story

"My name is Spanto and I'm the owner, creator, and founder of BORNXRAISED. I was born and raised in Venice. My family's been there for over a century. When Venice started to change growing up, I was filled with so many different emotions and I had no way to channel them. So I used BORNXRAISED as the conduit..."

"...to express my thoughts and feelings towards what was happening to the city that I loved so much, that I grew up with. Venice at the time, in the '80s and '90s, was a really inexpensive place to live. We grew up a very certain way and I used to be very insecure about the way I grew up."

"And then as I got older, I learned that I can take these cards that I was dealt and I can use these experiences to empower me. Showing other kids in the neighborhood and other kids around the world that the way you grew up is okay, it's alright."

"One block at a time, it's kind of a nod. So we are preserving our culture one block at a time. We're still going to hold it down. We're still not going to change. It's just who we are. The toe box is actually a punk reference. The whole spirit and..."

"...idea of Venice as a whole from the era that I grew up in was very punk, so I wanted to use a punk reference for that. The loving memory that's on the shoe lace, this is a nod and an ode to the Venice Pavilion."

"I think that's where most of the core Venice skate team hung out back then, like late '80s, early '90s. It was made by an Italian sculptor..."

"...when they constructed Venice in 1905, and this dude sculpted these statue heads, they're called capital heads, and they went on top of all the columns in Old Venice. This right here is our 'On the Turf' license plate. 'On the Turf' is just kind of like, the most important place was home."

"Being at home was like, yo, I'm on the turf, I'm at home, I'm here doing what I'm supposed to be doing. My name is Spanto from BORNXRAISED, and this was Behind the Design."

Behind the Design: SB Dunk Low x BORNXRAISED