The youth has always been vital in rollerblading. As much as old heads wish that they were the ones directing skating with a guiding hand, it is always the youth that invigorates us and pushes us in new directions. The owners of the Youth Co.—Jon Julio, Chris Haffey, and Chris Farmer—aren’t exactly youthful anymore. They have been involved in the rollerblading world since VHS tapes were the main method of dispersing our culture to the community. While many in Julio’s generation faded away from rollerblading, he stayed, and now as my generation begins to get to that age, Farmer and Haffey, two icons of the era, have joined with Julio to provide a company for the youth. We asked them some questions about the new company and their views about the youth in skating today. — Ben Rogers
Tell us about the Youth Co. What were your motivations for starting another frame company? Who came up with the name and why was it chosen; what does it mean to you?
Chris Farmer (CF): The blade game deserves a frame company that provides everything you need, and nothing you don’t. JJ came up with the name, and I would relate the name to song lyrics. Take what you want from it, plenty of meanings.
Chris Haffey (CH): I think both Jon and Chris covered pretty well what the Youth Co. is. My motivations were pretty similar, in that I wasn’t happy in my current situation and was really pumped to work on a bigger project with Julio. As for the name, I think it has a lot of meanings, but to me I think it’s redefining what “youth” means in blading. In the past it was pretty rare to see pros continue blading much past 25. I think a lot of pros nowadays are getting a lot smarter about taking care of themselves off of skates to make it possible to stay on skates competitively longer, or at least skating in ways that are more sustainable. I think Julio, Farmer, and myself are all pretty good examples of that concept and therefore fit pretty well into the new definition of “youth” in blading.
Jon Julio (JJ): It was just a matter of time before we worked on a frame company. Time, money and the right people working together has fallen into place.
The name spawned from a simple image that I saw on an art blog. It was a black and white photo with a bunch of kids running forward. There was text over the image that said “the Youth is changing.”
Haffey and I were psyched on the name Youth and the black and white photo. We tossed ideas back and forth for days. For me the name clicks and makes sense—past, present, and future.
The Youth Co. is a start of a new era for me and it’s been great to finally work on such a big project with Farmer and Haffey.
