Selfridges Embraces Street Sport: Skate

Selfridges has partnered with technology leader HTC to deliver one of its most ambitious projects ever: an on-site happening that truly pushes the boundaries of immersive retail.

For four weeks up until 19^th April, the Old Selfridges Hotel adjacent to the Oxford Street store, will be transformed into the UK’s largest free indoor skatepark – The HTC One Skatepark. It is also the largest skatepark in the UK specifically dedicated to skateboarders (only skateboarders are allowed) – a marked advantage for the skateboarding community.

The 18,500 square foot bespoke park brings together two unique skateboarding concepts. The first space within the skatepark showcases identical replica to scale of seven iconic London street skating spots – like the Big Ben Road Gap, parts of the Southbank’s Undercroft and the Shoreditch blocks. The second imagines a fantasy store interior where hero products from Selfridges – including a lipstick, sunglasses and giant Selfridges carrier bag – become skateable objects. These obstacles, especially the lipstick, are arguably the first skating obstacles of this kind to be created.

The creation of the skatepark took a team of 11 skate experts and building specialists over 1,500 hours to design and build. Over 50,000 screw fixings and nearly 35 tons of timber and plywood were used to build the HTC One Skatepark.

The skatepark will welcome the core skate community and new recruits alike, and encourage people to celebrate and enjoy the craft, culture and importance of skating in London and the UK today. Classes for beginners of all ages will be available. Booking information is online at selfridges.com.

HTC will be showcasing the amazing image-capture capabilities of its leading HTC One handsets at the skatepark, including its Zoe Highlight functionality using the world’s best-designed phone to combine video and stills of skate experiences to create socially shareable content.

“The energy, authenticity and freedom of skate culture have inspired our first fashion scheme of the year – Board Games. We are very proud to be able to offer skaters the freedom to discover a completely new London skatepark as part of the concept. What better way is there to bring our Board Games vision to life?” says Sebastian Manes, Selfridges Buying Director.

“London is the city that skateboarding calls home in the UK. It’s always had a thriving scene and has been able to adapt through the highs and lows of its popularity. Due to its progressive nature, skating has inadvertently become a key fashion and lifestyle influence over the last 4+ decades, but is rarely influenced by it. Skateboarding carries with it a lifestyle that is equally at home in a purpose built West End skatepark as it is in the urban back streets of the world’s greatest city”. Says Phil Young, skateboarder and Creative Director at Prime & Fire, the action sports agency entrusted to deliver this world-class skate environment.

HTC will be offering visitors the chance to win a new limited-edition designer skateboard especially created for the HTC One Skatepark by submitting a film of their experience using HTC One Zoe Highlights through Twitter. Visitors will need to post their highlight to @HTC_UK from 27 to be in with a chance of winning.

For full class and event schedule visit: www.selfridges.com/boardgames

HTC One SkatePark Selfridges – 27^th March – 19^th April 2014