Local Skateboarding & Apparel Brand Ultra Rare Joins the Surf Station
When Peyton LeBlanc was just 15 years old, he already had a vision for his brand. Inspired by popular culture icons like horror movie leads and comic book characters, LeBlanc tested the waters with his streetwear designs by sharing his creations via social media. After a warm reception, he continued to pursue his passion for creating unique, functional apparel that would thrive in the realm of skateboarding. Recently, Ultra Rare joined the Surf Station, supplying our skate section with a local selection of tees and skateboard decks. We caught up with LeBlanc to pick his brain about the impetus for the launch of his brand:
First thing is first: what’s your name, age, and hometown?
My name is Peyton LeBlanc, I am 19 years old and I was born in Royal Oak. But I’ve lived in St. Augustine, FL since I was five years old.
When did you first consider starting your own skate brand?
In July of 2016, I was 15 at the time and on a road trip to Michigan when I decided to launch an Instagram for the brand. I posted mock ups there before creating any actual product.
What was it that inspired you to take on a project of this scale? Where was your starting point to get things rolling?
When I was 13, a skate shoe company called Lakai ran a t-shirt design contest. I entered with a StormTrooper graphic that I made on my phone and ended up winning second place. They printed and sold my shirt on the Lakai website, and all my friends would tell me, if you can do that, then you can definitely make your own brand. So I took some time thinking of ideas and getting inspiration from brands like FTP and Thrasher. I came up with the name Ultra Rare and created the page.
When did Ultra Rare first launch? What sort of lessons did you learn after that first launch?
My first drop was October 2016 and it was just a simple black and white shirt with our logo. I learned that it was going to be a process and take a lot of learning. Four years later, I’m still not exactly where I want to be but I understand that it’s all part of the process and that it takes time.
Tell us a bit about the design process. Where do you find inspiration for your pieces? How does that process differ when you’re creating soft goods like apparel versus hard goods like decks?
I get most of my inspiration from vintage streetwear graphics, horror movies, and comic books. I just recently started getting into making pieces other than clothes such as decks and things, but I want to try to capture the same style I’ve always used and to put that into hard goods.
How would you describe the style of your products for someone who may not have seen them before?
It’s streetwear influenced by skate and punk rock style.
What do you think the link between style and skateboarding is?
I feel like people just think that skating is cool, a lot of people dress in skate clothes and don’t even know that’s what they have on. Vans, for example, was originally a skate shoe, now almost every other kid has on Vans or some variation of skate shoe. So I think people skating and the way skaters dress is the link.
What can we expect to see from Ultra Rare in the future?
We definitely are going to be focused a lot more on the skateboard side of things and will be dropping more decks throughout 2021. Big quality upgrades, lots of collaborations, and possibly a local skate event are coming!
