If you're someone who truly respects core skateboarding, the raw, do-it-yourself, grip-tape-under-your-nails, scrape-your-knee-and-keep-going kind of skateboarding, then you’ve got to watch Mark “Fos” Foster’s new documentary by The Platfrm.
Fos is as core as any street rat out there, and supporting skater-owned brands like Heroin Skateboards and Snot Wheels isn’t just cool. It’s necessary.
Fos doesn’t just skate. He builds worlds. He draws them. Paints them. Shapes them with his bare hands.
From the dark alleyways of Burnley, England, to the sunburnt skate meccas of California, Fos has stayed loyal to skateboarding in its rawest form.
Before the move to the States, he was making zines, sketching ideas, and basically breathing skateboarding culture 24/7.
Now he's the guy behind some of the most recognizable board graphics you’ve probably ever seen. Toy Machine, Baker, Deathwish, Creature. If you’ve ever stared at a deck and thought, damn, that looks sick, there’s a real chance Fos had something to do with it.
But it doesn’t stop at graphics. He played a huge part in shaping Altamont Apparel’s entire look when it first hit.
Not just a brand consultant. He was the look and feel. Everything he touches has this off-kilter, grimy, handmade charm.
It’s the kind of stuff you don’t get from suits in boardrooms or AI-generated designs. It comes from living the skate life full-on and never dialing it down to fit in.
The documentary dives deep - not just into how he started Heroin Skateboards back in the late ’90s, but into what it takes to keep a skater-owned brand alive in an industry where big corporations are always trying to buy their way into authenticity.
Fos stuck with it. Still drawing, still creating, still skating, still giving weirdos a place to belong.
If you care about keeping skating weird, keeping it independent, and keeping it in the hands of the people who actually skate, then this documentary is for you.
Watch it, share it, and support skater-owned. Because people like Fos aren’t just keeping skateboarding alive. They’re keeping it honest.