COCKROACH X BURFORD // AERIAL MONSTER TEE Red

BURFORD'S FIRST GRAPHIC UNDER AERIAL SKATEBOARDS. Monster reaching through smashed glass to grab his board! Pure mid 80's radness! 

Darren Burford loves skateboarding. Walking into his office you are overwhelmed with a sense of pure nostalgia. The office serves as an archive of photos, relics, magazines, slides and stickers from a time when skating was in its infancy in Australia. It was an era when creativity thrived despite limited access to skate products and facilities. Darren was the first to distribute Vision in Australia and developed his own range of decks and clothing under the Aerial name. This eventually evolved into Burford Skate Blanks as demand grew for quality decks that skaters could buy as an alternative to expensive U.S. imports. Team riders were given large decals to apply to their decks, which inspired the dual logo hand-screened graphic. It is impossible to look through an '80s Aussie skate mag without seeing a Burford Team skater, such as Gary (Ganimal) Nolan, Brian Garland, and Brian Jacobson, just to name a few. This is our tribute and appreciation for one of Australia's raddest skate pioneers.

"Skate for fun and fun only!" Darren Burford

THE BURFORD TIMELINE

1980 It all began

1981-82 Made skates, rode skates, sold skates.

1985 Left school at 17 to start Aerial Skateboards. Used North Queensland timber then.

1985 Went to U.S and got new ideas.

1986-87 Skating starts to pick up here. Launch Burford Skate Blanks.

1988 Skating bigger than it ever was. We're now using U.S Rock Maple