoCal and Russian skate cultures?

It’s pretty much the same – skating and finding cool spots. I guess what changes is the spots themselves. In California, there is a lot of concrete which makes it a little hard to skate. Whereas, we mostly have marble plazas in Moscow. Apart from that, it’s pretty much the same everywhere. Not just referring to California versus Russia, but in the whole world. You just skate in different spots.

What serves as your reference point when you design clothes? How does PACCBET translate into the action of skating?

We are trying to make super easy designs – our logo is what stands out. They are comfortable clothes to skate in and show the brand. Paccbet, this is what we want to show now, not fancy designs of the clothes. Paccbet means sunrise, it’s the new day. It is meant to show our Russian way of skating.

The new season of PACCBET launched at Dover Street Market London, New York, Ginza, Singapore, I.T. Beijing Market, Comme des Garçons Pocket Shop Berlin, and Paris Trading Museum on June 27th, 2017. Next to the film and the collection, the project also includes the zine “Goodbye America” – a book of photography documenting PACCBET’s LA skate trip by Sasha Mademuaselle and Sergey Kostromin.