Always Stuck In Dreamland
The Birth of ASID - September, 2013
Me and two friends decide to think of a name for ourselves after having been skateboarding together for a couple of years and always having fun together.
Ahmetcan, Sasho and Dan with adding the 'I' to make the acronym more fluent results in the birth of ASID.
Representing ASID
With every new board I set up, there would be a new and unique ASID drawing or design on there.
I would upload photos of the drawings on instagram which would bring attention to the name and begin to create an image for it.
Representing ASID
Over time the designs become more and more intricate and a colour scheme begins to develop.
Due to more and more attention being brought to the name, people begin asking what the 'I' in ASID stands for. I never give a straight up answer to leave people wondering and to help spread the word using mystery.
Developing new designs
Me and my friends would always joke around and do funny accents, during one of our conversations the term 'skater for life' comes up and ends up becoming 'SKATR4LYF' after saying it a few time while laughing and joking around in different accents.
One day I get a hold of some white spray paint and decide to spray it on my griptape as a joke.
Actually Stuck In Dreamland - February, 2015
After ASID, as a group of friends who skateboarders, gains a little bit of popularity people start asking for products to buy and support us.
This is when I came up with the Dreamland idea and decided to re-brand ASID to mean 'Actually Stuck In Dreamland' as I felt like it represented what me and my friends were really about at the time.
Within the week or so of re-branding I corrected the acronym to 'Always Stuck In Dreamland' which was more accurate and grammatically sound.
The first products - June, 2015
At this point in time my hair was beginning to get to a length at which it was long enough to fall into my face and distract me while skateboarding so I purchased a £3 hat on amazon and drew some ASID artwork on it.
I began selling it as the first ever product for ASID with the motto 'If it is good enough for me to be wearing it, it will be for you.'
The first products - June, 2015
Along with the hat I had gotten in contact with a screen printing company outside of London and had the first ever ASID t-shirt made..
Since I was funding all this on my own I didn't have enough to order a batch of t-shirts or hats, so I would get the product made after a customer ordered it.
This all meant that it took a while for people to receive their products which I was not satisfied with.
Second line of hats - August, 2015
After making the first hat design I straight away started thinking up new designs. Through being surrounded by the skateboard fashion scene I became interested in the baby pink colour and hand drew the ASID palm tree on yet another cheap blank hat.
I then created a BigCartel website where the hats were for sale. I worked in the same way since I still had a small amount of money to fund the company.
I also wanted a black hat with the white ASID tag design on it, I always pictured this would be embroidered on the hat but once again due to low funds I went with a marker pen instead. This didn't actually turn out the way I had hoped and the ink got absorbed by the material so I improvised and went over it with a sharpie to make the tag more prominent.
Second line of t-shirts - October, 2015
I found a local t-shirt shop where they made vinyl graphic t-shirts and stickers.
After creating the first official ASID logo in Adobe Photoshop I ordered a single t-shirt which I used as a test run.
I set up a pre-order on the ASID BigCartel for these and once again never had an actual stock of t-shirts which caused a slow service.
First ever ASID stickers - October, 2015
Along with the t-shirts I had made stickers, which are my personal favourite product for any company.
I got an actual batch of them made so I always sent out the sticker orders the next day. Then people would send me pictures of receiving the order within the same week of purchasing.
Selling Out
Sticking the stickers on every board I had and sticking them to my friends' boards brought more attention to the company and products.
These stickers were the first product ASID product which genuinely sold out after the final sticker was sold. This made feel a sense of accomplishment and drove me to make a second batch of these stickers.
Expanding the product selection - January, 2016
I noticed that griptape with designs on it was becoming popular in the skateboarding scene so I decided to create ASID griptape for my customers.
I bought a roll of griptape with approximately 20 sheets of griptape, made a stencil for the ASID palm tree and created the first batch of ASID griptape.
Custom ASID shoes
With the idea of having a one of a kind unique skate shoe at the skatepark I buy a cheap pair of vans and draw some ASID graffiti on them.
I wore them when skateboarding and making videos which drew more attention to ASID.
Skater for life
After selling the first batch of ASID grip I decide to go back to the roots of ASID and make a stencil for the inside joke that is 'SKATR4LYF'.
Second ASID griptape design - June, 2016
The second batch of ASID griptape was created using a hand made stencil and cheap spray paint from pound land. Again due to the small amount of funds I had available to invest into ASID.
I made a special one off video for the release of this griptape design.
Marketing and branding
With the spray paint I had purchased from pound land I went out to a legal graffiti wall and made one of the first ASID graffiti pieces.
The video for this piece got a substantial amount of views which brought more attention to ASID as a brand and also to me as a graffiti artist.
First ever ASID skateboard - September, 2016
Three years after the formation of ASID, I made the first ever ASID skateboard deck.
Using the left over spray paint I sprayed the ASID tag on a cheap deck I found on sale in an online skate shop.
These are not for sale yet, but the future plans for ASID as a brand involve decks as one of the main products of the company. Professionally printed and pressed by a company with designs created by me.
Second batch of ASID stickers - December, 2016
I designed these stickers around the same time I had made the first ASID deck but didn't have a place to get them made, so mid November I set myself a goal to have found a shop that I can go to physically and have them made by the end of the month. I collected the stickers on November 30th with a huge smile on my face.
The black sticker is a design which is inspired by the car culture. my idea was to lead ASID into the car culture as well as continue to appeal to skateboarders and maybe help skateboarders get into cars and share the appreciation with me.
What is next?
From here onward all the new activity can be found on the instagram feed for the company. The plan is to inspire as many new people as possible and enlarge the dreaming community behind ASID. ASID products will also be carried in skate shops in the future along with introducing new products on the online store, and most importantly venturing into new levels of inspiring dreaming.
