Back to the Grind

Back to the grind, indeed! People are back grinding coping wearing Frontside clothing, and we’ve been grinding along behind the scenes to bring this beloved company back into existence. Its founder, Craig McKnight (aka Papa Frontside, Papa Newport, Craigie Baby…) sadly left us in 2009 due to diabetes. He was 45 years old. Craig’s passing hurt a lot because he was such an outgoing, generous, well-loved, amazing person who always had time, words of encouragement and hope for his friends, family, and for anyone that he came across, truth be telt. But it hurt too because he left such a hole in the Dundee skateboard scene, a tight-knit scene he fostered continuously since moving to the city in the 1980s. But his legacy endures, even young skaters who never met him have respect and love for his baby Frontside. Craigie Baby, ride on! We hope to do you proud.

Craig and Dundee

I first met Craig while street skating on a wintry night in Dundee, around late ’88. He wore shorts; it was a bit rainy; he’d just skated the Tay Bridge; he was a man (we were all around 17 to his 24), and he went for it! He was professionally dancing at the time and that showed in his agility, especially his 360 spins. We’re talking 3+ spins on steep banks! and many more on the flat ground. It was around this time that we started building ramps in the 1st Factory in Stobswell. Craig, and Barclay Dakers – another “man” we had met, who lived right by the Factory and was a quite mature 21 – soon got involved with what we were doing in that amazing space. Craig was especially adept at getting everyone in the building to come and help retrieve some wood that Smod and Colin had “procured” the night before and stashed. Craig and Barclay really put a shot in the arm of the Dundee skate scene when they opened Clan II, a skate shop that came into being with the help of The Prince’s Trust and of course Jamie and Davie at Clan in Glasgow (which is still open to this day!). Clan II served the Dundee area for about 5 years. It was during these early years that the infamous Factory Sensibles found themselves, a thing. More on them in a future post.

medium white tee

Frontside Skateboarding

Fast forward to the early 2000s and the birth of Frontside Skateboarding. The exact origins are vague to me – maybe someone has more on this – but all of a sudden Craig was putting out Frontside tees, hoodies and stickers. The first was the well-loved Uncle Frontside design by Ray Dower, and many more followed, including Andy in a Batcape over the Tit at Dudhope, a Tweak from 2000AD design, Sketchy Pete silhouetted in his trilby, the Benihana, and the classic Ben Thomson High Jump. Craig was quite fond of Rastafying the designs. I fondly remember the Ben shirt fading across from red to green. Does anyone still have one of those?

So here we are. Bringing it all back. Well, maybe not all of it; Craig liked to do small runs with limited numbers in different colours too, so we’re gonna follow that mode and ethos for Frontside as we move forward.

Ethos

Talking of Ethos, Craig was a friend of the earth – a hippy like his Mum Issy and sister Linda – and for this reason we have chosen to make all Frontside clothing from organic cotton, grown and produced in conditions that do not harm the earth or abuse workers. We also donate a portion of all proceeds to Diabetes UK and to promoting the Dundee skateboarding scene, specifically by backing Fundee Day at Dudhope Skatepark.

So welcome to Frontside. We hope you enjoy. We are planning future, more in-depth posts on Craig, the Factory Sensibles – everything and anything, really.  If you want to contribute in any way, please get in touch via the details on the CONTACT page.  For now, stay serious, stay silly and, oh yeah, Skate or Die 🙂