RIPPED LACES TALKS DESIGN WITH BENNY GOLD

If you were skating in the early 2010s, then you probably remember Ripped Laces. Focused fully on delivering the most in-depth skate shoe news and reviews, Ripped was an independent website that became a home for skate product nerds.

Jeremy Lugo, the site’s founder, is not only a good friend of ours but also a trusted backboard to bounce our silly ideas off of. He’s helped out on a number of special projects, most notably our collaboration shoe with Converse released in 2019.

Every now and then, we pop across a tweet, or an Instagram comment that laments the end of Rippedlaces.com, always holding on to some hope that the site will one day return. Every time we pass one of these comments, we try to forward it to Jeremy to let him know what the people want.

After some poking and prodding, we were able to convince Jeremy to get back on the horse and start pumping out some content again. Take this as the first entry in a trial run of Ripped content on Jenkem, hopefully coming to you on a ~semi-regular basis from here on out.

For his first project, Jeremy and filmer Bobby Spero were able to get together early-pandemic with designer Benny Gold to talk with him about his lengthy track record and past designs. We’ll let him tell you the rest.

A Message from Jeremy Lugo:

Known throughout streetwear for his namesake brand, Benny Gold is an accomplished designer, art director, and entrepreneur.

Perhaps overshadowed by his broad array of talents, Benny Gold is also a skateboarder who’s had his hands in helping legacy brands like Ipath, Gravis, HUF, and more.

We met up with Benny on the cusp of his raffle where he intended to part with his life’s work. Before passing his work onto a number of lucky winners, we wanted to pick his brain about the state of footwear, some of his favorite projects he’s worked on, and more.

Note: This was filmed before the unfortunate passing of Keith Hufnagel. RIP Keith.

Interview by: Jeremy Lugo
Filmed & edited by: Bobby Spero
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Jenkem Magazine