I had to laugh the other day.

I was walking past a Mr Price store when two words jumped out at me from the window display: “Skateboard Jeans.”

Skateboard jeans? Really?

I looked at the photo. They looked like… well… jeans. Perfectly ordinary jeans. But apparently they weren’t just jeans. They were skateboard jeans.

Now I live in an area where there are plenty of skateboarders. Young men, young women and even roller skaters spend hours at the local skate park.

Do you know what they wear?

Whatever happens to be in the cupboard.

Old jeans. Shorts. Tracksuit pants. T-shirts. Hoodies. I’ve never once heard anyone say, “I can’t skate today because I forgot my skateboard jeans.”

It reminded me how clever marketing can be.

I remember when surfwear first became fashionable. At the beginning it was little more than a white T-shirt with a surfboard manufacturer’s logo on it. Before long there were baggies, caps, hoodies, jackets, sandals and every imaginable accessory.

The funny thing was that much of this clothing was being bought hundreds of kilometres from the nearest beach. Johannesburg, Kimberley and Bloemfontein were hardly surfing hotspots, yet surfwear became a lifestyle.

Now skateboarding has followed the same path.

Years ago skateboarders were regarded as scruffy teenagers hanging around shopping centres, smoking cigarettes, grinding along kerbs and generally annoying security guards.

Today skateboarding is an Olympic sport, and the fashion industry has embraced it with open arms.

When I became curious, I searched Google and discovered that even Levi’s sells skateboard jeans. That surprised me. This is clearly far more than a passing fad.

In South Africa, the broader denim jeans market is worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year, and skateboard jeans have become one of many niche styles riding that wave. The jeans are only the beginning.

Next come the skateboard hoodies.

Skateboard beanies.

Skateboard jackets.

Skateboard socks.

Skateboard backpacks.

Once a trend takes hold, there’s no end to the products that can be attached to it.

And don’t be surprised if one day you see a grandmother wearing skateboard jeans. These days plenty of grandmothers proudly display tattoos that would make many youngsters jealous, so skateboard jeans may not be such a stretch after all.

The real lesson isn’t about jeans.

It’s about markets.

Successful entrepreneurs don’t simply sell products. They sell identity. People aren’t always buying a pair of jeans. Sometimes they’re buying the feeling of belonging to a tribe.

Today it’s skateboard jeans.

Tomorrow it will be something else.

The entrepreneurs who spot the next trend early are usually the ones smiling all the way to the bank.

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