Taking a stroll around Cape Town’s CBD, across several buildings, it stares at you. Black & white, gritty posters adorn these buildings, catching your eyes, and demanding you to Escape The Ordinary. After seeing just one poster, it doesn’t stop. You start seeing them everywhere, from a skater choms’ grip tape to your streetwear friend’s shirts to the back of a laptop of a frequenter at your local cafe. A closer look reveals a style that is graced by rough edges with a sense of comfort in the absurd nature of the designs. In a culture with mismatched bolts on your deck and a worn-in left (or right) shoe, something about it makes your days spent trying to land a trick, the times your board had wheel bite and the hours spent baking in the sun’s glory finally mean something to someone other than yourself. So who is this mysterious presence pushing the counterculture that you see slowly captivating the Cape Town youth’s hearts and thoughts?

Spoilers: It’s Bullyboy. Starting out as a skate brand in 2020, Bullyboy entered the scene with grip tapes that felt fresh to look at and moreover, actually skate with. Immediately, this cemented their position in the underground skating culture – hell, even I got a Bullyboy grip with my younger brother on a blistering hot day when they were first stocked in skate stores. After that, came the decks and stickers, which became some of my favourite designs in the world. Looking at Bullyboy merch feels like I’m floating through the inner workings of a creative process, a feeling akin to my experience listening to JPEGMAFIA’s discography. These designs contort the familiar to prompt viewers to consider what is ordinary and how to break away from it – sort of like Tyler Durden just without the corny film bros overanalysing Fight Club. When I was around the age of 17 I found solace in Bullyboy’s creative expression that I couldn’t find anywhere else in Cape Town.

Torsten: Let’s start off with a broad question. Can you tell us what Bullyboy is, and what it is about? 

Bullyboy: Our slogan is Escape The Ordinary and we try to put the South African street culture in the spotlight. We also are pushing an anarchy vibe – but with a happy ending. Usually, when you think of anarchy the result is chaos and destruction, whereas with Bullyboy it’s anarchy with a brighter message and outcome.

T: We see Bullyboy designs wherever we go, from stickers to posters, who would you say are your inspirations for your designs, and what advice would you give to those who are starting out with graphics design?

BB: With the wheatpaste posters I do, it’s definitely inspired by Shepard Fairey. I got the idea for the threshold effect and stencil designs from Banksy, and the hand-drawn elements are inspired by Basquiat, in a childish and “don’t take it so seriously” kind of way. My advice would be just to create something every day. Even if you aren’t feeling it, just create something. When you’re in a horrible mood or feeling bleak, and you don’t feel like making, then you’ll create something that is way more emotional and captivating. I do an artwork every day, and I’m over 1200 days in, just to get the creative juices flowing.

T: What were some challenges you faced when starting Bullyboy?

BB: Initially, I was scared that people wouldn’t take to the Bullyboy grip tapes that well, as generally, the market has always designed and marketed grips for kids, but the Bullyboy designs were so different that people took a liking to them anyway. There were also issues with finding places to sell my grips as I didn’t know any skaters in Cape Town, but luckily many of the skate shops had their owners present and were super stoked to sell my product.

T: You have a new clothing drop on the way and the shirts I’ve seen so far are sick, what’s next for Bullyboy in the near future?

BB: I’m planning on doing a big picture book, and I want to do more t-shirts, but not white t-shirts because I find them to be boring. I’m also looking at umbrellas with some Bullyboy designs on the top. I was looking at brands like Pleasures, ARIES and BRONZE56K to find what makes them so popular and I realised that they all sell relatively the same stuff, so I’m trying to expand the product range to have more cool stuff on the website. Lastly, keep a look out for events in our Trenchtown skate park, as we want to host full-blown skate events around once a month.

Recently, Bullyboy has been redefining South African street culture with its apparel, bringing personality into streetwear (Cape Town, PLEASE put the Adidas Sambas and Factorie hoodies down). In a world where many people strive to fit in, copying outfit ideas from Pinterest, and swiping what makes others stand out to feel unique themselves, Bullyboy focuses on marrying the concepts of individuality with fashion – after its brutal divorce following the rise of social media. 

So come and join us in Bullyboy’s journey to becoming the face of Cape Town’s underground – and beyond. I’ll see you there at the indoor park in Observatory, skating one of my top picks of half pipes in Cape Town. There’s lots of Bullyboy to go around, check out their socials and website – I promise it’s as cool as ours.

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