A Celebration of Skateboarding, Art and Music!

With just seven weeks to go before the crème de la crème of the Global skateboard community descend upon Paris, the Eiffel Tower is being polished and the Grande Halle de la Villette transformed in preparation for the arrival of the infamous Vans Downtown Showdown. As a city renowned for its iconic sites, as a home to poets, fashionistas, hunchbacks and artists, Paris sets the perfect scene for an event of epic proportions, and plenty of inspiration for the Vans Downtown Showdown as it celebrates its 5th anniversary. Expect anything and everything, from live art and creative workshops, to a pop-up barbershop and an awesome public skatepark featuring reimagined Parisian icons, that whilst strangely familiar, will surely have never been skated before. The motto shared by both skateboarders and the nation’s boulangers, “no pain, no gain” rings true for the Vans Downtown Showdown, as 12 teams go tête a tête on a truly unique course, designed by themselves, and set to put their skills and creativity to the test. The European front will be upheld by teams such as Element, Palace, Sweet and Death, whilst from the USA come Flip and Dwindle, and we welcome the suitably morbid Dropdead team from Brazil. You’ll find a full list of teams and riders at the end of this announcement. Amongst the invited teams, legends such as Steve ‘Cab’ Caballero, Tony Alva and Christian Hosoi will be present, and with a line-up like this, it’s an event Dame well Notre be missed. In keeping with the city’s past, art plays a prominent role in this year’s Vans Downtown Showdown. Former Paris resident and graphic artist Mambo not only designed the event artwork, but will be joining other internationally respected artists such as Rich Jacobs, Kev Grey, Nicolas Thomas, Jay Howell and French, amongst others, as they apply their signature style to the iconic Vans “Off The Wall” logo in a show of style and creativity, and in celebration of Vans’ 47 years of skateboarding and street culture. Elsewhere, Lovenskate will be hosting a creative workshop, where kids of all ages can try their hand at screen-printing, or even lean how to customise their own Vans! Inspiration can be drawn directly from the archives, as a display of original product from Vans’ “Off The Wall’ heritage will be on display. In addition, we’ll be showing our support for the next generation of skateboard photographers in an exhibition curated especially for the Vans Downtown Showdown by Vans skater and bona fide Frenchman, Sam Partaix. Having spent the months prior to the event touring his great nation with little but a giant Half Cab and a select team of skaters, Monsieur Partaix set about meeting some of tomorrow’s stars of skateboard photography, as they set about documenting the teams antics on our giant skatable Half Cab. The fruits of their labour will be on display at La Grande Halle de la Villette throughout the event. With the live art beginning whilst the skaters warm up and get used to the course on Friday, followed by a full bill of skating, creativity and music on Saturday, Paris’ Vans Downtown Showdown is set to be a Triomphe.
www.downtownshowdown.eu
#VansDTSD

Vans Downtown Showdown 2013 Teams
ANTIZ (EU): Sam Partaix, Dominic Dietrich, Samu Karvonen, Dallas Rockvam
CLICHé (EU): riders: Kyron Davis, Flo Mirtain, Kevin Bradley, Lem Villemin
DEATH (EU): Rob Smith, Adam Moss, Mikey Patrick, Moggins
DROPDEAD (BRA): Pedro Barros, Rodolfo Ramos, Evandro Martins, Guilherme Guimarães
BLIND (US): TBC
ELEMENT (EU): Ross McGouran, Phil Zwijsen, Nassim Guammaz, Karsten Kleppan
FLIP (US): Geoff Rowley, Ben Nordberg, Luan Oliveira, Louie Lopez
ISLE (EU): Nick Jensen, Chris Jones, Sylvain Tognelli, Tom Knox
METROPOLITAN (EU): Steve Ramy, Vincent Bressol, JJ Rousseau, Lee Smith
PALACE Skateboards (EU): Lucien Clarke, Chewy Cannon, Rory Milanes, Olly Todd
RADIO (US): TBC
SWEET Skateboards (EU): Gustav Tönneson, Josef Scott Jatta, Jonas Skröder, Nisse Ingemarsson

Keep an eye on www.downtownshowdown.eu for updates.

About Vans:
In 1966, the Van Doren Rubber Company opened up for business in California. Within a few years, the whole skate culture adopted Vans shoe as their favorite brand and today Vans still represents a look that epitomizes the Southern California lifestyle. With more than 45 years of history –and now offering a complete range of footwear, apparel, accessories, snowboard boots & outerwear and Pro-Tec protective equipment – Vans has risen to become a worldwide dominant force in the action sports industry and the genuine brand of choice for the contemporary lifestyle consumer.